Effect of heat on the nutritional value of lupin (Lupinus angustifolius) – seed meal for growing pigs

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of heat on the nutritional value of lupin (Lupinus angustifolius cv. Uniharvest and Unicrop)-seed meal, relative to soya-bean meal, for growing pigs 2. In both experiments, values for carcass gain/d and food conversion ratio (FCR) on a carcass basis of pigs fed on the diets containing lupin-seed meal were inferior (P less than 0.05) to those produced by pigs fed on soya-bean meal. 3. In the first experiment, heating lupin seed at temperatures from 105 to 150 degrees for 15 min resulted in a linear depression in carcass gain/d, a quadratic increase in carcass FCR, a linear decrease in lean in the ham and a linear increase in backfat thickness. In the second experiment, autoclaving lupin seed from 5 to 45 min at 121 degrees resulted in a linear depression in carcass gain/d and a linear increase in carcass FCR. 4. The addition of L-lysine to the diets containing lupin-seed meal verified that lysine was limiting in both experiments. The additions of L-lysine did not overcome the differences in carcass gains/d of pigs fed on lupin-seed meal relative to those fed on diets containing soya-bean meal. 5. It is concluded that the low lysine availability in lupin-seed meal for pigs is not due to the presence of heat-labile anti-nutritional factors in the seed.