Feed efficiency: Measuring, Genetic Trends, and Current State of the Industry - Dr. Pedro Urriola, Department of Animal Science, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, University of Minnesota, from the 2016 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, September 17-20, 2016, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. More presentations at http://www.swinecast.com/2016-leman-swine-conference-material

1. Feed efficiency: Measuring,
Genetic Trends, and Current
State of the Industry
Pedro E. Urriola, DVM PhD
Department of Animal Sciences
University of Minnesota

2. Feed efficiency
• Unit of output divided by unit of input
• How to express this efficiency?
Feed Animal
Input Output What it measures
Mass, kg of feed Mass, kg live weight Efficiency of growth
Mass, kg of feed Mass, kg of carcass Efficiency of pork
Energy, kcal of NE Mass, kg of carcass Nutritional efficiency

3. Feed efficiency
“Feed efficiency is a good thing to measure, but
terrible driver of decision making” quoting Steve
Pollmann

4. Different ways of expressing and
looking at efficiency
0.320
0.325
0.330
0.335
0.340
0.345
0.350
0.355
CSB WM DDGS WM+DDGS
Efficiency
Diets
Gain:feed HCW:feed Linear (Gain:feed) Linear (HCW:feed)
Wu et al. (2016)

5. GENETIC TRENDS AND
INDUSTRY DATA
Feed efficiency: Measuring, Genetic Trends, and Current State of
the Industry

6. Comparative trends in quarterly reports
Item Q2 – 2015 Q2 – 2016 % Change
Av. Start Weight 55.93 54.25 -3.00
Mortality, % 4.30 4.37 1.67
Av. Weight Out 279.1 278.9 -0.06
Lb Feed/head 627.8 628.8 0.16
ADG 1.89 1.90 0.42
FCR 2.85 2.83 -0.53
ADFI 5.39 5.38 -0.11%
Source: MetaFarms

10. Factors affecting feed
efficiency
Environmental
factors
Feed
composition/
processing
Pig

11. ANIMAL COMPONENTS
Feed efficiency: Measuring, Genetic Trends, and Current State of
the Industry

12. What factors affect feed
efficiency?
• Animal side:
– Age
– Sex
– Genetics (Lean growth)
– Health

13. Classes of Nutrients
• Carbohydrates
• Lipids
• Amino acids
• Mineral
• Vitamins
• Water
Energy is not a
nutrient
Boisen, 2007

14. Lean gain drives a large proportion of
feed efficiency

15. FEED COMPONENTS
Feed efficiency: Measuring, Genetic Trends, and Current State of
the Industry

16. Efficiency of using energy varies
among nutrients
• Carbohydrates
• Lipids
• Amino acids
• Mineral
• Vitamins
• Water
Energy is not a
nutrient
Boisen, 2007

17. The greater energy in the diet the
greater feed efficiency
y = -0.0011x + 5.103
y = -0.0013x + 5.6118
2.00
2.20
2.40
2.60
2.80
3.00
3.20
3.40
1500 1700 1900 2100 2300 2500 2700 2900
FCR,F:G
Diet energy, NE kcal/kg DM
GF-live GF-carcass
Linear (GF-live) Linear (GF-carcass)
Quiniou and Noblet (2012)
Rule of thumb 1% fat = 2% ↑ FCR

18. Pigs adjust their feed intake to energy
intake, but it depends on age
y = -0.0004x + 3.1449
y = -0.001x + 5.7179
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
1500 1700 1900 2100 2300 2500 2700 2900
ADFI,kg
Diet energy, NE kcal/kg DM
ADFI-014 ADFI-28-54
Linear (ADFI-014) Linear (ADFI-28-54)
Quiniou and Noblet (2012)

19. Grinding – particle size reduction
More smaller particles = greater surface area
Greater surface area

20. Grinding – particle size reduction
Greater surface area

21. Effect of diet grinding on
productivity and health
Particle size, μ 1000 800 600 400
ADG, kg/d 0.96 0.94 0.95 0.98
ADFI, kg/d 3.25 3.21 3.26 3.16
Feed to gain 3.39 3.41 3.43 3.23
Stomach health1 95 85 75 50
1Percent of normal stomachs or without macroscopic lesions

22. Survey on most common feed
grinding size
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
> 800 700-800 600-700 500-600 400-500 < 400 Not sure
%ofsurveyresponders
% Responders
Flohr et al. (2012)

23. Feed production cost increases as
particle size decreases
Wondra et al. (2012)

24. Maintenance has a high cost, and it
affected by diets
Patience (2012)

25. Increase the proportion of GE in the diet
that is digested
Item Corn DDGS WM SBH WS
GE, kcal/kg 3,933 4,710 3,901 4,210 4,036
NE, kcal/kg 2,672 2,343 2,113 989 239
GE:NE 0.68 0.50 0.54 0.23 0.06
Corn DDGSCorn-soybean

26. Alternative feed ingredients have high
content of poorly digestible nutrients
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
DDGS
Corn
Water CP Fat Sugars Starch Fiber Other

27. Contribution of nutrients in DDGS
towards predicted ME kcal/kg DM
Nutrient Min Mean Max SD CV
DM 60.1 62.7 68.6 2.5 4.0
CP 23.3 24.9 26.8 1.0 4.0
Ether extract 3.2 6.0 9.1 1.7 28.3
NDF 14.5 18.8 23.5 3.1 16.3
ADF 5.5 7.9 10.4 1.8 22.9
dHemi 8.4 10.9 13.9 1.8 16.9
Kerr et al. (2013), Huang (2016)
ME = 4.83(dCP) + 9.58(dEE) + 4.14 (ST) + 3.9(SU) + 4.4(dHemi)
+ 2.81(dADF) + 4.04 (dRes)
N = 12 source of corn DDGS

28. Dietary fiber decreases carcass yield
70.500
71.000
71.500
72.000
72.500
73.000
73.500
74.000
74.500
CSB WM DDGS WM+DDGS
Carcassyield,%
Diets
Wu et al. (2016)
Withdraw feed in last
phases to decrease impact

29. The digestibility of fiber can be
predicted using laboratory procedures
y = 0.1643x + 2.8959
R² = 0.819
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0 100 200 300 400 500
ATTDofTDF,%
Asymptotic gas production (A), mL/g DM
Wheat straw
Corn DDGS
Soybean hulls
Huang (2016)

30. Dietary fiber modifies the type of
secretory cells in the GIT of pigs
DDGS SBH
WSControl
Huang (2016)

31. Maintenance has a high cost, and it
affected by diets
Patience (2012)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
DDGS Corn
Water CP Fat Sugars
Starch Fiber Other

32. Looking for more information?

33. Thanks!