ALTERNATIVES TO SOYMEALS FOR DAIRY: EXPRESS® COTTONSEED
A recent article by NPR highlights the emergence of “edible” cottonseed – suitable for food production, not just feed. Cottonseed is the resulting seed after the ginning process used to generate the cotton fiber. Traditionally, cottonseed is not edible in its raw state and is sold for use in animal feed. Due to a toxic compound concentrated in the seed called gossypol, cottonseed must be processed before it can be fed to dairy. Insta-Pro® International’s ExPress® process can effectively reduce free gossypol levels up to 85% ensuring the toxin doesn’t impact dairy performance. However, even small amounts of gossypol prevent the ExPress® cottonseed from being fed to young swine and poultry. As highlighted in the article, the new variety of “gossypol-free” cottonseed could be useful for both human food and swine/poultry feed.
There are several key advantages for the use of ExPress® cottonseed in dairy which are highlighted below:
- High-shear dry extrusion deactivates anti-nutritional factors – including gossypol and mycotoxins – ensuring a high-quality feed ingredient
- ExPress® cottonseed meal contains a similar residual oil content to ExPress® soymeal. The 6% – 8% residual oil in the meal provides the essential fatty acid, linoleic acid, to be used as a high-quality energy source for milk production.
- ExPress® cottonseed meal provides a superior source of highly digestible by-pass protein.
As summarized in the table above, ExPress® cottonseed meal provides 70% digestible by-pass protein – or the amount of protein digested vs supplied. Although ExPress® cottonseed and soymeal and commercial meals have similar by-pass protein amounts (% Crude Protein), the ExPress® meals have a digestibility advantage of 10% – 30%. Even DDGS, which have a higher amount of by-pass protein (74%) does not have good digestibility (57%). All in all, ExPress® meals provide a superior source of highly digestible by-pass protein in ruminants.
The ExPress® process allows for proper cooking of the meal, which deactivates antinutrients, while improving palatability and nutritional quality. Talk to someone at Insta-Pro® International today to learn more about how the ExPress® process can be used to generate high-quality feed and food ingredients.
