A comparison of Argentine, Brazilian, and U.S. corn on pig performance and available nutrients

J.K. Jansen, J. Hong, J.Y. Perez-Palencia, C.L. Levesque and R.C. Thaler

Introduction: The importance of high-quality corn in livestock diets continues to grow, especially in monogastric species like swine and poultry, as maintaining or exceeding nutrient requirements of swine for proper growth and development heavily relies on the fatty acid and AA profiles of this grain. With the demand of this grain source continuing to increase both in quantity and quality, some of the world’s top corn producing countries (U.S., Brazil, and Argentina) have risen to the top. Whether that be comparing each other’s production costs, production efficiency, import and export markets, and even corn quality, these countries have been trying to find the edge to elevate their grain above the rest.

Materials and Methods: The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of corn quality and its source on growing pig growth performance, digestibility of nutrients, and the amount of energy available for use. Crude protein and amino acid digestibility of the 3 corn sources were determined using 10 ileal-cannulated barrows (20 kg BW), offspring of PIC 1050 sows x Duroc composite semen. Determination of gross energy, digestible energy, metabolizable energy, and net energy was conducted utilizing 12 barrows (23.66 kg BW), offspring of PIC 1050 sows x Duroc composite semen. Corn sources and experimental diets were analyzed for gross energy. Ninety-six nursery pigs (9 kg BW), offspring of PIC 1050 sows x Duroc composite semen, were used in a 28-day growth performance trial. Pigs were allotted to pens based on gender and initial weight. There were 3 experimental diets differing only by the source of corn. Bodyweight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain: feed (G: F) were calculated weekly and overall, for the 28-day trial.

Results and Discussion: There were no differences in AID or SID of AA or crude protein from digesta collected from U.S., Brazil, or Argentina corn-fed nursery pigs. For energy determination, GE of the diets were not different (P = 0.445) at 3,828, 3,824, and 3,822 kcal/kg for U.S., ARG, and BRZ, respectively. In terms of DE (P = 0.282) and ME (P = 0.466), there was no differences detected between corn sources. NE values would also show no significant differences (P = 0.367). In Week 1, U.S. fed nursery pigs tended to have a higher ADG compared to BRZ and ARG (P = 0.091) and a tendency for a greater G: F ratio (P = 0.093). There were no significant differences between ADG, ADFI, and G: F ratio of U.S., BRZ, and ARG-fed nursery pigs in weeks 2, 3, and 4. Overall, there was no detectable differences between ADG and ADFI between U.S., BRZ, and ARG fed nursery pigs. Although, there was a tendency for U.S. fed nursery pigs to maintain the highest efficiency with a greater G: F ratio throughout the 28-day feeding period, followed by ARG and lastly BRZ (P = 0.062).

Implications: While corn testing provides crucial information on the quality of the grain, this data suggests that quality measures such as broken corn and foreign material % and corn quality grading may have little effect on swine diet formulation. This may be subject to greater knowledge of feed milling to eliminate negative effects of lower quality ingredients and how finely ground the feedstuffs are in swine diets.

Acknowledgements: The authors want to thank the North Dakota and Minnesota Grain Councils, along with the U.S Grains Council, for their support in funding this project.