Effects of increasing amounts of Lupinus albus seeds without or with wholeegg powder in the diet of growing pigs on performance

In a growth trial with pigs, the effect of the inclusion of 150 and 300 g o f Lupinus albus seeds/kg of feed in the diet was investigated. Parameters s tudied were: growth, feed utilization, digestibility of nutrients, slaughte r and carcass characteristics. Spray dried whole egg powder, a specific inh ibitor of lectins in L. albus seeds was also added (50 g/kg of feed), with the aim of verifying whether the unfavourable effects of high levels of lup in seeds could be neutralized, Feeding the diet containing 300 g of lupin s eeds/kg lowered the average daily gain from 727 to 674 g and feed intake fr om 2.32 to 2.05 kg, while feed conversion ratio remained unaltered. The pre sence of whole egg powder in the lupin seed diets did not abolish the negat ive effects. Apparent faecal digestibility of most nutrients in the diets w as not influenced by addition of lupin seeds or egg powder, except for the crude fat fraction, whereas the digestibility coefficient increased from 0. 51 to 0.61. Crude fibre digestibility also increased, but only at the lowes t lupin seed level. Carcass weight and dressing percentage were lower in th e groups fed the highest lupin seed level. Fatty acid profile of backfat wa s determined and slightly higher proportions of C18:1 were observed when lu pin seeds were fed. Possible reasons accounting for the lower performance o f animals receiving lupin seeds are discussed, but the exact reason could n ot be derived from this experiment. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.