CALGARY — It’s new and improved and as canola becomes even more popular, researchers are working hard to make it better.
One way is to find more uses for canola meal, a byproduct left after crushing for oil. As more canola is crushed each year there’s more meal available. Forty percent of this meal is used domestically for livestock feed while the rest is exported.
Members of the Canola Council of Canada would like to see more livestock people use canola meal in rations to replace soy meal. It’s cheaper and Canada has plenty of it, says Laurie Hays of the council.
Read Also
VIDEO: British company Antler Bio brings epigenetics to dairy farms
British company Antler Bio is bringing epigenetics to dairy farms using blood tests help tie how management is meeting the genetic potential of the animals.
Canola meal has a protein content of at least 34 percent, said Hays. It is a good source of vitamin E and minerals like phosphorous, selenium, zinc and manganese.
The council is assuring livestock producers that many of the old problems with rapeseed, such as palatability and harmful trace elements, have been eliminated by plant breeders, said Hays.
Taking the coat off
Another area of research to improve meal involves dehulling canola seed.
A good part of these small seeds are hull, which are high in fibre but hard for some animals to digest, said Bill Riley of the canola council. There are two ways to remove hulls.
One is called front-end dehulling where the hull is taken off prior to making the meal, leaving a low fibre, high protein product. It works well but takes most of the valuable oil with it, said Riley.
Now researchers are looking at tail-end removal where hulls are removed from the meal after the seeds are crushed. Protein content isn’t as high as the other process so work is needed to learn how to maintain the protein.
The canola council is also funding a project at the University of Saskatchewan to find easier ways to loosen the hull. Moisture is added to the seeds, which are then dried. The inside contracts and separates from the hull, which cracks. When the seed is crushed the hull comes off easier.
Meal made from dehulled canola is lighter in color because it’s made from the endosperm of the seed, said Riley. He doesn’t foresee any mixing problems when canola meal is blended with feed.
If this is feasible, plant breeders could select for bigger seeds and yellow coats which contain less fibre than black-coated seeds.
Nutritional testing
Besides removing the hulls, researchers are testing the tail-end dehulled meal on all species from cattle to fish to see how they handle it nutritionally.
That leaves the hulls, which retain a lot of protein. Tests are being run on ruminant rations because the digestive systems of sheep and cattle can handle that form of fibre easier than some other species, said Riley.
Nutritional trials with lamb, dairy, poultry, swine and trout rations are other areas for experimentation. Once researchers see how animals handle the feed, they will work out costs, what the producer can expect and if it’s economical to go through the dehulling process, said Riley.
