US - The results of new research at the University of Illinois indicate that it is possible for producers to reduce feed costs if yellow dent corn, a staple of swine diets in the United States, is ground to a finer particle size.The smaller particle size allows pigs to derive more energy from the corn, which means producers can reduce the amount of fat added to diets (reducing their costs) without affecting the growth performance or carcass characteristics of pigs.Hans H. Stein, professor of animal sciences at the U of I, and his lab conducted an experiment to determine if growth performance and carcass characteristics differed among pigs fed diets that had the same amount of energy, but contained corn that was ground to different particle sizes. Current industry recommendations call for corn fed to pigs to be ground to a particle size of around 650 microns.

　　据伊利诺伊大学(University of Illinois)的一项最新研究结果表明，要是使用普通黄玉米研磨成更精细的尺寸，养猪者可以节省成本。普通黄玉米在美国是一种猪的主食。小尺寸颗粒的黄玉米能让猪摄取更多的能量，意味着养殖者可以减少催肥饲料的数量(减少成本)，而不影响猪的生长性能或胴体特征。伊利诺伊大学的动物科学教授Hans H. Stein在实验室做了一项实验，用不同粒径的玉米喂猪，在获得相同能量条件下找找让猪生长性能或胴体特征更优的玉米。当前行业呼吁猪食用玉米颗粒尺寸在650微米左右。