THE TRUE METABOLIZABLE ENERGY AND AMINO ACID CONTENT OF CANDLE, ALTEX AND REGENT CANOLA MEALS

Abstract
Rapeseed (Canola) meals derived from two B. napus cultivars, Altex and Regent, were studied for their true metabolizable energy (TME) and amino acid (AA) contents and the results were compared with meal from the B. campestris cultivar, Candle. The TME was determined by force-feeding the ingredients singly as well as by feeding them ad libitum for 1.5 h in conjunction with a basal diet. The Regent meal showed a significantly (P < 0.05) higher TME value than Altex or Candle when fed singly. However, based on the results obtained by ad libitum feeding of these samples mixed with a basal diet, there was no significant (P > 0.05) difference in the TME values of any of the three meals. This latter result was in keeping with their proximate composition which was fairly similar for all three meals. When calculated as a percentage of the protein, Candle meal was slightly higher in most of the essential AA as compared with the Altex and Regent meals. However, considering all of the parameters used, the new cultivars Altex and Regent should be as vauable for the nutrition of poultry as the Candle meal. Key words: Canola meal, Candle, Altex, Regent, True metabolizable energy, amino acids
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