The use of defatted corn germ meal (DCGM) for swine feeds was evaluated by two experiments. The first experiment was represented by a digestibility test with two treatments and four replicates, where eight pigs were allocated in metabolic cages during 12 days and submitted a total feces and urine collect. The second experiment aimed to evaluate the performance on growing I (20 to 50 Kg live weight), growing II (50 to 80 kg live weight) and finishing (80 to 100 Kg live weight) phases towards different inclusion of DCGM in feeding. Forty eight crossbred pigs were used, 24 barrows and 24 females, with 61± 2.2 days placed stalls. The experimental design was based in random block with 4 treatments and 6 repetitions. Each repetition was represented for two pigs. The treatments were represented by inclusion of 0, 10, 20 and 30% of DGCM in feeding, in growing and finishing phases. All animals were slaughtered and submitted to an electronic carcass evaluation at the end of the experiment. Backfat depth, muscle depth, carcass yield, lean meat percentage and kilogram of lean meat were evaluated. An economic analysis by different treatments was realized. The digestible and metabolizable energy values of DCGM were 2.097 and 2.078 Kcal/Kg, respectively. There was a linear effect with the DCGM inclusion related to the daily feed intake (Y=2.80335-0.01709X) and daily weight gain (Y=2.788-0.0132383X) in phases of growing II and about daily feed intake (Y=3.02077-0.0193317X) in the finishing phase. Daily weight gain was not affected by DCGM levels. There were no effects to carcass characteristics. The economical parameters were not influenced by DCGM inclusion. The DCGM can be included in growing and finishing feeds for swine up to 30%.
defatted corn germ meal; corn; performance; swine
