Investigations into the chemical composition and nutritional value of single-cultivar rapeseed meals for broiler chickens

A study was conducted to 1) investigate the influence of rapeseed cultivar on the range of variation in the chemical composition and feed value of rapeseed meals (RSM) for broilers and 2) to compare between single-cultivar RSM and a batch of UK-sourced proprietary rapeseed meal. Chemical composition was determined for a total of 10 single-cultivar RSM produced via prepressed solvent-extraction and a proprietary RSM. To investigate RSM digestibility a total of 360 birds were housed, six birds per pen, and between day 13 to 21 of age they received a diet containing per kg 250 g RSM and 750 g basal feed based on wheat and soybean meal. Titaniumdioxide (7 g/kg) was added as an inert marker. For the determination nitrogen-corrected metabolisable energy (AMEn) total excreta and feed intake were quantified over the last 4 d of the experiment. On the final day of the experiment ileal digesta were collected for determination of preceacal crude protein digestibility (pcCPD). With the exception of neutral detergent fibre (NDF), glucosinolates and soluble non-starch polysaccharides the coefficients of variation (CV%) for all major components were similar across all RSM (0.5 < CV% < 0.6). Glucosinolate contents were highest in the 10 single-cultivar RSM whereas NDF levels were greater in the proprietary RSM. Across the 10 single-cultivar RSM there was no significant effect of cultivar on AMEn or pcCPD. Pre-planned orthogonal contrasts indicated that the mean AMEn content and pcCPD of the proprietary RSM was significantly lower than the 10 single-cultivar RSM (p < 0.001). In view of the above, processing rather than cultivar appears to be the main driver of nutritional value in RSM fed to broilers.