Utilisation of growing-finishing pig diets containing high levels of solvent or expeller oil extracted canola meal

Abstract

Canola meal (CM) from the solvent and expeller oil extraction processes was used as replacement for fishmeal in grower-finishing pig diets in two separate experiments. Diets were formulated on an iso-nutrient basis (approximately 13.6 MJ kg-1 DE, 160g kg-1 CP, 9.0 g kg-1 lysine, 6.5 g kg-1 methionine and cystine, 6.5 g kg-1 threonine, 2.0 g kg-1 tryptophan on DM basis) to contain 0 g kg-1, 80 g kg-1, 160 g kg-1, and 240 g kg-1 CM in the first (solvent process) and 0 g kg-1, 97 g kg-1, 195 g kg-1, and 292 g kg-1 CM in the second (expeller process) case. In Experiment 1, 13 pigs per diet were individually housed and fed ad libitum from 25.4 kg to 84.4 kg liveweight, whereafter pigs were slaughtered and carcass characteristics determined. In Experiment 2, randomly selected groups of 4 pigs (16 per diet) were fed ad libitum from 21.6 kg to 88.4 kg liveweight, whereafter pigs were slaughtered and carcass characteristics measured. The inclusion of CM in the diets at levels of up to 24% in Experiment 1 and 29.2% in Experiment 2 had no significant effect on dry matter intake (DMI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), or liveweight gain. In Experiment 1, P2 backfat thickness was significantly lower and percentage of meat in the carcass was significantly higher in the 24% CM diet group. In Experiment 2, dressing percentage was significantly lower in the 29.2% CM diet group. It was concluded that canola meal from recently released cultivars may be included at higher than conventional proposed levels (12-18%) in grower-finisher pig diets without any detrimental effect on growth performance and minor effects on carcass characteristics.