Effects of including conventional or high protein canola meals in diets for nursery pigs

Canola meal is a by-product of the canola oil industry. Conventional canola meal contains about 37% crude protein, and is a good protein source for swine diets. New varieties of canola with seeds that contain less fiber and more protein than conventional canola seeds have been hybridized. The meals produced from these new hybrids have a crude protein content similar to that of dehulled soybean meal (Table 1). No data exist on how feeding these high protein canola meals to weanling pigs affects growth performance. Inclusion levels also have not been established for the use of these products in nursery diets.

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect on growth performance of including conventional or high protein canola meals at different levels in diets fed to weanling pigs.

Experimental design

A total of 420 pigs with an average initial body weight of 9.8 kg were used in the experiment. Twelve diets were formulated. One diet was a control corn-soybean meal diet, 4 diets contained 10, 20, 30, or 40% or one of the high protein canola meals (Canola meal A), 3 diets contained 10, 20, or 30% of another high protein canola meal (Canola meal B), and 4 diets contained 10, 20, 30, or 40% of conventional canola meal. Values for metabolizable energy, digestibility of amino acids and phosphorus had been determined in the same sources of soybean meal and canola meals that were used in this experiment and diets were formulated based on these values. Canola meal was included in the diets at the expense of soybean meal and ground corn. Pig body weight was recorded at the beginning and at the conclusion of the 21-day experiment, and feed intake was recorded.

Growth performance

Initial body weight and final body weight did not differ among pigs fed the four diets. Relative to the control diet, average daily feed intake decreased (linear, P < 0.05) with increased inclusion of each of the three varieties of canola meal. There was a tendency for increased average daily gain (quadratic, P = 0.06) in pigs fed diets containing 10 or 20% Canola meal A, but pigs fed Canola meal B or conventional canola meal did not differ from pigs fed the control diet. The gain:feed ratio increased (linear, P < 0.05) as inclusion rates of Canola meal A or conventional canola meal increased, but did not differ between pigs fed Canola meal B and pigs fed the control diet.

Key points

  • Pigs fed diets containing canola meal consumed less feed than pigs fed a corn-soybean meal diet. However, growth performance was not decreased.
  • Pigs fed diets containing high protein Canola meal A and conventional canola meal had a greater gain:feed ratio than pigs fed a corn-soybean meal diet.
  • Based on these data it appears that at least 30% of high protein canola meal or conventional canola meal may be included in diets fed to pigs.
     

Table 1. Analyzed nutrient composition of ingredients (as-fed basis)

 

Canola  meal A

Canola meal B

Conventional canola meal

Soybean meal

GE, kcal/kg

4450

4403

4172

4222

DM, %

91.24

91.13

89.90

88.15

CP, %

45.69

46.97

35.10

46.67

Ash, %

6.88

6.10

7.98

5.57

Acid hydrolyzed ether extract, %

3.48

3.28

3.77

2.48

NDF, %

18.32

17.90

25.04

8.23

ADF, %

12.66

10.95

17.53

4.81

Ca, %

0.64

0.51

1.25

0.29

P, %

1.26

1.16

1.16

0.57

Indispensable AA, %

       

  Arg

2.79

2.87

2.09

3.43

  His

1.23

1.23

0.91

1.24

  Ile

1.77

1.89

1.35

2.32

  Leu

3.18

3.31

2.53

3.73

  Lys

2.61

2.67

2.02

3.07

  Met

0.91

0.91

0.68

0.69

  Phe

1.80

1.90

1.38

2.45

  Thr

1.85

1.84

1.49

1.82

  Trp

0.67

0.71

0.46

0.68

  Val

2.23

2.48

1.72

2.50

Dispensable AA, %

       

  Ala

1.88

1.92

1.50

2.02

  Asp

3.00

3.35

2.44

5.34

  Cys

1.21

1.19

0.82

0.68

  Glu

7.36

7.45

5.41

7.86

  Gly

2.18

2.20

1.69

1.98

  Pro

2.81

2.84

2.08

2.29

  Ser

1.74

1.67

1.32

2.03

  Tyr

1.20

1.24

0.96

1.75

Table 2. Growth performance (kg) of weanling pigs fed diets containing graded inclusion levels of 3 different canola meals

 

Diets

P-value

 

Control

Canola meal A

Canola meal B

Conventional canola meal

Control vs Canola meal A

Control vs Canola meal B

Control vs Conventional canola meal

 

 

10%

20%

30%

40%

10%

20%

30%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Lin.1

Q1

Lin.

Q

Lin.

Q

Initial BW

9.9

9.9

10.0

9.9

9.9

10.1

10.0

9.8

10.0

9.8

9.8

9.9

0.983

0.886

0.853

0.703

0.926

0.930

ADFI

0.96

1.00

0.94

0.87

0.84

1.00

0.94

0.88

0.98

0.94

0.90

0.84

<0.001

0.170

0.020

0.072

0.012

0.218

ADG

0.56

0.60

0.60

0.55

0.54

0.59

0.57

0.54

0.59

0.61

0.58

0.57

0.136

0.056

0.254

0.173

0.951

0.108

G/F

0.59

0.60

0.64

0.64

0.64

0.59

0.60

0.62

0.60

0.65

0.65

0.68

0.031

0.599

0.133

0.430

0.001

0.960

Final BW

21.8

22.40

22.60

21.50

21.20

22.40

21.90

21.30

22.30

22.60

22.10

21.80

0.417

0.304

0.466

0.388

0.965

0.404

1Lin = linear effect of canola meal; Q = quadratic effect of canola meal.

This report is based on unpublished data by C. K. Parr and H. H. Stein.

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