True Metabolizable Energy and True Amino Acid Availability in Canola and Flax Products for Poultry

Abstract

Mature Single Comb White Leghorn roosters were used in two trials to measure the TMEn and true amino acid availability (TAAA) in canola seed, flax seed, canola meal, flax meal, soybean meal, barley, three mixtures of barley and canola seed, and three mixtures of barley and flax seed. The mixtures contained 80, 70, or 60% barley with the rest either canola or flax seed, respectively. The precision feeding method was used and each treatment was replicated three times. Excrement was collected 24 and 48 h after a weighed amount of the test ingredients was fed. It was observed that the TMEn of canola seed was .53 kcal/g higher than that of flax seed. Mixing barley with either canola or flax seed resulted in a product that was significantly (P<.05) higher in TMEn than barley alone. The availabilities of leucine, isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine, and methionine in flax products were lower (P<.05) than that of canola products and soybean meal. The mixtures of barley with canola or flax seeds were not higher in TAAA than barley (P>.05). However, the availability of glutamate, valine, and isoleucine in the barley mixtures with canola seed was higher (P<.05) than that from mixture with full-fat flax seed in similar ratios.