EFFECTS OF REPLACING MILK AND SOYBEAN PRODUCTS WITH WHEAT GLUTENS ON DIGESTIBILITY OF NUTRIENTS AND GROWTH-PERFORMANCE IN NURSERY PIGS

Three experiments were conducted to determine the nutritional value of wheat gluten (WG) for weanling pigs. In Exp. 1, 72 pigs (4.2 kg avera ge BW) were used in a N metabolism experiment. Treatments were I) case in-corn-based control; 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) Diet I with flash-dried WG, spray-dried WG, two enzyme-modified (to increase solubility) WG, and s oybean meal (SBM) used to replace casein, respectively. The diet with casein had the greatest apparent N digestibility and apparent biologic al value (P < .002), and diets with WG had greater apparent N digestib ility than the diet with SBM (P < .01). In Exp. 2, 180 pigs (5.6 kg av erage BW) were used. Treatments for d 0 to 14 were 1) dried skim milk (DSM)-dried whey-SBM-based control; 2, 3, 4 and 5) Diet I with the DSM replaced by lactose and flash-dried, spray-dried, and enzyme-modified WG (ModWG), and soybean protein isolate (SPI), respectively. All pigs were fed a common diet from d 14 to 35. For d 0 to 14, pigs fed diets with WG had greater gain/feed than those fed SPI (P < .01), and for d 14 to 35, pigs fed spray-dried WG and ModWG had greater ADG (P < .04) than pigs fed flash-dried WG. In Exp. 3, 180 pigs (5.7 kg average BW) were used. Treatments for d 0 to 14 were I) DSM-dried whey-SBM-based control; 2) spray-dried WG and lactose replacing DSM; and 3) spray-dri ed WG replacing SBM. Pigs fed WG from d 0 to 14 had greater overall (d 0 to 37) ADG(P < .06) and gain/feed(P < .007) than pigs fed the DSM-S BM control. In conclusion, using WG to replace DSM gave equal performa nce to d 14 and greater performance for the entire nursery period.