Problem

Soya beans are an excellent source of protein but they also contain anti-nutritive components, which need to be deactivated by heat prior to feeding to swine or poultry. Adequate processing intensity is required both to sufficiently deactivate anti-nutritive components and to avoid unnecessary damage to amino acids. Inappropriate processing leads to potentially high penalties for livestock growth.

Solution

Instruments for near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) equipped with specialised calibration models can reliably measure soya bean processing indicators such as trypsin-inhibitor activity (TIA) or protein solubility (solubility in potash, KOH).

Benefits

Measuring processing indicators by NIR-instruments supports optimal processing performance. With NIR-analysis, a full screening for amino acids and processing indicators costs about 100 EUR per sample. With traditional wet chemistry the same service would cost a high 4-digit number.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39510/



{Tool} Using near-infrared tools to monitor heat damage in soya bean products (OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract). Creator(s): Rittler, Leopold. Issuing Organisation(s): Donau Soja. OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

In 2022, it will become compulsory under EU Regulations (EC) no 889/2008 to provide all organic adult livestock with feed derived from 100% organic origins. However, the creation of diets that fulfil laying hen requirements and the associated technical-economic impacts remain unclear.

Solution

The on-farm trial evaluated the impact of 100% organic feed on egg laying (peak and single laying phase) and feed intake. To maintain egg production, soya and sunflower cake are important ingredients that cannot be replaced or significantly reduced with pea and faba bean.

Benefits

100 % organic feed with more utilization of sunflower and soya limits the loss of productivity while meeting regulatory requirements. • Increasing organic soya- and sunflower cake in the diet limits the decrease of egg production in 100% organic feedstuffs for layer production (Figure 1).



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39512/



{Tool} 100 % organic feedstuffs for laying hens (OK-Net EcoFeed Practice abstract). Creator(s): Roinsard, Antoine und Desaint, Brieuc. Issuing Organisation(s): ITAB - Institute for Organic Agriculture and Food. OK-Net Ecofeed Practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

Silage increases possibilities to perform foraging and explorative behaviours in pigs. When silage is fed in feed racks, it can however result in crowding and competition as well as increasing silage waste.

Solution

The test evaluated the effects of feeding silage to pigs with an automatic straw distributor on pig behaviour, silage consumption and cleanliness of the pen. Ley crop silage was loaded on top of the straw in an automatic straw distributor and distributed to the pigs in their loose housing deep litter pen 4-5 times a day (see figures 1-3).

Benefits

Feeding silage in small rations several times per day can increase the pigs’ silage consumption. It can contribute to a cleaner pen and improve animal welfare by increased possibilities for the pigs to forage, root and eat silage together as a group.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39513/



{Tool} Feeding silage to pigs with an automatic straw distributor (OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract). Creator(s): Presto Åkerfeldt, Magdalena und Löfquist, Ingela. Issuing Organisation(s): SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Hushållningssällskapet. OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

Gestating sows on restricted diets are hungry. At pasture, there is also a risk that they are damaging the pasture by their high rooting activity. Forage turnips (Barkant Brassica Turnip) in the pasture have great potential to serve as supplementary feed and behaviour enrichment for gestating sows.

Solution

Gestating sows fed either 60 or 100% of their commercial diet had access to pasture with established forage turnips (Figure 1). The study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of establishing turnips and its potential as nutrient resource and behaviour enrichment for the sows.

Benefits

By establishing turnips, the sows will be supplied with foraging material, so the turnips can serve as a nutrient source and as behavioural enrichment. Moreover, this can reduce pasture damage caused by excessive rooting.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39514/



{Tool} Establishing forage turnips in the pasture for gestating sows (OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract). Creator(s): Presto Åkerfeldt, Magdalena und Löfquist, Ingela. Issuing Organisation(s): SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Hushållningssällskapet. OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

Diarrhoea around weaning is common in organic piglet production, even with an extended lactation period and access to grass/clover silage. It results in not only poor growth and production but also impaired animal health and welfare.

Solution

Silage with a high inclusion of chicory (Cichorium intybus) was fed to piglets before and after weaning. The inno-vation practice aimed to evaluate the potential to include chicory silage in diets (without dietary zinc oxide) and its effect on pig health and growth.

Benefits

Chicory forage (see figure 1) has a high content of uronic acids, which forms pectin. Plant-origin pectin can be used as a soluble fibre feed ingredient and can increase colon microbiota diversity and Lactobacillus amylovorus population. Thus, silage with chicory can have beneficial effects on gut health. Moreover, silage increases sa-tiety and the possibilities for the pigs to perform foraging and rooting behaviour. Thus, it can reduce the level of stress and occurrence of diarrhoea and thereby promote pig health and growth.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39515/



{Tool} Feeding silage to organic weaning piglets: diarrhoea, gastric health and growth (OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract). Creator(s): Presto Åkerfeldt, Magdalena. Issuing Organisation(s): SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Hushållningssällskapet. OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

Beans are commonly grown in rotation as a fertility-building cash crop, but they contain antinutritional factors, which limit their inclusion in monogastric rations. Processing the beans to remove antinutritional factors could increase the use and value of a product which is readily available in organic farming.

Solution

Toasting and dehulling beans reduce the levels of antinutritional factors. Toasting beans reduces the level of trypsin inhibitors. Dehulling reduces the tannin levels.

Benefits

Reducing antinutritional factors would allow a higher inclusion of pulses in feed rations. Adding a simple treatment would increase feed inclusion, product value and reduce the need for imported protein. High tannin bean varieties are already used for human consumption and ruminants. TIA and tannin removal make them better suited to monogastric diets and would improve markets for all bean varieties. • Samples of Beans were heated to 150 °C for 15 minutes in a conventional electric oven (Picture 1).



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39516/



{Tool} Heat treatment and dehulling effects on feed value of faba beans (OK-Net Ecofeed Practice abstract). Creator(s): Alford, Jerry. Issuing Organisation(s): Soil Association. OK-Net Ecofeed Practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

Cereals sold for human or livestock feed are cleaned to remove weed seeds and broken grains to satisfy mill standards. Removal of weed seeds from seed crops is also essential to minimise spread of weeds. In addition, the inclusion of small grains leads to financial penalties. These ‘tailings’ are often composted, burnt or fed to livestock. The potential to utilise tailings as a feed source can reduce production costs and waste.

Solution

A blended sample of grains, including heritage varieties, was collected from an organic farm. Grain samples and tailings after seed cleaning were tested at an independent lab for nutritional content including amino acid content

Benefits

Small grains, broken grains and weed seeds are a waste product which can be utilised as a feed stuff. The weed seeds have the potential to supply different amino acids and minerals. The sample of tailings tested contained Ryegrass (Lolium spp.), clover (Trifolium spp.), charlock (Sinapsis) and dock (Rumex) seeds as well as small and damaged grains as seen in figure 1. The nutritional content of the grains and tailings are shown in Table 1. Reduction in Starch levels are countered by higher levels of sugars due to harvesting weeds before maturity.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39517/



{Tool} The potential feed value of grain tailings for poultry (OK-Net Ecofeed Practice abstract). Creator(s): Alford, Jerry. Issuing Organisation(s): Soil Association. OK-Net Ecofeed Practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

It is a requirement of organic regulations for organic birds to have access to a range. Under some circumstances such as drought, snow or veterinary lockdown green forage is not available. A mixture of sprouted seeds can be used as a green feed with nutritional benefits. Vetches are a pulse crop commonly grown as a forage. They have a similar protein quality to beans but also contain antinutritional factors and toxins which limit inclusion in rations when untreated.

Solution

An on-farm sprouter was developed to produce a con-sistent crop using equipment available on farm. Wheat and vetch seeds were then sprouted, and samples tested for feed value including amino acid profiles. Trypsin inhib-itor activity (TIA) was also assessed in the vetches to as-sess change in antinutritional factors. Sprouted seeds were then fed to layers to assess interest.

Benefits

There is little data available for feed value of sprouts as animal feed. The addition of sprouted seeds to the ration could improve utilisation of available feedstuffs. Sprouting triggers the breakdown of antinutritional factors in pulses increasing protein in the diet and provides the benefits of a green feed. • Initial phases of the sprouter produced uneven germination and a mouldy product. Following adaptations, the final sprouter incorporated spray nozzles, UV lights and a fan to control humidity (Figure 1) which resulted in consistent germination and product.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39518/



{Tool} Sprouted wheat and vetch seeds as a green feed for poultry (OK-Net EcoFeed Practice abstract). Creator(s): Alford, Jerry. Issuing Organisation(s): Soil Association. OK-Net Ecofeed Practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

The free-range area for finishing pigs is generally not op-timized for its nutritional value through grazing. Further-more, low roughage intake is not optimal for health, wel-fare of pigs and the nutritional quality of the meat. Fi-nally, a significant quantity of feed is consumed at this stage which can be costly.

Solution

Introduce a diversity of protein-rich fodder, so that the finishing pigs forage as soon as weather conditions per-mit, over the longest possible period of the year.

Benefits

Well organized foraging, with good quality fodder, reduces the amount of concentrates consumed and in-creases the food autonomy of the farm. Access to fresh fodder is valuable for pig health and welfare and for the nutritional quality of the meat (fatty acid profiles). • Carry out a provisional grazing schedule, based on a diversity of crops (figures 1 and 2), with the aim of having fodder at the optimum stage throughout the year. • Adapt the amount of concentrates fed according to the amount and quality of fodder available on the plots. Feed rationing leads to lower fat carcasses but can also decrease the carcass weight if too little concentrate is fed.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39563/



{Tool} Foraging of organic finishing pigs on protein-rich fodder (OK-Net EcoFeed Practice abstract). Creator(s): Lubac, Stanislas. Issuing Organisation(s): ITAB - Institute for Organic Agriculture and Food. OK-Net Ecofeed Practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

By 2022 it will become compulsory under EU Regulations (EC) no 889/2008 to provide all organic livestock with feed derived from 100% organic origins. Pig and poultry farming currently relies heavily on imported soya so find-ing regional alternatives to soya is important. One of the issues to resolve is how to fulfill broiler requirements with local feedstuffs during the fattening phase.

Solution

Camelina cake, rapeseed expeller and sunflower expeller can be locally produced so their potential as soya cake re-placers were evaluated for the broiler finishing phase. This phase is less nutritionally demanding offering a good time to test alternative feedstuffs. The test diet was for-mulated to contain the same nutrients as the routine fin-ishing feed to fulfil all broiler requirements.

Benefits

Camelina cake, sunflower expeller and rapeseed expeller are produced by a regional mill, increasing the value of local raw materials, and reducing the need to import soya bean cake. For broiler farmers, feed self-sufficiency is dif-ficult to achieve so local protein sources are advanta-geous from this point of view. Feed costs did not increase when using alternative protein sources.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39576/



{Tool} Alternatives to soya bean for fattening broilers (OK-Net EcoFeed Practice abstract). Creator(s): Roinsard, Antoine und Desaint, Brieuc. Issuing Organisation(s): ITAB - Institute for Organic Agriculture and Food. OK-Net Ecofeed Practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

Alternative protein sources can increase the use of locally produced protein, supporting the transition to 100% organic feeding. Clover-grass concentrate has a high protein content with a good amino acid profile for poultry. It is necessary to dry the green protein paste to maintain a good quality, but the drying process is expensive.

Solution

Anaerobic storage of fresh green protein, it’s nutritional value and shelf life were measured over 6 months. Measures included pH, bacteria concentration of lactic acid bacteria and coliform bacteria, short chain fatty acids, dry matter (DM) and ash content, nitrogen and amino acids. Time intervals: 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 months after harvest. Additional effects of temperature (240C and 40C) and added lactic acid bacteria were also tested

Benefits

Green protein can substantially increase the proportion of locally produced protein used in animal feed, reducing imports of soy-based protein sources. Green protein concentrate contains a high protein and amino acid content. Storage of the green protein preserves protein quality and extends its value as a feed source. Anaerobic storage on farm would be much cheaper than drying.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39520/



{Tool} Clover-grass protein by bio-refining: nutrient composition and shelf life (OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract). Creator(s): Steenfeldt, Sanna; Engberg, Ricarda M. and Ambye-Jensen, Morten. Issuing Organisation(s): AU - Aarhus University. OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

A healthy intestinal system in broilers is important to ensure optimal growth and lower mortality. Adding lactic acid bacteria to drinking water or feeding maize silage, could improve performance and have a positive effect on the digestibility of nutrients.

Solution

Three treatments were tested in an on-farm study with broilers in mobile houses (Figure 1). One control house (A) with no added lactic acid bacteria, one house (B) with lactic acid bacteria culture added to drinking water and one house (C) fed with maize silage. 10% of the chickens were weighed at 1 day old and at 4 and 8 weeks of age. At 8 weeks of age, 12 chickens from each treatment were randomly selected for digestive tract analyses.

Benefits

Adding lactic acid to drinking water can increase “good” bacteria in the digestive tract. Using maize silage contributes to 100% organic feeding in poultry and can benefit gastrointestinal health, due to the content of lactic acid bacteria and its rough structure. May improve nutrient digestibility and performance.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39521/



{Tool} Lactic acid bacteria supplements for organic broilers (OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract). Creator(s): Steenfeldt, Sanna and Engberg, Ricarda M.. Issuing Organisation(s): AU - Aarhus University. OK-Net EcoFeed practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

Soya bean cake is a major source of protein in organic poultry diets. However, it does not contain the required levels of methionine and cysteine resulting in more soya being fed to fulfil amino acids requirements, leading to higher costs and negative effects on animal health for over proteic diets.

Solution

To improve at the same time the crop rotation and the local production of feed-stuff with camelina (Camelina sativa). It is a low-requirement crop producing oil-rich seeds whose cake can contribute to protein supply.

Benefits

A complementary source of feed for poultry, rich in pro-teins and specifically in sulphur containing amino acids, as well as omega 3 fatty acids, as well as omega 3 fatty acids and tocopherols. A new crop to be included into Northern Italy crop rotations, fitting organic farming practices and diversification needs. Camelina fits well into crop rotations on organic farms in North-Eastern Italy, as it can be sown in October and harvested in late May/beginning of June, so allowing a second crop, after it, of soya bean. It does not require high amounts of nutrients and, if it follows a cover crop with leguminous species or is sown in highly fertile soils, no specific inputs are required. No irrigation is needed. There are no diseases or pests affecting it. It is very resistant and will grow on marginal areas and sloping land.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39637/



{Tool} Camelina organic cultivation experiences in Italy (OK-Net EcoFeed Practice abstract). Creator(s): Micheloni, Cristina. Issuing Organisation(s): AIAB - Associazione Italiana Agricoltura Biologica. OK-Net Ecofeed Practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

Camelina is a new (or rediscovered) crop for Italian farm-ers and there is no experience in post-harvest and pro-cessing operations. At the same time there is the need to build a value chain for the oil, in order to be able to use the by-product, cake, as animal feed.

Solution

Cold pressing of organic camelina seeds, with the produc-tion of crude oil and cake (Figure 1).

Benefits

Regional production of Camelina cake, to be used as animal feed. A new crop to be included into Northern Italy crop rotations, fitting organic farming practices and diversification needs. A high value product, oil, for use in food, cosmetics and nutraceuticals. For high quality products, oil and cake, the following key points from harvest onwards should be considered: • if possible wait for a dry week to harvest (Camelina siliqua – seed pods – do not open easily) • if available use a harvester for alfalfa seed, otherwise use a combine harvester for wheat at low speed and, preferably, with straw separation • if there is a high presence of other materials select the product with sifters and, if available, with optic tools • if the seeds have a high moisture content, dry immediately, to avoid fermentation processes that reduce the quality of the seeds and, as a consequence, of the oil and cake • oil extraction by pressure and at low temperatures preserves all nutritional components (tocopherols etc.) valuable for feed, food, and cosmetic use.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39648/



{Tool} Camelina processing: experience in Italy (OK-Net EcoFeed Practice abstract). Creator(s): Micheloni, Cristina. Issuing Organisation(s): AIAB - Associazione Italiana Agricoltura Biologica. OK-Net Ecofeed Practice abstract. (2021)

Problem

Soya bean is a major source of protein for laying hens, that cannot be cultivated everywhere and is unbalanced in terms of amino acids contents. An alternative, Came-lina, contains interesting types and amounts of omega 3 fatty acids and tocopherols (Vit. E).

Solution

To use camelina cake as partial replacement of soya bean cake in laying hens feed and the addition of camelina oil to improve hen health and egg quality.

Benefits

To diversify hens' diet with a locally grown crop that can improve the quality of feed in terms of amino acids bal-ance, omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants content that improve hen health and productivity. Camelina cake, on average, has 34% protein and 10% fat. The protein includes 38% of essential amino acids with a 2,65% of methionine. In the oil omega 3: omega 6 is 2:1. Camelina can be included in the laying hens diet up to a maximum of 10% (due to anti-nutritional factors that, with higher contents, can affect animal health). In the practical trial, 3,5% of camelina cake replaced the same amount of soya bean cake.



https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/39649/



{Tool} Use of organic Camelina in laying hen feed (OK-Net EcoFeed Practice abstract). Creator(s): Micheloni, Cristina. Issuing Organisation(s): AIAB - Associazione Italiana Agricoltura Biologica. OK-Net Ecofeed Practice abstract. (2021)