Rapeseed meal and canola meal can partially replace soybean meal as a protein source in finishing pigs

This experiment was conducted to evaluate effects of replacing ‘part’ of soybean meal (SBM) with 4% rapeseed meal (RSM) or 4% canola meal (CM) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood characteristics, faecal noxious gas emission, and meat quality in finishing pigs. A total of 120 crossbred finishing pigs [(Yorkshire × Landrace)× Duroc] with an average body weight of 50.71 ± 1.97 kg were randomly divided into one of three dietary treatments according to their sex and BW (10 replicate pens with 2 barrows and 2 gilts per pen). Dietary treatments were as follows: (1) CON, a corn-SBM-based diet; (2) CM4, diet containing 4% CM originated from Korea; (3) RSM4, diet containing 4% RSM originated from India. Replacing SBM with 4% RSM or 4% CM had no effects on average daily gain, average daily feed intake, gain to feed ratio, concentrations of blood urea nitrogen and creatinine, faecal ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, and total mercaptans emission, meat quality, and apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, nitrogen, and gross energy. In conclusion, the inclusion of 4% of RSM or CM in finishing pig diets had no negative effects on growth performance, nutrients digestibility, faecal noxious gas emission, blood characteristics, and meat quality.