Rapeseed Oil Meal as a Supplement to a Turkey Breeder Ration

RAPESEED oil meal (RSOM) is known to contain an active goiterogenic principle and certain toxic factors which tend to reduce growth rate of chicks and poults when fed at high levels (Blakely and Anderson, 1948; and many others). The variety and species of rape and the method of processing the seed also affect the nutritive value of the meal by-product (Bell et al., 1963; Clandinin and Tajcnar, 1961). The latter authors demonstrated that solvent or prepress-solvent extracted meal was superior to the high pressure expeller process product, particularly in lysine content. O’Neil (1957) reported that 10% RSOM satisfactorily replaced the soybean meal in the ration of laying and breeder chickens. The present experiments were undertaken to evaluate RSOM as a protein supplement in turkey breeder rations. Experiment 1. Two groups of Broad Breasted Bronze turkey hens, each consisting of 100 birds, were used in this experiment. One…