Standardized ileal digestibilities of amino acids and nitrogen in rye, barley, soybean meal, malt sprouts, sorghum, wheat germ and broken rice fed to growing pigs

Standardized ileal digestibilities of amino acids and nitrogen in rye, barley, soybean meal, malt sprouts, sorghum, wheat germ and broken rice fed to growing pigs were determined. Seven cannulated gilts (initial BW 34.8 ± 0.7 kg) fitted with T-cannula in terminal ileum were housed in metabolism cages in an air-conditioned room. The tested feeds were used in the diets as sole sources of N. The diets were fed to pigs according to a 7 × 7 Latin square design. A nitrogen-free diet was used to estimate basal endogenous losses of amino acids and N. The highest standardized ileal digestibility of amino acids was observed in broken rice (0.96) and wheat germ (0.84) while the lowest value was found in malt sprouts (0.61). Digestibility values estimated in soybean meal, barley, sorghum and rye were 0.91, 0.83, 0.82 and 0.77, respectively. The first-limiting ileal digestible amino acids were lysine (rye, barley, sorghum, rice) or sulphur-containing amino acids (soybean meal, malt sprouts, wheat germ). Taking into consideration crude protein and digestible amino acid contents, the best sources of available protein were soybean meal and wheat germ.