Ethanol Blog

Iowa State University professor John Patience earned an award for his research on fiber and gut functionality in pigs, especially in high fiber ingredients such as dried distillers grains, according to an article by Feed Navigator (http://bit.ly/…).

The American Feed Industry Association and the Federation of Animal Science Societies awarded Patience the New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition Award earlier this month for his contributions to nutritional research for animals.

Patience has been dedicated to understanding the structure of a pig's gut and how that may affect/be affected by a pig's diet, digestion and immune system. More recently, he has concentrated on examining the effect of dietary fiber on gut health and function, hoping to discover ways for producers to improve feed efficiency by formulating diets providing certain amounts or types of fiber.

One of the objects of the research is to look at feed ingredients such as DDG and flour milling co-products which provide large amount of fiber to pigs.

Patience stressed that the increased use of these products makes it necessary to understand how they are being used in feed and how the fiber is being used by the pig, in order to increase the value of the fiber in the diet.

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at Cheryl.anderson@dtn.com.

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