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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Morris, Minnesota » Soil Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #385669
Research Project: Optimizing Oilseed and Alternative Grain Crops: Innovative Production Systems and Agroecosystem Services

Location: Soil Management Research

Title: Effects of increasing dietary inclusion of camelina cake on growth performance of growing-finishing pigs

Author
item HILBRANDS, ADRIENNE - University Of Minnesota
item JOHNSTON, LEE - University Of Minnesota
item COX, RYAN - University Of Minnesota
item FORCELLA, FRANK - Retired ARS Employee
item Gesch, Russell - Russ
item LI, YUZHI - University Of Minnesota

Submitted to: Translational Animal Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/24/2021
Publication Date: 9/17/2021
Citation: Hilbrands, A.M., Johnston, L.J., Cox, R.B., Forcella, F., Gesch, R.W., Li, Y.Z. 2021. Effects of increasing dietary inclusion of camelina cake on growth performance of growing-finishing pigs. Translational Animal Science. 5(3). Article txab140. https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txab140.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txab140

Interpretive Summary: Winter camelina is a new oilseed crop being developed for large-scale production in Midwestern cropping systems. Its seed oil has many uses, but less is known about the use of press-cake seed meal for animal feed. A collaborative study was conducted with the University of Minnesota to test the effects of feeding different amounts of camelina press-cake to growth of finishing pigs (i.e., pigs sent to market). Results confirmed that a feed ration made up of 5% camelina press-cake mixed with corn and soybean meal can be fed to pigs without negatively affecting their growth performance compared with feeding them a conventional corn-soy diet. This information will help hog farmers interested in supplementing their pig feed with camelina to determine the proper amount to use without significantly sacrificing growth performance. It will also benefit the seed oil processing industry in helping to determine markets for camelina press-cake, a byproduct of oil crushing.

Technical Abstract: The objective of this experiment was to determine the most effective inclusion rate of camelina meal (CM) in diets for growing-finishing pigs. Pigs (n=192; BW = 35.2 kg; Duroc x (Yorkshire x Landrace)), balanced for sex and initial weight, were assigned to pens (8 pigs/pen) and pens were assigned randomly to 1 of 4 dietary treatments (6 pens/treatment). Treatments consisted of a non GMO corn-soybean meal control diet (CON), and CON containing 5% (5CM), 10% (10CM), or 15% (15CM) camelina meal. Feed disappearance and body weight of pigs were recorded every other week to calculate average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain to feed ratio (G:F) on a pen basis. Prior to harvest, real-time ultrasonic measurements of back fat depth and loin eye area were collected on all pigs. Pigs were harvested as a single group at a commercial abattoir. Data were analyzed using Proc Glimmix with dietary treatment as a fixed effect and pen serving as the experimental unit. Growth performance data collected over time were analyzed using repeated measures within the Proc Glimmix procedure. Pigs fed CON exhibited similar ADG to those consuming 5CM and higher ADG than pigs consuming 10CM and 15CM diets (1.10 kg vs 1.05 kg for 10CM and 1.02 kg for 15CM, SE = 0.012; P < 0.05 for both mean comparisons). Pigs fed CON consumed more feed than pigs fed any of the CM diets (ADFI = 2.66 kg for CON vs 2.46 kg for 5CM, 2.46 kg for 10CM and 2.47 kg for 15CM, SE = 0.037; P < 0.05 for all). These differences resulted in heavier (P < 0.05) CON-fed pigs at marketing than 10CM or 15CM-fed pigs. There were no differences in any carcass traits analyzed. From these data, we conclude that feeding up to 5% CM in corn-soybean meal based diets will not negatively influence growth performance, or carcass traits of growing-finishing pigs.