Comparison of Swine Diets Containing a Food Waste Product Made with Wheat Middlings and Corn or a Corn/Soybean Diet

Although pigs will readily consume wet food waste (FW), the high moisture content contributes to spoilage and feeding management problems. The use of a dry, processed FW product was compared with a traditional corn and soybean (CS) diet using growing swine in two performance trials and one digestibility trial. The FW diet contained approximately 20% processed FW (DM basis). In Trial 1, 24 gilts (76.4 kg) housed in eight replicated pens (four pens per treatment) were fed in a 6-wk trial. Intake, BW gain, feed efficiency, and carcass characteristics were compared. Feed intake and BW gain averaged 3.4 and 3.6 kg of DM/d and 0.87 and 0.85 kg/d for gilts fed traditional and FW diets, respectively. There were no differences in these or any other measurements (P>0.05). In Trial 2, 12 barrows (84.3 kg) housed in four replicated pens (two pens per treatment) were fed in a 6-wk trial. Intake, BW gain, feed efficiency, and carcass characteristics were compared. Feed intake and BW gain averaged 3.1 and 3.3 kg of DM/d and 0.62 and 0.71 kg/d for barrows fed traditional and FW diets, respectively. Four growing gilts (68.2 kg) were used to compare digestibility in a crossover design. There were no differences (P>0.10) for DM, CP, ADF, or NDF digestibility when feed intake averaged 1.9 kg of DM/d for both FW and CS diets. The use of up to 20% processed FW may be suitable in commercial swine diets.