Nutritive value of BC interior wine grape pomace for use in ruminant diets

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The purpose of this collaborative research project between Monte Creek Ranch Estate Winery and researchers at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) is to investigate the feeding value of fresh and ensiled wine grape pomace from red and white grape varieties grown in northern latitudes for use in ruminant rations. Grape pomace is a by-product of the wine industry and is often reincorporated into the soil as compost. We wish to investigate the potential of utilizing grape pomace as an alternative livestock feed as part of the Winery's parallel ranching operations. Utilizing the pomace would offer a complementary end utilization which would allow co-marketing of a new novel beef product, "wine fed" beef. In addition, this novel utilization is environmentally friendly and can potentially off-set production costs during winter feeding of beef cattle. This is of particular importance for the sustainability of the BC ranching community given the rising costs of cereals and forages. Feeding wine grape pomace may also have environmental benefits by reducing ruminant methane production, and reducing fecal microbial loads, further promoting the 'greenness' of BC ranching. Wine grape pomace has previously been successfully incorporated into forage-based diets of small ruminants in Europe and the Middle East, with associated grape seed oils suggested to be highly nutritious. Feeding grape pomace is not without its challenges, hydrolysable tannins in the skin and seed bind with proteins, limiting their rumen degradability. Enzyme activity and changes in pH of the grape pomace during the ensiling process could potentially degrade the hydrolysable tannins, improving the digestibility of the feed. This project will focus on evaluating the feed value of the ensiled grape pomace, including the fatty acid profile of the highly nutritious oils, to determine its feed value for ruminant production.