Feeding Value and Amino Acid Balance of Low-Glucosinolate Brassica napus (Cv. Tower) Rapeseed Meal

When diets containing Tower rapeseed meal were supplemented with various amino acids chick performance was dependent on whether semi-purified or practical type diets were used. In the former situation, where rapeseed meal provided all the dietary protein, optimum weight gain was achieved with supplementation of 0.75% L-arginine·HCl, 0.75% L-Iysine·HCl, and 0.3% DL-mediionine. With practical type diets however, no growth depression was observed with rapeseed meal, and no improvement in performance was gained from the addition of these amino acids. Results from the present study suggest that Tower rapeseed meal may be used in practical type diets at levels at least as high as 15% without any detrimental effects.