Research: Fibre-protein from canola in dairy feed

Fibre-protein is a byproduct arising from a process for fractionating high-quality protein from canola meal.

 

The objective of this study was to evaluate the fibre-protein fraction by examining the chemical profiles, rumen degradation, and intestinal digestive characteristics and determining the nutritive value of the fibre-protein fraction as dietary components for dairy cattle in comparison with commercial canola meal and soybean meal.

 

Available energy values were estimated based on National Research Council guidelines, whereas total true protein content potentially absorbable in the small intestine (DVE) were predicted using the predicted DVE/degraded protein balance (OEB) model.

 

The results show that fibre-protein was a highly fibrous material [neutral detergent fibre (NDF): 556; acid detergent fibre (ADF): 463; acid detergent lignin (ADL): 241 g/kg of dry matter (DM)] compared with canola meal (NDF: 254; ADF: 212; ADL: 90 g/kg of DM) due to the presence of a higher level of seed hulls in fibre-protein.

 

Compared with canola meal, fibre-protein contained 90 g/kg of DM less crude protein (CP), 25% of which consisted of undegradable acid detergent-insoluble CP.

 

Most of the ruminally undegradable nutrient components present in canola meal appeared to be concentrated into fibre-protein during the manufacturing process and, as a result, fibre-protein showed a consistently lower effective degradability of DM, organic matter, CP, NDF, and ADF compared with both canola meal and soybean meal.

 

Available energy content in fibre-protein contained two-thirds of that of canola meal.

 

The DVE was one-third that of soybean meal and one-fifth that of canola meal [DVE value: 58 vs. 180 (soybean) and 291 g/kg of DM (canola meal)].

 

The OEB value of fibre protein was positive and about half of that of soybean and canola meal [OEB value: 74 vs. 162 (soybean) and 137 g/kg of DM (canola meal)].

 

Fibre-protein can be considered as a secondary source of protein in ruminant feed.