‘Novel’ products will change industry view of ruminant feeding
“In five or 10 years, grain will not be something that we feed to ruminants.” That was the bold statement made by AB Agri’s Michael Marsden in front of delegates attending this year’s British Society of Animal Science annual conference.
“In the past we have ‘thrown’ grain at the rumen, but we are going to have to learn how to feed the rumen and use ‘novel’ products efficiently,” he added.
‘Novel’ or new products are Dr Marsden’s preferred names for co-products – he says the term is now outdated as no factory will ever be constructed without some recognition being given to the valuable contribution of all its products.
“And we need to exploit these products in light of high grain costs – they offer many opportunities. By 2010 the predicted supply of dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS) in the EU will be around six millions tonnes – about 0.8 million tonnes of which will be produced in the UK from wheat.”
He says that the main limitation for their use will be their variation in nutritional quality – the result of variable raw material, the quantity of chemicals removed and added during processing, and the process used.
“And, clearly, accurate feed material description will be fundamental to utilising the full nutritional value of the new and novel products being produced by biofuel plants,” he said.
“We know that bio-ethanol ‘products’ will provide ruminant animals with huge quantities of valuable protein. And glycerol – a product of bio-diesel production from oil seeds – is energy rich and has the potential to be a significant part of ruminant rations.
“Rapeseed meal also has more potential as a feed. Its volume in the EU is set to increase and, with a self sufficiency for soya of just 2.5%, there is a growing need to improve the nutritional value of rapeseed by removing some of the anti-nutrient factors, such as tannins,” he added.
“This may become more economically viable as the differential between rape and soya meal increases.”
Presented to the British Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting, March 31 to April 2, 2008, Scarborough, UK.
Full details: http://www.bsas.org.uk/Publications/Annual_Conference_Proceedings/
PDF of Powerpoint presentations available at http://www.bsas.org.uk/Members_Area/
M Marsden April 2008: “Ruminants: Use of novel co-products, economics and nutritional limitations. including new technologies for overcoming constraints” Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science, pp 287 Email: michael.marsden@sac.ac.uk
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