Canola meal produced from high-protein or conventional varieties of canola seeds may substitute soybean meal in diets for gestating and lactating sows without compromising sow or litter productivity.

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that productivity of sows fed diets containing canola meal produced from high-protein or conventional varieties of canola seeds is not different from that of sows fed corn-soybean meal (SBM) diets. A total of 180 sows (initial BW: 207.8 ± 29.11 kg) were randomly allotted to 1 of 5 diets with 36 to 40 sows per diet. A 2-phase feeding program was used with gestation diets fed from day 7 of gestation to farrowing and lactation diets fed during the lactation period and from weaning to first estrus. The 5 diets within each phase consisted of a control diet based on corn and SBM, 2 diets were based on corn and high-protein canola meal (CM-HP) that was included to replace 50 or 100% of the SBM in the control diet, and 2 diets contained conventional canola meal (CM-CV) included to replace 50 or 100% of the SBM in the control diet. Soybean hulls were included in diets fed during gestation to standardize the concentration of NDF to approximately 13% in all diets. However, no soybean hulls were used in lactation diets resulting in increased concentrations of NDF as the dietary concentration of CM-HP or CM-CV increased. Results of the experiment indicated that there were no differences in sow BW changes during gestation, in sow BW on day 1 post-farrowing, or at weaning due to dietary treatments. No differences were observed among diets in ADFI during gestation or lactation or in the number of total pigs born, pigs born alive, still-born pigs, or weaned pigs per litter. Likewise, no differences were observed among diets in litter birth weight, live litter birth weight, litter BW at weaning, or litter ADG. As the inclusion level of CM-HP or CM-CV increased, the percentage of pigs surviving during the lactation period increased (linear, P < 0.05), but the wean to first estrus interval also increased as the dietary concentration of CM-CV increased (linear, P < 0.05). Average pig BW at weaning and pig ADG decreased (linear, P < 0.05) as the inclusion level of CM-HP increased. No differences were observed between CM-HP and CM-CV with the exception that pigs born from sows fed CM-CV during gestation had greater (P < 0.05) average live pig birth weight compared with pigs born from sows fed CM-HP during gestation. Results of this experiment indicate that CM-HP or CM-CV may replace all SBM in diets fed to sows during gestation and lactation.