Effects of feeding extruded corn and wheat grain on growth performance and digestibility of amino acids in early-weaned pigs

This study was conducted to evaluate the extruding effects of corn and wheat on growth performance and fecal digestibility of amino acids in early-weaned pigs. Ground corn and wheat by a hammer mill (3 mm screen in diameter) were extruded at 130+/-2 degreesC with a moist-type extruder (Matador(R)). Treatments were: 1) 3 mm ground corn, 2) extruded corn, 3) 3 mm ground wheat, and 4) extruded wheat. A total of 160 pigs (14 d of age and 4.3+/-0.74 kg BW) were allotted with the dietary treatments for a 21-d feeding trial. All diets were mash and contained 30% corn or wheat products. For a digestibility trial, 16 pigs (14-d old and 4.2+/-0.32 kg BW) were employed in individual metabolic crates. There were no differences (p>0.15) in growth performance between corn-fed and wheat-fed groups. Feeding pigs diets containing extruded corn or wheat did not affect ADC (p>0.15) and ADFI (p>0.15), but it improved feed/gain (p<0.01). Also, feeding pigs diets containing extruded corn or wheat had lower true fecal digestibilities of arginine, histidine, isoleucine, lysine and valine (p<less than or equal to>0.007) in the pigs. In conclusion, our results suggest that extruding corn and wheat had no benefit on the growth of early-weaned pigs.