Improving the use of bioethanol by-products in monogastric feeding

C. Gady, P. Cozannet, F. Alleman, P.-A. Geraert, P. Dalibard - August 2007

Eighteen DDGS samples (8 wheat DDGS and 10 corn DDGS) were obtained from 6 different countries. Each sample was analysed for proximate and total amino acids (TAA) and evaluated for true ilieal amino acid digestibility (AAD) using caecectomized cockerels. Wheat DDGS were classified as low and standard whereas corn DDGS showed an additional high protein type. Important variations were observed among the total lysine and threonine of the wheat DDGS and among all total amino acids of the corn DDGS with the exeption of total cystine. Both wheat and corn DDGS showed low lysine digestibilities (38 and 62%) and low cystine digestibilities (56 and 64%) associated to high variations. Original cereals, processing conditions and disposition of solubles, could explain the variations. The potential of NIRS (Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy) was also investigated. The feasibility study show that the NIRS calibrations explain more than 95 and 80 % of the variation respectively for TAA and DAA (with the exception of tryptophan digestibility, R2= 0.66).  Accuracies associated to the models varied from 2 to 6% (excepted for DLys, 9%). These encouraging results indicate that this tool is promising for the prediction of the nutritional vaiability measured among DDGS.