New crops always pose new questions. What if the quality doesn’t meet standards for human food? What if the crop is late and hit by frost, or if the agronomics are off the first year?
What can farmers do with their crop then? How can they sell it?
Chickpeas are causing this dilemma as new varieties bred for prairie growing conditions emerge from western soils.
“There are some good potentials for feed from surplus chickpeas…. They are well suited to feeding, for hogs especially,” said Vern Racz, of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
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Compared to field peas, 75 percent of which are now ground into feed stocks, chickpeas have some advantages. Researchers say chickpeas offer protein levels similar to field peas, 20-23 percent, while fat content is three to five times higher than their green or yellow cousins.
Starch levels are similar to field peas which use starch to provide caloric content. Fats, like the ones contained in the chickpea, provide 2.25 times the energy that starches are able to supply. Amylose starches in chickpeas also compare favorably to the popular field pea, with chickpeas registering 32-46 percent to the pea’s 24-33 percent.
Chickpeas stand up well compared to soybeans, containing similar levels of the amino acid, lysine.
As with peas, chickpeas don’t need the costly cooking soybeans require, nor the transportation to prairie feed markets, making them a likely replacement for eastern and American soymeal.
However, chickpeas contain small levels of protease and amylase inhibitors, which reduce chickens’ efficiency in converting starch to energy. But chickpeas contain lower amounts than soybean.
Still, this may affect the usability for poultry, which, while efficient converters of feed, are selective in their feed. They prefer few complex carbohydrates like those contained in the chickpea. Microtoxins also exist in chickpeas, but researchers feel the amounts are not enough to be a concern to livestock feeders.
Crude fibre also plays a role as it affects the efficiency of the feed for non-ruminants. The harder seed coat on the smaller Desi variety provides less energy than that of sister plant Kabuli. But the Kabuli’s softer seed coat, larger size and more difficult agronomics will likely mean most acreage in the immediate future will be Desi.
“Ten to 15 percent of a layer diet and 10 percent of broiler feed could be made up of chickpeas…. Tests with feeding rates of up to 80 percent in hog rations showed no loss in productivity, so rations in the 30-35 percent range should prove very good for grower finishers,” said Racz.
Combining the feed with canola meal should provide balanced nutrition for hogs, seen by many chickpea proponents as the major market for feed quality chickpeas.
Hull-less barley, with its higher efficiency and lower fibre levels, will be the major competitor for the chickpea, said Racz.
Feed blending will require small adaptations from field pea data as studies at the University of Saskatchewan show strong promise for chickpeas that don’t make the grade for the human plate.
