How Hi-Gel™ Corn Improves Diet Formulations
Often used as a source of energy in a diet formulation, the starch of corn is broken down into glucose in the intestine (glucose is the most common sugar in the diet). In ruminant animals, like cattle, which have a giant microbial fermentation vat situated before the intestine, rumen microbes will quickly convert glucose into short-chain fatty acids (also called volatile fatty acids) that can be used for energy.
Notice that the starch in corn must be either broken down into smaller pieces (glucose), which are then either used directly or are converted to something else (short-chain fatty acids) before becoming useful. As you might guess, there is a cost to the animal associated with this digestion. This is where processing comes into play.
High-shear dry extrusion from Insta-Pro is used to make Hi-Gel™ corn, an ingredient with starch that is highly gelatinized (90% or more) as determined by a starch gelatinization test. Starch that is thoroughly gelatinized makes these digestive and conversion processes more efficient.
These efficiency gains from Insta-Pro dry extrusion allow better animal performance (when Hi-Gel™ corn is used correctly). Consider the following tips for proper and successful formulations:
- According to data from Penn State University, dairy cows fed a controlled amount of Hi-Gel™ corn (about 1.7 kg/cow/day), along with a better source of soy meal, exhibited enhanced milk production by 4.5% versus cows fed steam-flaked corn and canola meal. However, increasing the feeding level of Hi-Gel™ corn much beyond this amount caused performance reductions.
- Recently, nursery swine work conducted at Iowa State University has reiterated that piglet voluntary feed intake closely follows dietary levels of available energy. As dry extrusion increases the amount of available energy in corn, this must be taken into consideration.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us about using Hi-Gel™ corn in animal diets. Let us use our archives of data from animal and laboratory experiments to help you achieve the most success with this ingredient.
