The effect of feeding raw and germinated Lupinus luteus and Lupinus angustifolius seeds on the growth performance of young pigs

Two 33-day experiments were conducted. In each experiment, fifty male pigs about 9 kg body weight were divided into five groups and fed ad libitum a mixture containing soya bean meal in the control group (SBM), whereas in the experimental diets, 50% (experiment I) or 75% (experiment II) of the soya protein was replaced by the protein of raw or germinated seeds of yellow (RYL and GYL, respectively) or blue (RBL and GBL) lupin. The species of lupin had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on feed conversion ratio (FCR) in experiment I, whereas diet and germination significantly affected feed intake in experiment II. In experiment I feed utilization per kg body weight gain was worse (p < 0.05) in animals fed on the GYL diet than on GBL diet. In experiment II, intake of the GBL diet was significantly lower (p < 0.05) than of the SBM and RYL diets. Consumption of diet GBL was also significantly lower than of diet RBL. The alkaline phosphatase (AP) concentration was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in the blood of animals fed the diets with germinated lupin than those containing raw lupin seeds. The concentration of AP in the blood of animals fed the RYL diet was significantly higher (p < 0.05) compared with the other diets. The replacement of 50% or 75% of soya bean meal protein by raw or germinated yellow and blue lupin seeds did not significantly affect performance, but the higher level of germinated blue lupin seeds negatively affected feed intake by the pigs.