Paul Kononoff of the University of Nebraska asked the Western Nutrition Conference in Saskatoon last month to define a wheat-based dried distillers grain.
DDG based on corn is relatively consistent in protein and mineral content compared to wheat DDG.
Kononoff said the increased production of DDG from grain other than corn is resulting in feeds that are highly variable.
“Even with corn there is variation. High performance dairy and (beef) cattle feeding relies on consistent products,” said Kononoff.
“But as the pro-duction of these byproducts expands, creating an increasingly cost effective and available feedstuff, we are also seeing greater variability in those products,” said the Nebraska researcher.
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Ruurd Zijlstra of the University of Alberta is studying the use of wheat DDG in swine diets.
He said standardized systems of evaluating the feed value of wheat DDG must ensure that the feed is consistent, or at least monitored for variation, and that producers and feed companies use similar methods for analysis.
“Co-products adoption in other parts of the world are far more common than in Canada.
In the Netherlands and France, specific feed quality evaluation techniques such as net energy and standardized ileal (late intestinal) digestibility of amino acids have been adopted for risk management and assurance of swine performance.”
DDG has higher concentrations of nutrients such as protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and fibre than its parent grain because of the removal of starches during fermentation.
Zijlstra said the overall macronutrient profile of wheat DDG is quite different from the parent grain, mainly in amino acid and phosphorus content.
“There is a large range in wheat quality (because of) different wheat varieties and production quality related to seasonal differences, such as weather.”
He said ethanol distillers likely wouldn’t be focusing on DDG quality as they adjust their processes to produce alcohol and their buying to take advantage of wheat market conditions.
Don O’Connor of S&T Consultants Inc. in Delta, B.C., assists distillers in the creation of ethanol plants.
“As feed formulators and livestock producers, you need to realize that some plants will see DDGs as a co-product and some will see it as a byproduct (of ethanol). You will need to keep in mind that what comes out of the plant is based on what went in,” O’Connor said.
“If high protein goes in, high protein comes out. If toxins in the grain go in, toxins come out in the DDGs. Alcohol and (carbon dioxide) come out alone. Everything else goes out as a distillers grain.”
O’Connor said typically corn ethanol plants produce DDG with 29 to 33 percent crude protein, while those from wheat crude protein range from 35 to 40 percent.
Corn distilleries produce DDG with crude fat levels ranging from nine to 12.5 percent while wheat’s fat levels are much lower, typically six to seven percent.
Crude fibre, too, is quite different in corn and wheat. Corn crude fibre averages 7.2 percent while wheat DDG contains about 12.6 percent.
John McKinnon of the University of Saskatchewan said the difference between corn and wheat and the variability in wheat mean that producers and feed companies need to test regularly.
“As the plants are established, there will come consistency. However, issues with sulfur will likely always be there,” he said.
High sulfur content in feed, especially on farms where water has high sulfate content, can lead to cattle developing polio. DDG can contain high levels of sulfur.
O’Connor said the variability of DDG doesn’t stop with feedstocks entering the distilling process.
He said evaporators and dryers could damage DDG quality by darkening or burning the product, creating odours that are offensive to livestock and harming the nutritional properties.
