Deliverable D1.1 New parameters for soybean and rapeseed use in feed production

Objectives

The objective of this document is to provide a description of the production of novel feed protein products from rapeseeds or soybeans grown in Europe. This work was undertaken to investigate the potential of alternative European feedstuffs to increase their production in quantity and quality in Europe, thereby helping Europe to reduce its dependency on imported protein sources. The present deliverable is based on activities in WP1 task 1.1 but has strong links with the activities in task 1.3 to task 1.5.

Rationale

Task 1.1 focuses on the processing of European grown rapeseeds and soybeans to obtain products with high protein content and/or suitable for the feed market. A process employing extrusion-pressing or flaking-pressing cooking was used to produce expeller soybean meals from European cultivated soybeans. The impact on the quality of the soybean product of the initial dehulling of beans was evaluated and the different steps in the process were followed. Besides that, innovative and improved process stages of solvent extraction of rapeseed oil have been investigated. The classical process of rapeseed cake involves defatting with hexane, treatment with aqueous ethanol under vacuum to eliminate soluble carbohydrates, and drying with ethanol. New successive steps of oil extraction using hydro-ethanol / ethanol / hexane were investigated. The goas was to concentrate the protein content, limit the energy required for desolvation compared to that of hexane, and ensure a good removal of anti-nutritional factors. Lastly, an upgrading of conventional rapeseed meal was undertaken by a biological method. The goals were to increase the protein content of the meal and to limit the content of anti-nutritional factors (i.e., glucosinolates).