Netherlands: field beans with grain as a substitute for soybean meal

Published 2020년 12월 3일

Tridge summary

The Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Research (ILVO) in Belgium is exploring alternative protein sources for sustainable livestock farming, specifically for laying hens. The research has found that ensiled field beans can replace soybean meal in poultry feed, improving sustainability without affecting the performance or eggshell quality of the hens. The study also found that mixed cultivation of field beans with grain is more effective than just ensiling field beans or using dry field beans. ILVO is continuing this research as part of the Optipluim project, also looking into fodder peas and other processing options, and evaluating the performance of various types of chickens under organic and conventional production systems.

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Original content

In order to make livestock farming more sustainable, the search for alternative regional protein sources for laying hens is also underway in Belgium. First, the Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Research (ILVO) looked at organic hens. Lourenço has compared five treatments. A control feed, a feed with dry field beans, with silage field beans, with silage field beans from a mixed crop with triticale (summer crop) or from a mixed crop with winter wheat (winter crop). Before silage, the harvest was done at a dry matter content of approximately 77 percent and with a field bean share of approximately 70 percent. Anti Nutritional Factors Ensilage was chosen as the processing method, because this largely neutralizes the anti nutritional factors (ANF) contained in field beans. These ANFs are in almost all legumes and have a negative impact on digestion. Silage can significantly reduce those ANFs. The field beans ensiled (whether or not in mixed cultivation) were added to the ...

Source: Nieuwe Oogst