January 25, 2007

Triticale as alternative swine feed ingredient

Triticale, a cross between wheat and rye, is gaining in popularity as an alternative to wheat and barley for swine producers looking to escape the increasing cost of wheat.

A Canadian pork research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Food recently pointed out triticale had great potential as an alternative feed ingredient.

As the price of corn increases in the US and that of wheat in Canada, the price for other grains including barley, used in swine and poultry diet, too has gone up. Pork producers are therefore, searching for less expensive feed ingredients.

Researchers with Alberta Agriculture and Food compared weaned pig diets based on hard red and prairie spring wheats to diets based on triticale.

The primary reason for considering triticale was its higher yield compared to wheat and its higher net energy value compared to corn, said research scientist Dr Eduardo Beltranena.

Recent experiments on four varieties of triticale evoked a positive response in nursery pigs with a 4-percent improvement in feed conversion efficiency.

Also, scientists concluded triticale gave a 10 to 20 percent increase in yield per unit of cultivated land. Therefore, adding increased yield per cultivated land gives a 4-percent increment in feed conversions efficiency which means one could produce more pork per unit of land with triticale compared to either Canada prairie spring or hard red spring wheat.

Dr Beltranena noted while feed efficiency differed among the diets, pigs fed the triticale diets had better overall feed efficiency than those fed the hard red spring or Canada prairie spring wheat diets.