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Use of Wheat Gluten as an Alternative Protein Source in Nursery Diets
Wheat gluten (WG) is a high-protein ingredient (75% CP) that is commonly used in pet food and milk replacers, but not commonly used in swine diets. Two studies were conducted to determine the effect of WG on growth performance of weaned pigs, and to determine if WG is an alternative for high cost ingredients such as fish meal (FM) and plasma protein (PP) in a phase 1 diet. Pigs were weaned at approximately 21 d and blocked according to weight. Bodyweight gain and feed disappearance were measured weekly in each experiment. All diets were formulated to meet or exceed the 2012 NRC standards. Exp. 1 utilized 36 pigs (IW = 6.2 + 0.2 kg, 12 pens, 3 pigs/pen). There were 3 dietary treatments: 1) 0% WG, 2) 5% WG, and 3) 10% WG. WG was added at the expense of corn and soybean meal. Diets were fed for 14 d post-weaning, followed by a common diet for an additional 14 d. There were 4 dietary treatments (IW = 6.4 + 0.4 kg, 32 pens, 3 pigs/pen) in Exp. 2: a control diet (5% FM and 5% PP), 5% WG in place of FM, 5% WG in place of PP, and 5% WG replacing ½ of each FM and PP. Test diets were fed for 14 d, followed by a common diet for an additional 7 d. In Exp. 1, ADG in phase 1 (0-14 d) for pigs fed 5% WG (398 g/d) was greater than pigs fed 0 (331 g/d) or 10% WG (300 g/d, quadratic, P <0.01). These differences were maintained when pigs were fed a common diet 14-28 d (ADG: 660, 720 and 633 g/d for 0, 5 and 10% WG respectively, quadratic, P < 0.01). In Exp. 2, pigs fed the diet with no PP had lower ADG than other treatments (ADG: 435, 423, 396 and 440 g/d for Control, WG for FM, WG for PP, and WG for ½ FM and PP, P < 0.20). Pigs fed the diet with WG replacing ½ of the FM and PP had improved G:F (0.84, 0.84, 0.83, 0.89 for Control, WG for FM, WG for PP, and WG for ½ FM and PP, P < 0.02). In Exp. 2, it was concluded that WG can substitute for FM, but not PP. Results indicate that WG fed at 5% of the diet may be a cost-effective, alternative protein source in phase 1 diets.
Keywords: Wheat Gluten, Nursery Pigs, Growth Performance