Nutritionists want consistency and predictability of nutrient content and digestibility in the feed
ingredients they purchase and use. As shown in Table 1, the nutrients most variable among
DDGS sources are fat, fiber, ash, lysine, tryptophan, and phosphorus. With some ethanol
plants using front-end fractionation and back-end oil extraction technologies, the nutrient
composition of distiller’s co-products is becoming more diverse and confusing because the term
“DDGS” is often misused when describing these nutritionally different corn co-products that are
becoming available in the feed ingredient market (e.g. high protein DDGS). As a result, DDGS
is less of a “commodity” compared to other feed ingredients such as corn and soybean meal.