Canola AgriScience Cluster Theme 2: Differentiated Quality and Sustainable Livestock Production Using Canola Meal
Term: 5 years, beginning in 2018
Status: Complete
SaskCanola Investment: $144,220 in Canola AgriScience Cluster Themes 1 & 2
Total Project Cost: N/A
Funding Partners: ACPC, MCGA and AAFC Canadian Agricultural Partnership
Administered By: Canola Council of Canada
Project Descriptions
1. Gut Health and Digestive Physiology of Nursery Pigs Fed Canola Meal-Based Diets
Researchers: Tofuko Woyengo (South Dakota State University); Joy Scaria (South Dakota State University)
Purpose: There is an identified need for alternative feeding strategies to improve the gut health of pigs. This activity will determine the effects of including canola meal in diets for nursery pigs on gut health and digestive physiology and will evaluate dietary canola meal on the growth performance and gut health of Escherichia coli-challenged nursery pigs. Results from this activity could demonstrate that inclusion of canola meal into feed formulations will reduce gut infections in pigs, and the economic losses associated with gut infections, leading to increased production efficiency and improved sustainability metrics. This research could increase the competitiveness of the Canadian canola industry by increasing demand for canola meal in formulating swine diets.
2. Canola Meal to Improve Efficiency and Sustainability of Dairy Production: Filling Knowledge Gaps
Researchers: Chaouki Benchaar, Karen Beauchemin and Fadi Hassanat (AAFC)
Purpose: This project aims to fill knowledge gaps about the effects of feeding canola meal to dairy cows on greenhouse gas emissions, and on the carbon footprint (i.e., amount of CO2 equivalent emitted/kg of milk) of milk produced from cows fed canola meal (versus soybean meal) under Canadian confinement dairy production systems. The study will determine the optimal inclusion level of solvent-extracted canola meal in dairy cow diets (versus soybean meal) to mitigate enteric methane emissions, reduce nitrogen excretion and enhance milk performance, and will establish the carbon footprint (cradle to farm-gate life cycle analysis) of milk produced using canola meal (versus soybean meal) under dairy confinement farming systems. The research will demonstrate whether sustainability (environmental and economic) of dairy production can be improved by using canola meal as the main protein source in dairy cow diets.
Other References to this Research Project
3. Understanding the Impacts of Canola Meal on Gut Microbiota and Potential Pre-Biotic Effect of Enzymatically-Released Bioactive Fiber Components and the Long Term Effects of High Levels of Canola Meal Inclusion on Sow and Litter Performance
Researchers: Bogdan Slominski, Martin Nyachoti, Anna Rogiewicz and Ehsan Khafipour (University of Manitoba)
Purpose: This activity builds on the positive developments from Growing Forward 2 research and will look to further optimize the use of high inclusion levels of CM in poultry and swine diets. More precise formulation of diets would result in reduced feed cost and environmental pollution, while achieving optimal animal performance. This research would also demonstrate that the benefits to be gained from enzyme supplementation are not only from improved nutrient digestion and feed efficiency but also from improved gut health. Specifically, improved gut health as a result of prebiotics formed from the hydrolysis of canola meal fibre components, including non-starch polysaccharides (NSP), would benefit the poultry and swine industries by controlling enteric infections, and therefore obviating the need for in-feed antibiotics. Developing and adopting antibiotic-free feeding programs is a major goal of the poultry and livestock industries.
Other References to this Research Project
4. Accurate Determination of the Contribution of Canola Meal to Metabolizable Protein Supply in Dairy Cows
Researchers: Daniel Ouellet and Hélène Lapierre (AAFC); Édith Charbonneau (Université Laval)
Purpose: For dairy producers and nutritionists, it is essential to understand the feed value of ingredients such as canola meal (CM) to adequately formulate dairy rations in order to optimize performances, and minimize feed cost and the environmental footprint of dairy farming. The optimal utilization of CM in dairy diets is limited by the lack of information on why CM improves milk production in dairy cows and the factors that influence that response. The proposed research intends to decipher where this positive impact of CM is coming from and why the predicted metabolizable protein (MP) supply is under-estimated with CM-based diets. Identifying the “correct” N kinetics of CM into the rumen and an understanding of the mechanisms behind the milk advantage can be used in diet formulation programs to improve diet performance and profitability. Knowing the real contribution of CM to the MP supply will give more confidence to nutritionists and producers to include CM in their rations.
5. Evaluation of canola meal as compared to soybean meal in practical California rations: effects upon long term lactational performance, reproductive performance and metabolic disease
Researchers: Peter Robinson (University of California, Davis); William Van Die (Cloverdale Dairy); Nadia Swanepoel (University of California, Davis)
Purpose: Research to date on feeding CM has been instrumental in demonstrating the advantages of CM on milk production and components, but has only examined these parameters over short periods of time (i.e., 3 to 4 weeks). While milk production is important, reproduction and culling are equally important to the dairy industry. There is no data on effects of CM vs other protein meals as they relate to reproduction and culling. This study will determine if improvements in milk production can be sustained when CM is fed from calving through the critical periods when the cows withstand negative energy balance, and are bred. Large numbers of cows are needed to assess effects of dietary nutrients on reproduction and culling due to the large number of co-variables (e.g., lactation number, milk production, season, body condition score), and Cloverdale provides an ideal setting to capture such data. This study will provide information regarding use of CM and SBM in this unique market with respect to milk production, health and reproduction of dairy cows. Positive results from this research will provide further explanation of canola meal’s advantages in dairy diets.