Brian Kerr

United States Department of Agriculture | USDA · Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

Nitrogen (N) is an essential element for life, but due to its inefficient utilization, N waste and emissions generated have exceeded the planetary boundaries and ability of the Earth to effectively overcome these environmentally detrimental effects. Global food animal production contributes 29 to 34% of total global N emissions, with pork supply ch...

Amino acids (AA) are an expensive nutritional components of poultry diets. Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is the primary co-product produced by the dry grind bioethanol industry, although new technologies are being implemented to produce high protein distillers dried grains (HP-DDG) and corn fermented protein (CFP), but data on their...

Isoacids are branched ketoacids which when fed to ruminants have been shown to enhance the growth of fiber-digesting organisms. Ninety finishing gilts were individually fed dietary treatments consisting of diet type: corn-soybean meal (CSBM), a diet containing 40% distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), or a diet containing 40% sugar beet pul...

Isoacids are short, branched-chain volatile fatty acids produced by microbial degradation of branched-chain amino acids. While there is a lack of information on isoacids supplementation in monogastric animals, in ruminants, isoacids are growth factors for cellulolytic bacteria which leads to improved digestibility of fibrous ingredients. The object...

Twenty-four gilts and barrows (n = 8/trt) were divided into three treatment groups: control (CON), 0.5 % Aronia melanocarpa juice powder (AM; LoBerry), and 1.0 % AM juice powder (HiBerry). Pigs were fed for 14 d and tissues were collected. No differences in performance were observed. Ileum IL-18 tended to be lower in LoBerry pigs, while colonic IFN...

High crude protein (CP; 21% to 26%) diets fed during the first 21 to 28 d postweaning are viewed negatively because of a perceived increase in the incidence rates of diarrhea due to increased intestinal protein fermentation and/or augmented enteric pathogen burden. This is thought to antagonize nursery pig health and growth performance. Therefore,...

The null hypothesis that there are no differences in concentrations of digestible energy (DE), metabolizable energy (ME), and net energy (NE) among different sources of bakery meal was tested in a regional experiment involving 5 of the universities on the North Central Coordinating Committee-42 on Swine Nutrition. Eleven sources of bakery meal were...

In the U.S. swine industry, feeding programs are focused on using feed ingredients that are easily digestible and cost effective. With the predicted increases in soybean processing, pig producers may have increased availability of a cost-effective protein source in soybean meal (SBM). This expanded availability of SBM may result in feeding protein...

The need to understand intestinal health is of increasing importance as the livestock industry seeks to maintain performance efficiency while eliminating prophylactic antibiotic usage. Intestinal permeability is a biomarker of intestinal health as it measures the movement of an indigestible marker across the intestinal barrier with excretion in the...

The adoption of methods detecting intestinal permeability in poultry has been slow due to the lack of urine availability in avian species. The objective of this study was to examine intestinal permeability assays in broilers using serum. Fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran (FITC-D) and lactulose/mannitol/sucralose (LMS), indigestible sugars, were us...

To compare different soybean oil sources, a 42-d study was performed using 780 straight-run Ross 308 broilers randomly assigned to 1 of 5 dietary treatments. Dietary treatments consisted of: 1) a corn-soybean meal negative control (NC) diet containing 4.5% fine sand, or the NC diet with an additional 400 kcal of AME/kg from 4.5% fat inclusion of: 2...

Pork is one of the most consumed animal-derived protein sources around the world, but less than 45% of dietary nitrogen (N) is converted into edible lean meat. This inefficiency contributes to the 80% of human-induced N emissions that have resulted in exceeding the planetary boundaries for N. Reducing this inefficiency requires using a multifaceted...

Two hundred and forty newly weaned pigs (PIC, Hendersonville, TN) were used to determine if supplementing additional arginine (Arg) either in the water or in the feed, and the combinations thereof, improved intestinal integrity and growth performance in nursery pigs. Each of the 80 pens contained 3 pigs (21 ± 2 days of age) which were randomly allo...

Background The 2017 Veterinary Feed Directive eliminated the use of medically important antibiotics for growth promotion of food animals; thus, alternative growth promoters are highly desirable by food animal producers to enhance animal health and reduce pathogen colonization, including the human foodborne pathogen Salmonella . β(1-3)(1-6)- d -gluc...

An experiment was conducted to determine how feeding a calcium (Ca) deficient diet would affect gastrointestinal pH and volatile fatty acids (VFA), Ca digestibility, bone mineral density (BMD), and performance in nursery pigs; and if supplementation of nondigestible oligosaccharides would affect these same parameters. Two hundred and forty weaned p...

Two experiments (EXP) determined the susceptibility of spray dried egg white (SDEW) to oxidation (heating at 100°C for 72 h; thermally processed, TP) and whether feeding TP-SDEW, 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15-ADON), or peroxidized soybean oil (PSO), singularly or in combination, would affect pig performance, intestinal morphology, digestibility, and...

Alternatives to antibiotics to improve animal performance, limit the negative impact of infectious disease, and/or reduce colonization with foodborne pathogens is a major focus of animal agricultural research. β-glucans, a generally-recognized-as-safe (GRAS) product derived from various sources, are used in swine and can serve as both a prebiotic a...

Evidently, pathogens and swine herd health are regarded as the top risk factors that can potentially disrupt normal pork production. Since the last edition of the Sustainable Swine Nutrition edited by Chiba, unprecedented global COVID‐19 pandemic challenges and disruptive cell‐based new meat production technologies have emerged, which need to be to...

Three experiments (EXP) were conducted to determine the effect of feed additives on performance, intestinal integrity, gastrointestinal volatile fatty acids (VFA), and energy and nutrient digestion in non-challenged nursery pigs. In EXP 1, 480 pigs (6.36 kg body weight, BW) were placed into 96 pens with 5 pigs/pen, and allotted to 1 of 10 dietary t...

The objectives were to determine how high levels ( > 2.5 mg/kg diet) of deoxynivalenol (DON), in conjunction with other naturally occurring mycotoxins (MTX) would impact growth, intestinal integrity, and oxidative status, with or without a mitigation strategy, in nursery pigs. One-hundred and five pigs (5.5 ± 0.52 kg) were randomly allotted to 35 p...

Prebiotics, such as resistant potato starch (RPS), are types of food that help to support beneficial bacteria and their activities in the intestines. Salmonella enterica serovar I 4,[5],12:i:- is a foodborne pathogen that commonly resides in the intestines of pigs without disease, but can make humans sick if unintentionally consumed. Here we show t...

Two experiments were conducted to demonstrate the effects of adding a phytogenic feed additive (PFA; Digestarom Sow, BIOMIN America Inc.) on growth performance of nursery pigs compared with a carbadox feeding program. Newly weaned pigs were randomly allotted into a control (added carbadox) or PFA treatment. A total of 144 (6.10 ± 0.20 kg of BW, Exp...

The objective of the three experiments herein were to characterize the effect of pharmacological zinc and copper concentrations on nursery pig feed intake, stomach ghrelin, energy and nutrient digestibility, and mineral retention in post-weaned pigs. In Expt. 1, 300 weaned pigs were allotted across three dietary treatments (n = 10 pens/treatment) a...

Swine growers seeking to lower costs and environmental impact have turned to alternative carbohydrate feed sources. A feeding trial was conducted to determine the effect carbohydrate sources have on manure composition and gas emissions. A total of 48 gilts averaging 138 kg BW were fed diets consisting of (a) low fiber (LF) grain, or (b) high fiber...

The objectives of this study were to determine if feeding thermally processed (TP, heated at 100°C for 120 h) spray-dried egg whites (SDEW) to nursery pigs would impact growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of GE, N, and S, and oxidative stress. Thirty-two barrows, (initial BW 7.1 kg) were randomly assigned to dietary treatm...

Optimal nutrition is essential to support growth and development of farm animals, and in combination with costs, is essential in maintaining economical animal production. Simplistically nutrition involves physiological and biochemical processes whereupon feedstuffs are consumed for energy and nutrient purposes, and through the myriad of digestive a...

Past experiments have reported conflicting effects of feeding peroxidized soybean oil (pSO) to growing pigs on plasma F2-isoprostanes (ISP) and thiobarbituic acid reactive substances (TBARS) concentrations. Two experiments were conducted to clarify these inconsistencies. In experiment 1 (Exp. 1), 13.5 to 24.0 kg pigs were fed diets for 22 d which c...

Mycotoxins (MTX) such as deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisins (FUM), and zearalenone (ZEN) are a few of the most prevalent mycotoxins in livestock feed. Effects of MTX can vary based on contamination and type, but include losses in performance, immune function and reproduction impacting profitability. Effectiveness of mitigation strategies for MTX can...

Soybean meal is the dominate protein source for swine diets in the world driven largely by economics, nutritive value, and availability; but conditions can change requiring growers to consider more economical and available protein alternatives. A feeding trial was conducted to determine the impact dietary protein source material on manure slurry ch...

Crude protein (CP) is a key nutrient in swine diets supplying essential amino acids, N, and S to animals for growth are fed in excess to maximize growth. Swine diets reduced in CP and supplemented with crystalline amino acids have been shown effective at maintaining animal growth while increasing overall CP use efficiency. A feeding trial study was...

Rendered products from the meat industry provide quality proteins in diets for companion animals. These proteins are exposed to extreme temperatures during processing leading to the potential for decreased diet digestibility and subsequent growth performance. While this would impact production efficiency in livestock species, oxidized ingredients i...

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate oil source and peroxidation status (Exp. 1) or peroxidized soybean oil (Exp. 2 and 3) on growth performance, oxidative stress, and digestibility of dietary ether extract (EE). In Exp. 1, palm oil (PO), poultry fat (PF), canola oil (CO), and soybean oil (SO) were evaluated while in Exp. 2 and 3, only SO w...

Background Restaurant oil in poultry diets increases energy content, reduces production costs, and promotes sustainability within the food supply chain. However, variable oil composition and heating temperatures among restaurant oil sources can impact broiler chicken health due to heat-induced lipid modifications. Objectives A 21-d experiment was...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of feeding hydrogenated palm kernel oil (PKO), palm oil (PO), or soybean oil (SO) relative to unhydrogenated PKO, PO, and SO on apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of gross energy (GE) and ether extract (EE), and on pig performance, in to 20 to 40 kg pigs. One hundred and fifty-four pigs...

Rendered by-products are common feedstuffs in diets. During processing, these sources have potential to become oxidized. While most research on oxidative stress has focused on dietary oxidized lipids, little research has been done in dietary oxidized proteins and the potential to induce oxidative stress. Recent studies have shown consumption of die...

Multidrug-resistant (MDR; resistance to >3 antimicrobial classes) Salmonella enterica serovar I 4,[5],12:i:- strains were linked to a 2015 foodborne outbreak from pork. Strain USDA15WA-1, associated with the outbreak, harbors an MDR module and the metal tolerance element Salmonella Genomic Island 4 (SGI-4). Characterization of SGI-4 revealed that c...

Nutrients excreted from animals affect the nutritive value of manure as a soil amendment as well as the composition of gases emitted from manure storage facilities. There is a dearth of information, however, on how diet type in combination with dietary particle size affects nutrients deposited into manure storage facilities and how this affects man...

The objective of this experiment was to determine the impact of diets containing increasing amounts of enzymatically treated soybean meal (ESBM) but decreasing amounts of soybean meal (SBM) on growth performance, intestinal structure, and barrier integrity, inflammation, and oxidative status in weaned pigs. A total of 480 pigs [6.3 ± 1.2 kg body...

Abstract Background The benefits of using the oxidized oils from rendering and recycling as an economic source of lipids and energy in animal feed always coexist with the concerns that diverse degradation products in these oxidized oils can negatively affect animal health and performance. Therefore, the quality markers that predict growth performan...

β-glucan is a prebiotic dietary fiber with immune and microbiota modulating properties. Dietary β-glucan can shift intestinal microbial populations and concentrations of short chain fatty acids (notably, butyrate and propionate), which may alter local populations of regulatory T-cells. Additionally, epigenetic reprograming of monocytes by β-glucan...

Rendered products from the meat industry can provide economical quality sources of proteins to the animal and feed industry. Similar to lipids, rendered proteins are susceptible to oxidation, yet the stability of these proteins is unclear. In addition, interest in understanding how oxidative stress can impact efficiency in production animals is inc...

BACKGROUND Oxidized feed lipids have been shown to have detrimental effects on food animal growth and metabolism. The present study aimed to measure classes of lipid oxidation products (LOP) in feed‐grade oils at temperatures representing production and storage conditions. RESULTS There were significant oil type × time interactions in the accumula...

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of oven drying (OD) or freeze drying (FD) on apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of amino acids (AA) in diets fed to pigs. In Exp. 1, 15 barrows (88.4 ± 6.4 kg) were allotted to either a corn starch-soybean meal (CST), potato starch-soybean meal (PST), or corn-soybean meal (CSBM) diet, over 2 co...

The objectives of the current experiments were to evaluate the effect of feeding soybean oil (SO) with different levels of peroxidation on lipid, N, and GE digestibility, gut integrity, oxidative stress, and growth performance in nursery pigs. Treatments consisted diets containing 10% fresh SO (22.5oC) or thermally processed SO (45°C for 288 h, 90°...

Dietary fiber is known to reduce ammonia emissions, but little is known about its effect on emissions of major odorants. An experiment was conducted to determine the effect fiber and fiber source has on manure composition and gas emissions. Two groups of 44 gilts averaging 128 kg BW were fed standard corn soybean meal diets that contained 9.6% NDF...

Abstract Background Maize oil is abundantly used in foods and feeds and is highly susceptible to oxidation. Consequently, commercially available antioxidants should be evaluated for effectiveness against lipid oxidation in swine diets. Our study was conducted to evaluate growth performance of nursery pigs fed oxidized maize oil and to determine eff...

An industry survey and animal experiment were conducted to evaluate the amino acid (AA) compositional variability and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of AA in animal protein by-products fed to growing pigs. Animal protein by-product meals (212) were categorized into 8 groupings (blood meal, chicken by-product meal, chicken meal, feather meal...

Arginine (Arg) is an important amino acid of pig fetal development; however, whether Arg improves postnatal performance is ill-defined. Therefore, the influence of Arg supplementation at different gestational stages on offspring performance was evaluated in a commercial swine herd. Sows (n = 548) were allocated into 4, diet by stage of gestation tr...

Feeding oxidized oils can cause adverse effects on the growth performance of broilers, which have largely attributed to the presence of lipid oxidation products (LOP) in oxidized oils. This study was conducted to identify the potential correlations between growth performance and aldehyde profiles of differently-prepared thermally oxidized soybean o...

Feeding oxidized lipids compromises growth performance of pigs, but the metabolic events contributing to this adverse effect are not well defined. In this study, oxidized corn oil (OCO) was prepared by heating control corn oil (CCO) at 185 oC for 12 h. Weanling pigs (initial BW = 6.3 ± 1.4 kg) were fed 4 isocaloric diets containing 9% CCO, 6% CCO +...

Oil source and peroxidation are known to impact performance and oxidative status in young pigs. The objectives of this trial were to evaluate the effect of oil source and peroxidation status on pig performance and plasma vitamin E. Pigs (initial BW 6.07 ± 0.12 kg) were allotted to 96 pens containing 3 pigs/pen in a completely randomized design and...

Supplemental Arg during gestation purportedly benefits fetal development. However, the benefits of a gestational Arg dietary strategy in commercial production are unclear. Therefore, objectives of this study examined Arg supplementation during different gestational stages and the effects on gilt reproductive performance. Pubertal gilts (n = 548) we...

Characterizing fiber into fermentable and unfermentable fractions may enhance the accuracy of estimating digestible (DE) and metabolizable (ME) energy content in fiber-rich ingredients. Therefore, the objective of the study was to analyze the concentrations of neutral detergent fiber (NDF), representing both the fermentable (fNDFom) and unfermentab...

Editor: Pavlos Kassomenos Sulfur is an essential nutrient for animal growth but is also associated with odor and morbidity of animals from swine operations. A study was conducted to determine the effects of increasing dietary S levels in swine diets on DM, pH, C, N, S, VFA, indole, and phenol concentrations in the manure, and on the emissions of C-...

Objective The objective was to determine the DE of various lipids and compare these values with predicted values based on published equations. Materials and Methods Pigs (480) weaned at 24 d of age were fed a common diet for 7 d after which they were fed a basal or lipid-based diet for 28 d. Lipids (7.13%) were added in place of the basal diet, an...

Sulfur is a key nutrient in swine diets and is associated with hydrogen sulfide (H2S) emissions, odor, and respiratory distress of animals. Due to potential increases in S levels in swine diets by using alternative feedstuffs, a feeding trial study was conducted to determine the effect of dietary S source has on manure slurry chemical properties an...

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of age and supplemental xylanase in corn- or wheat-based diets on cecal volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations of Ross × Ross 708 male broilers during weekly intervals from 14 to 42 d of age. Day-old chicks (1,500) were randomly distributed into 60 floor pens (25 chicks/pen; 0.078 m²/bird) and f...

The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the effect of oil source and peroxidation status on broiler performance and oxidative stress. Broilers (initial BW 85.1 ± 7.8 g) were allotted to 40 cages with 5 birds per cage in a completely randomized design. The 4 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments consisted of oil source (palm oil, soybea...

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of feeding diets varying in cereal grain source and supplemental xylanase concentrations on growth performance and cecal volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations of Ross × Ross 708 male broilers from 1 to 40 d of age. A total of 1,536 day-old chicks were randomly distributed into 64 floor pens (24...

Salmonella spp. are an important cause of foodborne illness in North America, and pork products are associated with sporadic cases and outbreaks of human salmonellosis. Isolates of Salmonella may be resistant to multiple antibiotics, and infections with multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella spp. are more difficult to treat, leading to increased hosp...

Animal protein byproducts (APB) are produced in slaughter houses and rendering plants derived from a wide array of inedible carcass tissues including blood, feathers, bones, and other miscellaneous tissues. Along with their high mineral content, APB are also high in energy and amino acids (AA). The objective of this study was to characterize the va...

Improved utilization of CP in swine diets has the potential to lower emissions of gases and odorants from swine production. Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of dietary CP level and source has on manure composition and gas emissions. In Experiment 1 two groups of 12 gilts averaging 96.13 kg BW were fed three CP levels through t...

Brachyspira hyodysenteriae (Bhyo) induces mucohemorrhagic diarrhea in pigs and is an economically significant disease worldwide. Our objectives were to determine the impact of Bhyo on apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD), ileal digestibility (AID), and ileal basal endogenous losses (BEL) in grower pigs. In addition, we assessed the effect of B...

Animal protein byproducts (APB) are produced in slaughter houses and rendering plants derived from a wide array of inedible carcass tissues including blood, feathers, bones, and other miscellaneous tissues. Along with their high mineral content, APB are also high in energy and amino acids (AA). The objective of this study was to characterize the va...

Consumption of peroxidized lipids has been shown to reduce pig performance and energy and lipid digestibility. Objectives of the current study were to evaluate the effect of feeding soybean oil (SO) with different levels of peroxidation on growth performance, lipid, N, and GE digestibility, plasma Trp, and gut integrity in finishing pigs. Fifty-six...

Objectives were to evaluate effects of feeding soybean oil (SO) with varying levels of peroxidation on fresh belly characteristics, processing yields, and shelf life of commercially manufactured bacon stored under food-service style conditions. Fifty-six barrows were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 diets containing 10% fresh SO (22.5°C) or thermally pr...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of feeding soybean oil (SO) with varying levels of peroxidation on carcass traits and shelf life of loins. Fifty-six barrows were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 diets containing 10% fresh SO (22.5°C) or thermally processed SO (45°C for 288 h, 90°C for 72 h, or 180°C for 6 h), each infused with air...

Residual feed intake (RFI) is the difference between observed and predicted feed intake of an animal, based on growth and maintenance requirements. In Yorkshire pigs, divergent selection for increased (Low RFI) and decreased (High RFI) RFI was carried out over 10 generations (G) while feeding a corn- and soybean-meal-based, higher-energy, lower-fib...

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of feeding finishing pigs a corn-soybean (CSBM) diet or a CSBM diet supplemented with 30% dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), in combination with or without a growth-promoting ionophore (0 or 30 mg narasin/kg of diet), has on manure composition, microbial ecology, and gas emissions. Two...

In the absence of sub-therapeutic antibiotic use for performance benefits, the swine industry is looking for nutritional feed additives to enhance nursery pig performance. The study objective was to evaluate performance and energy digestibility of 3 nutritional alternatives to sub-therapeutic antibiotics in a growth performance and digestibility as...

Recently, there has been renewed interest in the oxidative status of lipids fed to pigs and poultry. Oxidized lipids and secondary products of oxidation, when part of the diet, can be deposited in animal tissues and lead to compromised oxidative status in those tissues and subsequent meat products. Oxidation of lipids and proteins in meat products...

In vitro digestibility of phosphorus (P) was determined in 13 sources of animal protein meals (2 blood meals, 1 chicken meal, 1 chicken byproduct meal, 2 feather meals, 2 meat meals, 3 meat and bone meals, 1 poultry by-product meal, and 1 poultry meal), and a mathematical model was developed to estimate the economic benefit of formulating diets wit...