Effects of Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles and Gromega on Fat and Meat Quality from Sows

Feeding different levels of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) to sows may affect the fatty acid profile and quality of final sausage products such as bratwurst. The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in quality of bratwurst made from sows fed different combinations of DDGS with or without Gromega. The 4 dietary treatments were as follows: control (CON), control plus DDGS (CON+DDGS), control plus Gromega (CONGROW), or control and Gromega plus DDGS (CONGROW+DDGS). For the DDGS treatments, 30% DDGS was fed during gestation, followed by 15% during lactation. Both initial appearance and cooked scores of bratwurst were determined. Fresh appearance of bratwurst was based on a 1 to 4 scale (1 = lowest and 4 = highest), plus an unacceptable product (UP). Only the CON+DDGS was lower (P ≤ 0.01) in fresh appearance when compared with all other fresh bratwurst. The CONGROW+DDGS bratwurst had a higher overall cooked quality (P ≤ 0.02) and taste score (P ≤ 0.01) compared with all other bratwurst treatments. Bratwurst fatty acid profiles differed among treatments. The concentration of linoleic acid was greatest (P ≤ 0.0001) in the CONGROW+DDGS, followed by the CON+DDGS group, with both treatments without DDGS being lowest. The highest (P ≤ 0.0001) calculated iodine value was observed in the CON+DDGS (65.6), followed by CONGROW+DDGS (59.7), with the lowest being the 2 non-DDGS diets [53.1 (CON) and 55.9 (CONGROW)]. In summary, differences were observed in DDGS feeding of sows, and Gromega apparently enhanced overall bratwurst quality.