Starfish (Asterias rubens) as feed ingredient for piglets

Abstract The effects of including starfish meal (SM) as an alternative protein source in diets for piglets on performance, faeces characteristics and plasma parameters were investigated. Four diets were formulated to contain different protein sources: fish meal (FM), extruded soybean meal (ESBM) and two levels of SM (SM50 and SM100). All diets contained 174.4 g soybean meal/kg feed and were supplemented by up to 166-172 g standardised ileal digestible crude protein/kg feed with either FM, ESBM, SM or a combination giving rise to two SM + ESBM diets with different levels of SM and ESBM. One wk after weaning, 96 pigs with a body weight of 9.6 ± 0.4 kg were housed individually and allocated to one of the four diets ( n  = 24) and fed ad libitum for a 14 d period. Average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and gain to feed ratio (G:F) were determined. Pigs fed the SM100 diet had a 23–28% lower ( P P P P