EFFECTS OF STEAM PELLETING DIETS CONTAINING TWO VARIETIES OF RAPESEED MEAL ON PIG PERFORMANCE

An experiment was conducted during the late fall and winter months with 96 Yorkshire barrows and gilts to study the effects on pig performance of feeding corn-soybean meal (SBM) and lysine-HCl (0.1%) supplemented corn-SBM-Tower rapeseed meal (RSM) and corn-SBM-Candle RSM diets, in the form of mash (corn was medium-ground) and steam pellets. Average daily gain (ADG), feed intake, efficiency of feed conversion (feed to gain ratio, F/G) and carcass backfat thickness were measured in pigs reared from 23 kg to 91 kg liveweight. The energy level in the RSM diets was not adjusted to equal that in the corn-SBM diet. Pigs fed Tower RSM had a lower (P < 0.01) feed intake and backfat thickness and pigs fed Candle RSM had a lower (P < 0.01) ADG and feed intake and higher (P < 0.01) F/G compared to the pigs fed SBM. The pigs fed corn-SBM-Tower RSM had a higher (P < 0.01) ADG and feed intake and lower (P < 0.01) F/G ratio than those fed Candle RSM diets. Steam pelleting of the corn-SBM and corn-SBM-RSM diets improved ADG, feed intake and F/G of the pigs, with the effects being greatest for the RSM diets.