Apparent Digestibility of Tower and Candle Rapeseed Meals by Holstein Bull Calves

Four Holstein bull calves, 18–20 wk of age and averaging 190 kg were used to determine the apparent digestibility of soybean meal (SBM), Tower and Candle rapeseed meals (RSM). Diets containing the RSM were lower (P < 0.05) in dry matter (DM) digestibility than the SBM diet. Apparent digestibilities of DM, acid-detergent fibre (ADF) and energy were not different (P > 0.05) among the three oil meals. However, the rapeseed meals tended to result in lower DM and energy digestibilities compared to that of the SBM sample. Apparent digestibility of crude protein was significantly (P < 0.05) higher for the SBM than the Candle RSM and similar to Tower RSM. However, the data would suggest that the differences in apparent protein digestion coefficients are due to differences in protein contents of the experimental diets and the daily N consumption by the calves.