Jaworski, N. W., J. C. González-Vega, and H. H. Stein. 2013. Growth performance of weanling pigs fed diets containing copra meal, palm kernel expellers, or palm kernel meal. J. Anim. Sci 91(E-Suppl. 2):706 (Abstr.) Link to abstract

Palm kernel expellers is a coproduct of the production of palm kernel oil. Unlike palm kernel meal, which is produced after the oil is removed from the fruits of oil palms using solvent extraction, palm kernel expellers are produced via mechanical extraction. The lysine content of palm kernel expellers is low relative to soybean meal. Additionally, the high fiber content of palm kernel expellers means that it contains less digestible and metabolizable energy than soybean meal or corn. These factors limit the inclusion rate of palm kernel expellers in swine diets.  However, despite these limitations, palm kernel expellers can provide significant protein in swine diets and may be used to reduce feed costs.

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that palm kernel expellers may replace some corn and soybean meal in phase 2 diets fed to weanling pigs without negatively affecting growth performance.

Sulabo, R. C., W. S. Ju, and H. H. Stein. 2011. Amino acid digestibility and energy content of copra expellers, palm kernel expellers, palm kernel meal, and soybean meal fed to growing pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 2):99 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)