Commonly used feed processing technologies are not sufficient to affect recalcitrant nonstarch polysaccharides (NSP) such as arabinoxylans present in maize distillers dried grain with solubles (DDGS). Instead, hydrothermal treatments combined with acid catalysts might be more effective to modify these NSP. The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effects of hydrothermal maleic acid treatment (acid extrusion) on the degradability of maize DDGS in growing pigs. It was hypothesized that acid extrusion modifies DDGS cell wall architecture and thereby increases fermentability of NSP. Two diets, containing either 40% (wt/wt) unprocessed or acid-extruded DDGS, were restrictedly fed to groups of gilts (n=11, with 4 pigs per group; initial mean BW: 20.8±0.2 kg) for 18 d and performance and digestibility were analyzed. Acid extrusion tended to decrease apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of CP (approximately 3 percentage units [% units]); P=0.063) and starch (approximately 1% unit; P=0.096). Apparent digestibility of CP and starch measured at the mid colon (2% units, P=0.030, for CP and 0.3% units, P<0.01, for starch) and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD; 3% units, P<0.01, for CP and 0.2% units, P=0.024, for starch) were lower for the acid-extruded diet compared with the control diet. Hindgut disappearance was, however, not different between diets, indicating that reduced CP and starch digestibility were mainly due to decreased AID. Acid extrusion tended to increase AID of NSP (6% units; P=0.092) and increased digestibility of NSP measured at the mid colon (6% units; P<0.01), whereas hindgut disappearance and ATTD of NSP did not differ between diets. Greater NSP digestibility was mainly due to greater digestibility of arabinosyl, xylosyl, and glucosyl residues, indicating that both arabinoxylan and cellulose degradability were affected by acid extrusion. In conclusion, these results show that acid extrusion did not improve degradation of DDGS for growing pigs. Although acid extrusion seemed to facilitate more rapid degradation of NSP and shifted fermentation to more proximal gastrointestinal segments, total extent of NSP degradation was not affected. More than 35% of the NSP from DDGS remained undegraded, independent of technological processing. Enzyme technologies that specifically target ester-linked acetyl, feroloyl, or coumaroyl groups were identified to be of interest for future research.
Keywords: corn; distillers dried grain with solubles; feed processing; fermentation; fiber; nonstarch polysaccharides.