NUTRITIONAL EVALUATION OF MEALS AND MEAL FRACTIONS DERIVED FROM RAPE AND MUSTARD SEED
Low glucosinolate rapeseed meal (RSM) (B. napus 'Bronowski'), rapeseed meal fractions (hulls, detailed meal, dehulled and water-washed meal, lyophilized water extract) derived from Bronowski and from a high glucosinolate rapeseed (B. napus 'Oro'), yellow mustard (B. hirta) hulls and meal were subjected to chemical and nutritional evaluations. Oat hulls and soybean meal were included for comparison. Proximate, amino acid and glucosinolate analyses and feeding experiments were conducted. The processed meals, hulls and extracts were included in diets to provide 8, 12 and 16% dietary crude protein in conjunction with a purified basal fraction containing 5% casein. The toxic effects of glucosinolates fed with active myrosinase were confirmed. Glucosinolates included in soybean meal (SBM) control diets were innocuous. Removal of rapeseed hulls increased digestible (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) and digestible crude protein contents, but the inclusion of the hulls in high energy, non-rapeseed meal (RSM) diets had no adverse effects on growth of mice or efficiency of feed utilization. Dehulled RSM had lower DE than SBM, partly due to lower digestibility of the non-hull, non-protein energy fraction. Dehulling increased the protein content of RSM, decreased the lysine content of the protein and improved the digestibility of protein. Protein quality tests (Protein Efficiency Ratio and Apparent Biological Value) showed protein of RSM to be equal to that of soybean meal.