Evaluation of How Nursery Pig Performance is Affected by Evaluation of How Nursery Pig Performance is Affected by Fermented Corn Protein as a Replacement to Enzymatically Fermented Corn Protein as a Replacement to Enzymatically Treated Soybean Meal Along With High or Low Branch Chain Treated Soybean Meal Along With High or Low Branch Chain Amino Acid to Leucine Ratios Amino Acid to Leucine Ratios

Summary Two experiments were conducted to determine if fermented corn protein can serve as a replacement to enzymatically treated soybean meal and what the effects may be with high or low branch chain amino acids (BCAA):Leu ratios on nursery pig performance. In Exp. 1, a total of 350 barrows (200 × 400, DNA; initially 13.2 lb) were randomly allotted to 1 of 5 treatments with 5 pigs per pen and 14 replications per treatment. Dietary treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 + 1 factorial with a control diet or diets with 5 or 10% fermented corn protein or enzymatically treated soybean meal. Pigs were fed phase 1 diets for 10 d followed by phase 2 diets for 21 d. There were no interactions observed throughout the experiment. Overall (d 0 to 31), pigs fed increasing levels of fermented corn protein had decreased (linear, P ≤ 0.026) BW, ADG, and ADFI with no differences in F/G, whereas increasing enzymatically treated soybean meal had no effect on growth performance. Pigs fed enzymatically treated soybean meal had improved ( P ≤ 0.034) BW, ADG, and F/G compared to pigs fed fermented corn protein diets, with no effect on ADFI. In Exp. 2, a total of 350 pigs (241 × 600, DNA; initially 26.7 lb) were used to determine the effects of fermented corn protein with high or low BCAA:Leu ratio on nursery pig growth performance. At weaning, pigs were randomly assigned to pens


Summary
Two experiments were conducted to determine if fermented corn protein can serve as a replacement to enzymatically treated soybean meal and what the effects may be with high or low branch chain amino acids (BCAA):Leu ratios on nursery pig performance. In Exp. 1, a total of 350 barrows (200 × 400, DNA; initially 13.2 lb) were randomly allotted to 1 of 5 treatments with 5 pigs per pen and 14 replications per treatment. Dietary treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 + 1 factorial with a control diet or diets with 5 or 10% fermented corn protein or enzymatically treated soybean meal. Pigs were fed phase 1 diets for 10 d followed by phase 2 diets for 21 d. There were no interactions observed throughout the experiment. Overall (d 0 to 31), pigs fed increasing levels of fermented corn protein had decreased (linear, P ≤ 0.026) BW, ADG, and ADFI with no differences in F/G, whereas increasing enzymatically treated soybean meal had no effect on growth performance. Pigs fed enzymatically treated soybean meal had improved (P ≤ 0.034) BW, ADG, and F/G compared to pigs fed fermented corn protein diets, with no effect on ADFI.
In Exp. 2, a total of 350 pigs (241 × 600, DNA; initially 26.7 lb) were used to determine the effects of fermented corn protein with high or low BCAA:Leu ratio on nursery pig growth performance. At weaning, pigs were randomly assigned to pens (5 pigs per pen). On d 24 after weaning (d 0 of the trial), pens of pigs were weighed and then allotted to treatment. Pigs were assigned to 1 of 5 dietary treatments with 14 replications per treatment. Dietary treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 + 1 factorial. Diets consisted of 10 or 20% fermented corn protein either with high or low BCAA:Leu in addition to a control diet. There was no interaction observed between fermented corn protein concentration and BCAA:Leu. Overall (d 0 to 21), BW, ADG, ADFI, and F/G worsened (linear, P < 0.001) as fermented corn protein increased in the diet. High BCAA:Leu improved (P = 0.023) F/G compared to low BCAA:Leu with no effect on BW, ADG, and ADFI. In summary, using fermented corn protein to replace enzymat-

Introduction
Removing fibrous components of corn before fermentation provides a high crude protein dried distillers grains with solubles value (40% crude protein). When various components of the fermentation process are added back to high protein dried distillers grains with solubles, it results in a fermented corn protein product with up to 50% crude protein and 2% Lys. Because of its high Lys content, fermented corn protein has the potential to become an excellent replacement for specialty soy protein products, such as enzymatically treated or fermented soybean meal in nursery pig diets.
Corn-based ingredients, such as fermented corn protein, contain relatively high amounts of the branch chain amino acid Leu, which increases the dietary requirement of the other branch chain amino acids Ile and Val. 2 Taking this into account and balancing for the branch chain amino acids appears to improve growth performance of finishing pigs fed diets containing excess Leu. 3 Based on these findings, we believe that growth performance may also be improved in nursery pigs fed diets containing excess Leu (typically corn-byproduct-based diets) by increasing levels of Ile and Val.
Therefore, the objective of these studies was to evaluate fermented corn protein as a replacement for enzymatically treated soybean meal in phase 1 and 2 starter diets, and increasing fermented corn protein concentrations in phase 3 starter diets with or without the inclusion of high levels of Ile and Val.

Materials and Methods
The Kansas State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approved the protocols used in both experiments. Exp. 1 was conducted at the Kansas State University Segregated Early Weaning facility in Manhattan, KS. Exp. 2 was conducted at the Kansas State University Swine Teaching and Research Center. In both experiments, each pen was equipped with a 4-hole, dry self-feeder and a nipple waterer to provide ad libitum access to feed and water.

Animals and diets
In Exp. 1, 350 barrows (200 × 400, DNA; initially 13.2 lb) were used in a 31-d phase 1 and 2 trial. Pigs were weaned at approximately 21-d of age and placed in pens of 5 pigs each based on initial weight. At weaning pigs were randomly allotted to 1 of 5 dietary treatments with 14 replications per treatment. Dietary treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 + 1 factorial with main effects of fermented corn protein (5 or 10%) or enzymatically treated soybean meal (5 or 10%). A control diet consisted of a standard corn-soybean meal diet with no fermented corn protein or enzymatically treated soybean meal.
The concentrations of fermented corn protein and enzymatically treated soybean meal in the diet were consistent in phase 1 and 2. Diets (Table 2 and 3) were formulated to contain 1.40% (phase 1) and 1.35% (phase 2) standardized ileal digestible (SID) Lys and met or exceeded nutrient requirements established by the NRC (2012). 4 Treatment diets were fed for 10 d in phase 1 (d 0 to 10) and 21 d in phase 2 (d 10 to 31). The experimental diets were manufactured in pellet form at Provimi North America in Lewisburg, OH. Individual pig weights and feed disappearance were measured on d 10, 17, 24, and 31 to determine ADG, ADFI, and F/G.
In Exp. 2, 350 pigs (241 × 600, DNA; initially 26.7 lb) were used in a 21-d phase 3 trial. Pigs were weaned at approximately 21 d of age and placed in pens of 5 pigs each based on initial weight and gender. On d 24 after weaning (d 0 of the trial), pens of pigs were weighed and then allotted to 1 of 5 dietary treatments with 14 replications per treatment. Dietary treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 + 1 factorial with main effects of fermented corn protein (10 or 20%) and BCAA:Leu (high or low). The control diet was a standard corn-soybean meal diet with no added fermented corn protein. Diets were manufactured in pellet form at Provimi North American in Lewisburg, OH, with a high or low BCAA:Leu. The 10 and 20% fermented corn protein diets were similar in decreasing amounts of soybean meal, but with or without the addition of the branch chain amino acids Ile and Val. The diets (Table 4) were formulated to contain 1.30% SID Lys and met or exceeded nutrient requirements established by the NRC. 4 Experimental diets were fed for 21 d (d 0 to 21) in phase 3 of the nursery program. Individual pig weights and feed disappearance were measured on d 10 and 21 to determine ADG, ADFI, and F/G.
Representative diet samples were obtained from every fifth bag of manufactured feed. The diet samples were stored at -20°C (-4°F) until they were homogenized, subsampled, and submitted for analysis of crude protein (CP), dry matter (DM), and ether extract (EE) to the University of Missouri Experiment Station Chemical Laboratories (Columbia, MO). A sample of fermented corn protein and enzymatically treated soybean meal were submitted for analysis of amino acid profile, Ca, and P to the University of Missouri Experiment Station Chemical Laboratories (Columbia, MO;

Statistical analysis
Data were analyzed as a randomized complete block design using the RStudio environment (Version 1.3.1093, RStudio, Inc., Boston, MA) using R programming language [Version 4.0.2 (2020-06-22), R Core Team, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria] with body weight serving as the blocking factor and pen as the experimental unit. Block was included in the model as a random effect. Linear and quadratic main effects of increasing levels of enzymatically treated soybean meal or fermented corn protein were tested, as well as any interactions. Differences between treatments were considered significant at P ≤ 0.05 and marginally significant at 0.05 < P ≤ 0.10.

Results and Discussion
The analyzed DM, CP, and EE (Table 2, 3, and 4) were reasonably consistent compared to formulated values between treatments. For both experiments, the analyzed CP percentage was slightly less than formulated values. As expected, the analyzed fermented corn protein (Table 1) was high in CP and the BCAA:Leu.
Fermented corn protein was found to contain 51 ppb aflatoxin and 16.7 ppm of total fumonisin. All other mycotoxins were below practical quantitation limit.
In Exp. 1 (Table 5), there were no interactions observed between protein source and inclusion level throughout the duration of the experiment.
From d 0 to 10 (phase 1), pigs fed fermented corn protein tended to have decreased (P = 0.084) BW compared to pigs fed diets containing enzymatically treated soybean meal. All other growth performance criteria were not significantly different between treatments in phase 1.
From d 10 to 31 (phase 2), pigs fed fermented corn protein had decreased (P ≤ 0.045) BW and ADG compared to pigs fed enzymatically treated soybean meal. Pigs that were fed increasing levels of fermented corn protein had decreased (linear, P ≤ 0.011) BW, ADG, and ADFI with no difference in F/G. However, pigs that were fed fermented corn protein regardless of inclusion percentage tended to have decreased (quadratic, 0.051 ≤ P ≤ 0.079) BW and ADFI compared to pigs fed the control diet. Pigs fed increasing levels of enzymatically treated soybean meal tended to have decreased (linear, P = 0.068) ADFI.
Overall (d 0 to 31), pigs fed enzymatically treated soybean meal had improved (P ≤ 0.034) BW, ADG, and F/G compared to pigs fed fermented corn protein, with no difference in ADFI. Pigs fed increasing levels of fermented corn protein had decreased (linear, P ≤ 0.026) BW, ADG, and ADFI, with no difference in F/G. However, pigs that were fed fermented corn protein regardless of inclusion percentage tended to have decreased (quadratic, 0.051 ≤ P ≤ 0.090) BW and ADFI.
In Exp. 2 (Table 6), there were no BCAA × fermented corn protein interactions observed throughout the duration of the experiment.
In the first weigh period and overall (d 0 to 21), pigs that were fed fermented corn protein diets with high BCAA:Leu had improved (P = 0.034) F/G compared to pigs fed fermented corn protein diets with low BCAA:Leu.
In both weight periods and overall, pigs fed diets containing increasing levels of fermented corn protein had worsened (linear, P ≤ 0.020) BW, ADG, ADFI, and F/G. fermented corn protein diminishes growth performance in the diets of nursery pigs and increasing BCAAs can only improve feed efficiency.

Brand names appearing in this publication are for product identification purposes only. No endorsement is intended, nor is criticism implied of similar products not mentioned.
Persons using such products assume responsibility for their use in accordance with current label directions of the manufacturer.        A total of 324 pigs (initial BW of 26.7 ± 3.41 lb) were weaned at approximately 21 d of age and placed in pens of 5 pigs each based on initial weight and gender. On d 24 after weaning (d 0 of the trial), pens of pigs were weighed and then allotted to 1 of 5 dietary treatments with 14 replications per treatment. Dietary treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 + 1 factorial with main effects of fermented corn protein (10 or 20%) and BCAA:Leu (high or low). 2 Branch chain amino acids. 3 Fermented corn protein was included at 0, 10, or 20% of the diet. 4 The BCAA and fermented corn protein columns compare the low and high BCAA:Leu formulation and the 10/20% inclusion of fermented corn protein and do not include the control treatment. The Linear and Quad columns include the control (0%), 10, and 20% fermented corn protein averaged across low/high BCAA:Leu. There were no significant BCAA × fermented corn protein interactions observed (P > 0.05).