PARTNER FEATURE ▶▶▶
All about amino acid digestibility
In the world of feed formulation for pigs, ‘digestibility’ is often reported on. What exactly does that mean, how is it calculated, why are there several types of digestibility – and why is ‘standardised ileal digestibility’ the one to watch for pig producers?
D BY VINCENT TER BEEK, EDITOR PIG PROGRESS
igestibility values are essential to know for good diet formulation. After all, only the digestible parts of amino acids are absorbed by the animals and can thus be utilised for protein synthesis. When formu-
lating piglet diets, using accurate digestibility values for differ- ent amino acids ensures efficient use and will result in healthy animals, high performance and less environmental burden. Undoubtedly, one of the most well-known thought leaders in the field of digestibility is Prof Hans Stein, of the Monogastric Nutrition Laboratory at the University of Illinois, United States. For over 20 years, Prof Stein has specialised in
Testing plant-based protein concentrates
The Monogastric Nutrition Laboratory receives numerous applications for in vivo testing from all over the world. In 2018, Prof Stein and colleagues at the lab per- formed a trial comparing Peruvian fishmeal with the plant-based protein con- centrates JPC56 and FMRΩ3 (Joosten Young Animal Nutrition). The in vivo exper- iment showed clear results with very high protein and amino acid digestibility for both concentrates. The digestibility of the different amino acids in the plant- based concentrates is also very high. The results of this newest generation of plant-based protein concentrates show that they can replace other protein sources in piglet diets such as fishmeal and other animal proteins. Together with the low nitrogen excretion of high digestible product, the outcomes of the re- search mean that these plant-based protein concentrates are important for the feed and pig industry.
A full account of the results of this study was published in Pig Progress 35.04 (2019). 28 ▶PIG PROGRESS | Volume 36, No. 2, 2020
researching the digestibility of feed ingredients. His work cov- ers every nutrient and feed ingredient, from energy sources like starch and fats to fibres, and from amino acids to macro- and micro-minerals.
In vitro or in vivo? With his many years of experience, Prof Stein knows which method will get the most accurate results about the digesti- bility of all these different ingredients. For energy sources and fibres there are very accurate in vitro laboratory systems. Nev- ertheless, in vivo methods still are necessary to validate in vit- ro data. In fact, in order to provide reliable data for amino ac- ids, only the in vivo method is accurate enough. According to Prof Stein, in vitro methods are sometimes used to estimate the digestibility of amino acids but none of them produce accurate data.
Testing amino acid digestibility In Prof Stein’s view, it is important that almost all amino acids provided with the feed are digested and absorbed in the small intestine of the piglet. Protein and amino acids passing through the small intestine are wasted and lost for live weight gain. That undigested protein is a source for unde- sired bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella to suddenly grow quickly causing gut tissue damage, leaky gut and diarrhoea. Hence, to determine amino acid digestibility, Prof Stein
PHOTO: JOOSTEN YOUNG ANIMAL NUTRITION
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