USING oilseed rape meal instead of soya, could help UK pig and poultry farmers save on feed costs and stop their reliance on imported feed, according to work done by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) in Northern Ireland.

Trials have found that quite high levels of the meal – which is the residue left after oil extraction – when mixed with distillers grains can lead to growth rates similar soya-based diets of equivalent nutrient spec'.

Part of an EU-funded project aiming to improve feed efficiency in pigs and broiler chickens, the project was called ECO FCE and showed the impact of higher levels of rapeseed in diets in the gut structure and microbe activity which drive feed efficiency.

Dr Elizabeth Magowan, of AFBI, said the main aim of the project was to make use of all kinds of raw materials and deliver feed at least cost but with similar performance to low soya diets.

“A combination of rapeseed meal and wheat dried distillers grains with a soluble represented the key sources of protein in these low soya diets,” she said, adding that a surprising result was that pig performance was not drastically reduced when the diets with lower energy and amino acids were offered.

“This presents a challenge to the feed industry, especially in Ireland, with regard to the need for the current levels of energy and lysine used in finishing pigs diets, but could they be reduced?

“Overall, whilst phytase was effective, the inclusion of enzymes across both studies had little impact on pig performance, even when the diets were lowered in their energy and amino acid concentrations. Lastly, pig performance was similar when diets containing soya or non-soya were offered,” said Magowan.

Work done on broiler chickens using low soya diets also found a lack of performance response to protease. However, the bird performance was again similar when the soya and low soya diets were offered.