Nutrient digestibility and performance of broiler chickens fed regular or green canola biodiesel press cakes produced using a micro‐scale process

Abstract

Abstract BACKGROUND: World interest in biodiesel production from canola seed is expanding. There is little information on the nutritive value of biodiesel by‐products produced from micro‐scale production processes. Hence this trial was conducted to determine the nutritional value of regular and green canola biodiesel press cake for broilers. RESULTS: The digestibility of dry matter, neutral detergent fibre, and nitrogen retention were higher ( P < 0.05) for birds fed regular or green canola press cake compared with canola meal. Ether extract digestibility was higher ( P < 0.05) for birds fed regular press cake than canola meal, while green press cake and canola meal did not differ. There was no improvement in body weight gain ( P > 0.05), while feed conversion was only modestly improved ( P < 0.05) by the inclusion of regular or green canola press cake. CONCLUSIONS: Since the performance of broilers fed canola biodiesel press cakes was similar to those fed canola meal, it is difficult to justify a premium to be paid for canola press cake over canola meal. In addition, there was no difference in the performance of broilers fed biodiesel press cake obtained from green or regular canola seed. As green seeds are generally available at a lower price than regular seed, there may be some incentive to choose green canola seed for producing biodiesel and biodiesel press cake for use in poultry production. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry