A new canola trait launched by Dow AgroSciences this week has the potential to expand the market for canola meal and change rations used for hog and poultry production.
After 15 years of research, Dow has developed canola that yields canola meal with significantly higher protein content — a product more comparable to soybean meal than traditional canola meal. The nutritional profile of ProPound meal, as it’s been branded, makes it an alternative to soybean meal in monogastric rations, explains David Dzisiak, Dow Agrosciences’ commercial leader for grains and oilseeds, in the interview below.
“Over the years canola has become really well-known for its great oil profile, but the protein side of the product has never really been improved all that much since it began as canola,” he says. “What we’ve been able to do is really make a step change in the quality of the protein meal component.”
Dzisiak explains the protein content of ProPound canola is approximately 20 percent higher than traditional canola meal (around 44 percent versus 37 percent), while energy content has been raised by about 10 percent and fibre content has been reduced. Combined with the discounted cost of canola meal versus soybean meal, there’s major potential to increase inclusion rates for pigs and poultry, both in North America and in growing Asian export markets, he says.
“Today, over 80 to 90 percent of all the canola meal we produce gets used by the U.S. dairy market. Canola has found a great fit with dairy cows, but the inclusion rate still remains very low when you look at at swine and poultry rations.”
The trait will be incorporated into Dow’s Nexera hybrids, one of which will be in limited production in 2016. Additional Clearfield and Roundup Ready Nexera hybrids will be more widely available in 2017, says Dzisiak, noting the Omega-9 oil content and quality of these varieties will be unchanged.
As with Nexera high-oleic canola, varieties with the ProPound trait will be grown through an identity-preserved program which will begin with a single crush plant in Western Canada. Dzisiak says they foresee the program expanding to all crushers in Western Canada as output grows.
ProPound’s release also comes as the soybean industry introduces high-oleic varieties that will compete against canola in the food market.
“The timing of this development is probably pretty good. High-oleic canola has taken a lot of market share of the US food industry from the soybean industry,” he explains. “Being able to improve the protein meal really helps canola maintain its competitiveness against soy. It’ll be an important part of the value creation needed to keep canola’s market share.”
Dow intends to have some ProPound canola meal available for livestock customers to conduct their own performance trials in the fall of 2016.
Related: Catherine Folkersen, SaskCanola on New Markets for Canola Meal
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