Canola meal can be as good a source of amino acids for poultry and pigs as soymeal if processors stop over-toasting it, says a University of Saskatchewan study.
These results have the hog industry cheering about a better domestic feed source and canola producers hoping better meal could mean more money.
Canola meal, which is the stuff left after the oil has been extracted, loses much of its value as feed because toasting damages the amino acid availability. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.
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“These results, verified by toasted and non-toasted canola meal samples from every crushing plant in Western Canada, led to the recommendation that toasting be minimized, and future work be performed to determine whether toasting can be eliminated,” said researchers from the U of S department of animal and poultry science.
Meal makes up 60 percent of the weight of the canola seed, but is worth far less than the 40 percent that is oil. Canola meal now sells for only about 60 percent of the price of soybean meal, even though it contains 75 percent of soybean’s protein.
The 15 percent gap is due to the inconsistent quality of canola meal and its reduced amino acids, the researchers say.
Those problems aren’t an inherent part of canola seed, said researchers Hank Classen and Rex Newkirk, but a result of the toasting process. Traditionally, canola has been toasted to eliminate anti-nutritional factors and to neutralize a solvent used in the oil-extraction process.
Raw canola meal has as high a level of available amino acids as soymeal, including lysine, but much of that is lost during toasting. Classen and Newkirk said modern canola varieties and processing methods take away much of the need for toasting.
Roy Button, executive director of the Sask-atchewan Canola Development Commission, said, “If we could improve the value or the price that we get for the meal, it could have a real impact on the price (of the seed).”
Meal will never compare in value to oil, but since so much of the canola seed is meal, any change in its value could be a significant boost to overall profitability.
Button said better quality meal for pigs and poultry could convince non-canola users to incorporate the meal into their feed rations and encourage those already using it to raise their canola proportion.
John Patience, director of the Prairie Swine Centre, said pig nutritionists are delighted by the prospects of being able to use much better quality canola meal.
Years ago, researchers believed canola meal could only be used in tiny quantities of two to three percent. Since then, improvements in canola and canola processing have made it possible to use canola for up to 15 percent of starter pig diets.
Eventually, canola meal may be able to replace most of the soymeal in prairie pig diets, Patience said.
“Canola has made huge strides and research … has shown that we can use significant quantities of canola meal and maintain animal performance,” said Patience.
Canola meal is a major feed source for feedlot cattle, but toasting does not reduce its value in beef production, said Karen Beauchemin of the Lethbridge Agriculture Canada research centre. Moderate toasting actually helps ruminants get the most from canola meal by making the amino acids pass through to the later stomachs.
