The researches of Scotland’s Rural College, which is a leading research institute in Scotland, together with the UK plant breeders and animal nutritionists of the University of Nottingham and the National Institute of Agricultural Botany will re-examine the nutritional value of rapeseed meal for pigs and poultry. The project will run untill March 2016.
The main reason for the research is the outdated information on nutritional values and inclusion rates for oilseed rape meal in pig and poultry feed in UK. It is known that in other countries the level of rapeseed in feed for animals is higher without any negative influence on their growth performance. Therefore it was decided to revise the recommendations for maximum levels of oil seed rape in meal for pig and poultry farming.
It is provided that researchers will test both the nutritional value and anti-nutritional factors of a wide range of rapeseed. Through a series of biochemical tests and experiments on growth and digestion of pigs and poultry scientists will try to compare the chemical analyzes of different varieties of rapeseed with their nutritional properties.
Using similar experiments, they also will research more in details the nutritional value and anti-nutritional factors of oilseed rape and chemical composition of modern rape varieties.
The experimental data will be used to inform rape breeders and producers and feed manufacturers about nutritional properties of this protein resource in order to reduce their dependence on imported soybeans.
It is known that rapeseed meal is about £100 a tonne cheaper than soybean meal but contains higher levels of anti-nutritional factors which can reduce bird and animal health and performance.
As a result of the research it is expected that the UK feed industry will get the updated information on the impact of oilseed rape on the nutritional value of feed for pigs and poultry. In case of positive results there will be greater confidence in using rapeseed meal in animal feed and recommended amount of rape in food for animals and birds will be revised towards increase in UK.
Author: Ivan Prokhorov
