Excessive heating of 00-rapeseed meal reduces not only amino acid digestibility but also metabolizable energy when fed to growing pigs.

Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that both the degree of heating and the time that heat is applied will affect the concentration of DE and ME, and the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AA) in 00-rapeseed meal (00-RSM) fed to growing pigs. The nine treatments were prepared using a conventional 00-RSM that was either not autoclaved or autoclaved at 110 °C for 15 or 30 min or at 150 °C for 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, or 18 min. In experiment 1, 20 growing barrows with an average initial BW of 21.2 ± 1.2 kg were randomly allotted to the 10 diets in a replicated 10 × 4 Youden square with 10 diets and four periods in each square. A corn-based basal diet and nine diets containing corn and each source of 00-RSM were formulated. Urine and fecal samples were collected for 5 d after 7 d of adaptation. In experiment 2, nine diets contained one of the nine sources of 00-RSM as the sole source of AA, and an N-free diet that was used to measure basal endogenous losses of AA and CP was formulated. Twenty growing barrows with an initial BW of 69.8 ± 5.7 kg had a T-cannula installed in the distal ileum and were allotted to a 10 × 7 Youden square design with 10 diets and 7 periods. Ileal digesta were collected on days 6 and 7 of each 7-d period. Results from the experiments indicated that there were no effects of autoclaving at 110 °C on DE and ME or on AID and SID of AA in 00-RSM, but DE and ME, and AID and SID of AA were less (P < 0.01) if 00-RSM was autoclaved at 150 °C compared with 110 °C. At 150 °C, there were decreases (quadratic, P < 0.05) in DE and ME, and in AID and SID of AA as heating time increased. In conclusion, autoclaving at 110 °C did not affect ME or SID of AA in 00-RSM, but autoclaving at 150 °C had negative effects on ME and SID of AA and the negative effects increased as heating time increased.