Anti-nutritional factors in soybean meal can result in a reduction in digestibility of amino acids. Therefore, the use of soybean meal is limited in diets for weanling pigs and fish meal and other animal protein sources are often used instead. However, technologically treated plant proteins or mixtures of proteins may also be used instead of animal proteins if the treatments employed have reduced or eliminated the anti-nutritional factors. An example of 2 new plant-based proteins are protein concentrate 56 (JPC 56) and Fish Meal Replacer Omega 3 (FMR Ω 3). Both proteins are produced by Joosten, (Ab Weert, The Netherlands), but there is no information about the digestibility of amino acids in these proteins. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids in JPC 56 and FMR Ω 3 are not different from AID and SID values in fish meal.

Experimental procedures

Three protein sources were used. JPC 56 and FMR Ω3 were sourced from Joosten and a source of Peruvian fish meal was also used (Table 1).

Eight weanling barrows (initial BW: 11.8 ± 0.5 kg) were equipped with a T-cannula in the distal ileum and then allotted to a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design with 4 diets and four 7-day periods for a total of 8 replicate pigs per diet. Pigs were housed in individual pens in an environmentally controlled room. Pens were equipped with a feeder, a drinking nipple, and smooth, plastic-coated sides.

Four diets were formulated. Three diets contained one of the protein sources (JPC 56, FMR Ω 3, or fish meal) as the sole source of amino acids and the last diet was an nitrogen-free diet that was used to measure the basal endogenous losses of amino acids. The initial 5 days of each period were considered an adaptation period to the diets and ileal digesta were collected on days 6 and 7 for 9 hours per day.

Results

The AID and SID of crude protein and amino acids were reduced (P < 0.05) in FM compared with JPC 56 and FMR Ω 3 (Tables 2 and 3) with the exception that the AID of Ala was not different among ingredients and the SID of Ala in FMR Ω 3 was not different from that in fish meal.

Key points

• The SID of crude protein and all indispensable amino acids are greater in JPC 56 and FMR Ω 3 than in fish meal.
• JPC 56 and FMR Ω 3 are well digested by weanling pigs and may be used in starter diets for pigs at the expense of fish meal.

Table 1. Analyzed chemical composition of Joosten protein concentrate (JPC 56), fish meal replacer omega 3 (FMR Ω3), and conventional fish meal (FM), as-fed basis.

¹Lys:CP ratio: calculated by expressing the concentration of Lys in each ingredient as a percentage of the concentration of CP.

Table 2. Apparent ileal digestibility of CP and AA in Joosten protein concentrate (JPC 56), fish meal replacer omega 3 (FMR Ω3), and conventional fish meal (FM), as-fed basis.

^a-bValues within a row lacking a common superscript letter are different (P < 0.05).

Table 3. Standardized ileal digestibility of crude protein (CP) and amino acids (AA) in Joosten protein concentrate (JPC 56), Fish meal replacer omega 3 (FMR Ω3), and conventional fish meal (FM), as-fed basis ¹

^a-bValues within a row lacking a common superscript letter are different (P < 0.05).

                ¹Values for SID were calculated by correcting values for apparent ileal digestibility for the basal ileal endogenous losses. Basal ileal endogenous losses were determined as (g/kg DMI): CP, 15.89; Arg, 0.54; His, 0.19; Ile, 0.31; Leu, 0.53; Lys, 0.38; Met, 0.08; Phe, 0.35; Thr, 0.63; Trp, 0.10; Val, 0.45; Ala, 0.54; Asp, 0.77; Cys, 0.25; Glu, 0.87; Gly, 1.65; Ser, 0.53; and Tyr, 0.25