The nutritive value of canola meal for early-weaned pigs

Abstract

Four experiments using 900 crossbed pigs were conducted to determine the nutritive value of canola meal (CM) for pigs weaned at 3 or 5 weeks of age. Diets were based on barley and wheat, and CM replaced 0, 25, 50, 75 or 100% of the protein supplied by soya bean meal (SBM) on an isoenergetic and isonitrogenous basis. In Experiments 1 and 2, with pigs weaned at three weeks of age, regression analyses of the results indicated that, for each percent addition of CM to the diets, there was a significant ( P < 0.001) linear decrease in average daily feed intake and average daily gain by 4 and 2 g, respectively. Regression analyses of results of Experiments 3 and 4 for pigs weaned at 5 weeks of age indicated that, for each percent inclusion of CM in the diet, there was a significant ( P < 0.001) linear decrease in average daily feed intake and average daily gain by 4.3 and 3.6 g, respectively. In all 4 experiments feed-to-gain ratio was not affected ( P > 0.05) by the level of CM in the diet.