Effect of wheat as a feedstuff in starter diets on nursery pig growth performance and digestibility

Abstract Two studies were conducted to determine if corn can be replaced by wheat and if wheat can be combined with corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and a commercial carbohydrase in phase 2 and 3 nursery diets. In Exp. 1, 144 pigs were blocked by weight and randomly allotted to 6 dietary treatments: 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% wheat replacing corn. In Exp. 2, 210 pigs were blocked by weight and randomly allotted to 5 dietary treatments: control diet (CO); 30% wheat (W); wheat with carbohydrase (W + Enz); 30% wheat with 30% corn DDGS (WCD); and WCD with carbohydrase (WCD + Enz). In both experiments, pigs were fed a standard phase 1 diet from d 0 to 7 post-weaning. In both experiments, TiO 2 was used as an indigestible marker to determine apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of N, ether extract (EE), gross energy (GE), P, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF). In Exp. 1, there was a quadratic effect of increasing wheat on overall (d 0–35) average daily gain (ADG, P P P P P P P P P