Researchers at Brazil conducted a study to understand the effect of replacement of soybean meal by wet or dry castor bean meal in diets of feedlot lambs. They assessed animal performance, carcass traits, intake, digestibility and hepatic function.
Control animals were fed with soybean meal while lambs for test were
fed with dry or wet castor meal treated with calcium hydroxide for 70 days. Lambs were slaughtered and evaluated at the end of 70 days. Dry matter intake and digestibility, final body weight, average daily gain and carcass weights were not affected by the substitution of soybean meal by castor source.
Serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase enzymes did not differ among treatments indicating no effect of treated CM on hepatic function.
The results show that the castor meal can completely replace soybean meal in the diet of finishing lambs without negative impacts.