Research Objective
To develop higher value feeding strategy and maintain and increase business in competitive market for pulse producers and industry from lower or no value of damaged faba bean forage and damaged faba bean seeds (“try to extract high value from no value faba”).
Objective 4To increase basic knowledge of the nutritional relevance of damaged and normal forage faba and faba bean to apply this information to the production of high quality feeding programs and to aid forage faba and faba bean breeding programs.
In Saskatchewan and Western Canada, due to cold and unexpected cold climate condition, faba bean are often frost/frozen-damaged. However, salvage value, feed value and feeding value in frost/frozen damaged faba bean forage and seeds is unknown. There is an urgent need to develop a comprehensive research program for pulse producers, industries, and livestock industry with a systematic approach to determine:
1. Salvage values of damaged faba forage and faba bean in ruminant livestock systems
2. To determine feed values of normal faba forage and faba bean for both beef and dairy cattle
3. To determine effect of faba bean varieties, effect of processing methods on faba bean to find optimal methods, and effect of tannin level on nutrient availability of faba beans
4. To develop new faba feeding strategy for both beef and dairy cattle in sustainable animal production systems in Saskatchewan and Western Canada
Hypothesis: Different varieties/lines of faba bean seeds, feed processing treatments and different tannin levels (high or low) will impact the structural, physicochemical, and nutritional characterization of normal faba beans grown in Western Canada and affect nutrient utilization and availability in ruminant livestock. The induced structural change by feed processing is highly associated with nutrient availability in animals.
Results showed that high tannin frost damaged hay had higher organic matter (OM) and lower acid detergent insoluble crude protein than low tannin frost damaged hay. Starch and protein contents in this stage of maturity averaged 11.9% DM and 16.8% DM. Energy values were similar, while high tannin hay had higher fiber-bound protein and lower indigestible protein. Low tannin frost damaged hay had higher rumen undegraded crude protein and lower undegradable fraction of neural detergent fiber than high tannin frost damaged hay. High tannin frost damaged hay had higher intestinal digested rumen bypass dry matter, higher intestinal digestibility of rumen bypass protein, higher metabolizable protein and higher Feed Milk Value than low tannin frost damaged hay. Both high tannin and low tannin frost damaged hay have lower nutritive value at 114 days than non-frost damage hay at flower stage at 77 days, mid-pod stage at 88 days and late pod stage at 97 days. The high tannin frost damaged hay harvested at 114 days showed superior nutritive value than the low tannin frost damaged hay harvested at 114 days.