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Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 66506-0201
3 Correspondence:
phone 785-532-5833; fax 785-532-5887; E-mail:
jderouch{at}oznet.ksu.edu.
| Abstract |
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Key Words: Blood meal Irradiation Nurseries pH Pig Quality Controls
| Introduction |
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In blood meal manufacturing, liquid blood can be stored for several days post collection before it is dried. During this storage time, microbial populations in the liquid blood may increase and pH decrease. Anecdotal evidence suggests that blood meal with a low pH has an offensive odor, which may result in decreased nutritional value or a negative effect on palatability. Past research, either by chemical laboratory analysis (Dimitrova and Brankova, 1975) or rat growth assays (Downes et al., 1987), has indicated that blood meal can be irradiated to decrease bacteria without jeopardizing protein quality. However, the effects of irradiated blood meal in diets for nursery pigs have not been examined.
Therefore, the objectives of our experiments were to determine if weanling pig performance was affected by pH or irradiation of blood meal. Specifically, we compared the effects of varying pH in two experiments and compared different irradiation sources and dosages in a third experiment to assess the effects of spray-dried blood meal in diets for nursery pigs.
| Materials and Methods |
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Pigs (Line 327 sire x C22 dams; PIC, Franklin, KY) were housed in environmentally controlled nurseries. Each pen (Exp. 1, 1.5 m2; Exp. 2 and 3, 1.2 m2) had slatted metal flooring and contained a stainless steel self-feeder and one nipple waterer to allow ad libitum consumption of feed and water.
Each pig in Exp. 1 was provided 0.45 kg of phase I diet (Table 1
) and then a phase II diet until 10 d after weaning. In Exp. 2 and 3, pigs were all fed the phase I diet until 5 and 4 d after weaning, respectively. In all experiments, pigs were weighed and allotted to their respective pens at weaning, then weighed again at the start of the experiment, but were not resorted to different pens. Initial pen weight at the start of the experimental period was used as a covariate for the statistical analysis.
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Experiment 1
Two hundred forty barrows and gilts (17 ± 2 d of age at weaning) were blocked by initial weight and gender and randomly allotted to one of five dietary treatments. Each treatment had six replications (pens) and eight pigs per pen.
Pigs were fed experimental diets from d 10 to 31 postweaning (7.0 to 16.3 kg of BW). Experimental diets included a control diet with no added blood meal and four diets containing 2.5% blood meal. The four blood meals were from the same spray-drying processing facility, but had pH of 7.4, 6.7, 6.4, and 5.9, respectively, after spray drying. The 7.4-, 6.7-, and 6.4-pH blood meals originated from different lots of bovine blood, whereas the blood meal of pH 5.9 was of avian origin.
Experiment 2
One hundred eighty barrows (17 ± 2 d of age at weaning) were blocked by initial weight and randomly allotted to one of five dietary treatments. Each treatment had six replications (pens) and five pigs per pen.
Pigs were fed experimental diets from d 5 to 19 postweaning (6.8 to 10.1 kg of BW). These included a control diet with no added blood meal and four diets containing 5.0% blood meal. A single lot of whole blood from a beef harvesting facility was collected and transported to a spray-drying facility. The whole blood was allowed to clot, and then was sent through a disintegrator and screen before storage (5°C). One fourth of the total lot was dried on d 0, 3, 8, and 12 after collection. This drying schedule resulted in blood meal with pH values of 7.6, 6.4, 6.0, and 5.9, respectively. The blood meal with pH 5.9 was separated into two equal portions, with one of the portions treated with gamma ray irradiation (SteriGenics, Tustin, CA) at an average dosage of 9.5 kGy.
Experiment 3
Three hundred barrows (17 ± 6 d of age at weaning) were blocked by weight and allotted to one of 10 dietary treatments. Each treatment had six replications (pens) per treatment with five pigs per pen.
Pigs were fed experimental diets from d 4 to 18 postweaning (8.7 to 13.2 kg of BW), which included a control diet with no added spray-dried blood meal, a diet with 5% regular spray-dried blood meal, or 5% spray-dried blood meal with irradiation treatment. Irradiated treatments included blood meal treated with either gamma ray (cobalt-60 source; SteriGenics) or electron beam (Steris-Isomedix Services, Libertyville, IL) irradiation at increasing dosage (2.5, 5.0 10.0, and 20.0 kGy). All blood meal used in this experiment was from the same original lot, was of bovine origin, and had an initial pH of 7.4.
Statistical Analyses
Data from all experiments were analyzed as a randomized complete block design with pen as the experimental unit. Pigs were blocked based on weaning weight, and analysis of variance was performed using the GLM procedure of SAS (SAS Inst., Inc., Cary, NC). Contrasts were used to determine the effect of blood meal in diets compared to the control (no blood meal). Linear and quadratic polynomial contrasts for unequally spaced treatments were used to determine the effects of blood meal pH (Exp. 1 and 2) and irradiation dosage (Exp. 3). In addition, contrasts were used to determine the effect of blood meal irradiation (Exp. 2 and 3) and irradiation source (Exp. 3). Initial pen weight at the start of the experimental period (Exp. 1, d 10; Exp. 2, d 5; and Exp. 3, d 4) was used as a covariate for statistical analyses. Statistically significant differences are reported as P < 0.05, whereas statistical tendencies are reported as P < 0.10.
| Results |
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During d 0 to 4 after weaning (common diet fed), pigs had ADG, ADFI, and G:F of 293 g, 220 g, and 1.33, respectively (Table 9). For the overall experimental period (d 0 to 14), pigs fed diets containing blood meal had similar ADG, ADFI, and G:F compared to pigs fed the control diet.
From d 0 to 7, as well as overall (d 0 to 14), the inclusion of irradiated blood meal tended (P < 0.10) to increase G:F with no effects on ADG or ADFI. No differences in ADG, ADFI, and G:F were detected between pigs fed blood meal irradiated from different sources and dosages.
| Discussion |
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In the present experiments, feeding diets containing blood meal with different pH did not affect growth performance. Anecdotal reports of an increase in the odor offensiveness of blood meal as pH decreases reported by feed manufacturers were confirmed by the authors olfactory sensing of the blood meal lots. Palatability may be of concern when a higher level of blood meal with a pH of 5.9 is included into the diet since Exp. 1 contained 2.5% blood meal, whereas Exp. 2 contained 5.0%. Additionally, the blood meal lot with pH 5.9 was of avian origin in Exp. 1, but in the other blood meal lots it was of bovine origin. However, research has indicated that pigs performed similarly when fed blood meal from either bovine or avian origin (Kats et al., 1994), and therefore would not be considered a confounding factor in regards to pH in our experiment. In Exp. 2, the blood meal with pH 5.9 was stored for a longer time prior to spray drying. An increase in NH4 concentration is associated with bacterial activity on nitrogen products (Mayes, 2000). Upon laboratory analyses, the NH4 level from the blood meal lots increased with an increase in storage time prior to spray drying. Even though an increase in NH4 and odor was observed, the nutritional value seemed to remain unchanged due to similar ADG and G:F compared to the other blood meal lots within Exp. 2. However, palatability may be a concern for blood stored for 12 d prior to spray drying.
The second area of ingredient quality addressed by these experiments focused on the possible interaction of bacterial concentrations of blood meal and its subsequent effect on pig performance. Irradiation has proven an effective means to reduce the bacteria level in dried blood products (Brankova and Dimitrova, 1975; Downes et al., 1987; and Turubatovic et al., 1993). In Exp. 2, we irradiated a portion of the blood meal generated from the last spray-drying day because we believed that the bacterial concentration of this lot would be the highest after the longest storage period. However, upon analyses, all blood meal that was dried in Exp. 2 had high levels of bacteria, and relatively little change in concentrations occurred with the storage times used in our study. Similar bacterial concentrations were observed between the nonirradiated blood meal samples from Exp. 2 and 3.
Other researchers have shown positive effects of irradiation of blood meal. Brankova and Dimitrova (1975) examined the microbiology of animal plasma that was irradiated by gamma rays at doses of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 kGy. A dosage of 15 kGy resulted in marked reductions of bacteria and a dosage of 20 kGy resulted in sterility in their study. Uchman et al. (1986) evaluated the efficacy of increased dosage of gamma ray irradiation on liquid animal plasma (0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 3.0, 4.0, and 8.0 kGy) and on spray-dried animal plasma (0.1, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 6.0 kGy). Initially, the liquid plasma had bacterial concentrations ranging from 1.5 x 106 to 3.2 x 106 cfu/cm3. Post irradiation bacterial counts linearly decreased from 8.5 x 101 to 0 cfu/cm3 as the dosage was increased. The initial bacterial concentrations of the spray-dried plasma ranged from 2.2 x103 to 4.3 x103 cfu/g. with post irradiation bacterial counts linearly decreasing from 2.0 x 103 to 0 cfu/g with increased dosage. This study demonstrates that liquids are much more sensitive to lower levels of irradiation, but at higher levels (6.0 kGy), all bacteria were eliminated, regardless of the physical form of the raw material. However, after storage of liquid plasma for 48 h post irradiation at 4.0 kGy, bacterial levels rose to levels similar to those before irradiation (Uchman et al., 1986). After irradiation of dried animal plasma, bacteria levels rose slightly, but after 6 wk of storage, the level of contamination was stable and lower in comparison with untreated samples. The authors also determined that no yeast and mold existed when dried plasma was irradiated at a dosage of 2.0 kGy or above, which would be consistent with data from Exp. 3 showing no yeast and mold when irradiation of 2.5 kGy was applied.
De Souza Biagio (1987) reported that gamma ray irradiation was slightly more effective than electron beam irradiation in reducing microbial concentrations at similar dosages. The author estimated that the 10D value kGy, or the dosage amount to achieve a 1 log reduction in bacteria, was 0.82 and 1.06 kGy for gamma ray and electron beam irradiation, respectively. This equates to an irradiation dosage of approximately 3.3 kGy for gamma ray and 4.2 kGy for electron beam to achieve sterilization of blood meal with an initial bacterial concentration of 9.6 x103 cfu/g. Downes et al. (1987) evaluated gamma ray irradiation at increasing dosages (0, 10, 20, 45, and 50 kGy) on spray-dried blood powder to determine the influence on bacterial concentrations and its effect on the relative nutritive value (multislope ratio assay with body protein as the response criteria) in rats. They reported an increase in the feeding value of blood meal that was irradiated (10 kGy) compared to blood meal that was not. Also, analyses for bacteria concentrations revealed no detectable levels present for total aerobes, aerobic spores, anaerobic spores, fecal streptococci, coliforms, Salmonella sp., and B. subtilis (heat resistant) at all irradiation dosages used. In addition, the liquid whole blood was contaminated with Bluetongue and Banzi viruses prior to spray drying, but both were inactivated during the spray-drying process (80°C for 2 to 3 s).
The benefits of irradiation, however, must be weighed against possible alterations in feed value. Most research shows little, if any, negative effect on blood meal properties and some show slight benefits. Dimitrova and Brankova (1975) reported that irradiation (from 0 to 20 kGy) of blood meal did not influence pH or protein solubility. In addition, Hayashi et al. (1991) reported that irradiation dosages of 5, 10, and 15 kGy from both electron beam and gamma ray sources on freeze-dried porcine plasma reduced bacterial concentrations to less then 10 cfu/g from an initial microbial load of 2.2 x 104 cfu/g. Upon testing the irradiated samples, they observed no significant changes in the functional properties of protein solubility and emulsifying capacity from either gamma ray- or electron beam-treated blood meal. However, solubility declined linearly as the dosage increased for blood meal treated with either type of irradiation. Uchman et al. (1987) evaluated the solubility, emulsifying capacity, and viscosity of spray-dried blood meal treated at gamma ray irradiation doses of 0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 10,0, 16.7, 20.0, and 50.0 kGy. They reported that all functional properties of blood meal were unaffected by irradiation doses up to 5 kGy. However, a significant worsening of solubility and viscosity, but an improvement in emulsifying capacity occurred at dosages above 5 kGy.
The limited research available shows little effect on amino acid content and protein quality of feed ingredients or whole diets after irradiation. Metta and Johnson (1951) reported no differences in digestibility or biological value of irradiated (28 kGy) wheat gluten and corn protein. They also reported no loss of available lysine in a guinea pig diet made from natural ingredients when irradiated at 25 kGy. Ford (1976) reported that the total amino acid, true digestibility, biological value, and net protein utilization of a complete rat diet were not significantly affected when irradiated at 25 and 100 kGy. However, Ford (1976) did observe a slight reduction in lysine availability at both dosage levels of irradiation. Furthermore, Hansen (1966) reported no loss in available lysine of blood meal when irradiated at 50 kGy.
In the only swine feeding trial to evaluate irradiated blood meal, Hansen et al. (1966) compared spray-dried blood meal from one lot that was divided equally and subsequently irradiated (25 kGy) or heat treated (145°C for 45 min). Pigs fed diets containing irradiated blood meal from 20 to 50 kg had reduced ADFI per kilogram of gain compared to the heat-treated blood meal. No differences were found from 50 to 90 kg of BW. Their trial design, pig size and age, and lack of a control diet (containing nonirradiated spray-dried blood meal) created difficultly in comparing their results to the present experiments. However, the increase in efficiency of gain during the initial feeding period would agree with our results.
In the present experiments, pigs fed diets containing irradiated blood meal had improved growth performance compared to blood meal that was not irradiated. In Exp. 2, overall ADG and G:F were improved by approximately 24 and 8%, respectively, whereas in Exp. 3, G:F increased by 7% when comparing the average of all pigs fed irradiated blood meal compared to pigs fed nonirradiated blood meal. Pigs in Exp. 3 were heavier at the initiation of the study and had a much wider variation in age than those in Exp. 2. This may explain why no blood meal response was observed in Exp. 3 when compared to the control diet and why significant responses to irradiation of blood meal were not seen.
Research evaluating the microbial characteristics of irradiated blood meal clearly indicates that both electron beam and gamma ray sources of irradiation are effective in reducing bacterial concentrations. Although irradiation of blood meal reduces or eliminates bacteria, the low inclusion level of blood meal used in our experimental diets would not alter the total diet microbiology dramatically. However, higher levels of bacteria then expected were cultured in blood meal that was treated with electron beam irradiation in Exp. 3. The reason for this is unknown since the processor certified irradiation application.
Results are mixed when comparing the functional properties of irradiated blood products in previous research. However, in Exp. 3, irradiation dosage up to 20 kGy did not adversely affect performance. Data from previous trials conflict slightly in regard to amino acid and protein quality at the irradiation dosage that we used in our experiments. Some of the experiments demonstrated either a slight improvement or slight decrease in quality, with the majority indicating no changes. No experiments, however, reported detrimental effects to amino acids or overall protein quality. This data, along with the current experiments, would indicate that irradiation at the doses used in our experiments would, at the very least, have no damaging effects on the protein portion of blood meal and may be beneficial.
Further investigation into the irradiation of other dried blood products or specialty protein sources for nursery pigs is needed and the mode of action for the improved growth performance of nursery pigs fed irradiated spray-dried blood needs to be determined.
| Implications |
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| Footnotes |
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2 Appreciation is expressed to California Spray-Dry Co., Stockton, CA, for providing the spray-dried blood meal used in these experiments. ![]()
Received for publication January 26, 2002. Accepted for publication November 27, 2002.
| Literature Cited |
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