Evaluation of Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles in Diets of Laying Hens

Abstract

MATTERSON et al. (1966) reviewed the literature on the use of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) in laying hen feeds. These workers also presented data which indicated that DDGS could comprise as much as one-third of the gross protein content of a laying ration, and at the same time replace all of the fish meal, alfalfa, milk by-products, and some of the vitamin supplements (B12 and choline) in the 1962 New England College Conference Laying Ration. It is generally accepted that methionine (sulfur amino acids) is the first limiting amino acid in a corn-soybean meal type diet. Harms et al. (1967) reported that a linear response could be obtained in performance of laying hens by feeding graded levels of methionine from 0.214 to 0.308 percent, with total sulfur amino acid levels of 0.392 and 0.528 percent, respectively. This work was conducted with corn-soybean meal type diets which are very…