Improving nutrient value of Canadian canola meal and soybean meal via fermentation

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Soybean and canola meal are commonly used plant-based protein sources in the livestock industry. However, they also contain anti-nutritional factors such as allergens, high molecular weight, difficult to digest proteins. In addition, the contents of cellulose and hemicellulose are also quite high ranging from 19-22% in these feedstuffs. Due to the lack of cellulase and hemicellulase in the pig gastro-intestine track, this high percentage of fiber in the canola and soybean meal limits their utilization. Microbial fermentation using bacteria is one of the efficient and cost effective approaches to improve feed nutritional value. We have previously established a laboratory scale fermentation system to break down the allergen, non-digestible and antinutritional components in soybean meal to improve their nutrient value. CBS Bio-Platforms, a leader in the field working to unlock prebiotics and proteins from plants for livestock feed, is collaborating with us via the NSERC Alliance funding opportunity to further develop the system to move the technology to application. At this second phase of research, we aim to further expand and optimize condition for large scale fermentation, particular focus on Canadian sourced soybean and canola, and demonstrate its benefit for pork production. The resulting product will be an improved highly digestible local plant protein source that can be included into livestock feeds as an affordable alternative to animal-based protein sources.