Biofuel co-products as livestock feed - Opportunities and challenges

346Biofuel co-products as livestock feed – Opportunities and challengescomparable or lower feeding costs. Differences in thedigestive physiology of ruminants versus non-ruminantsmean that the high fibre and lignin content of castor cakeare likely to affect the performance of monogastric animals.Although at low levels of inclusion the performance wascomparable to controls, feed industry and farmers are notyet accepting the technology. Before the technology canbe accepted there is probably a need for more focusedstudies involving the feed industry and farmers on a largescale, with better interaction among stakeholders, namelycastor processing industries, researchers, feed industriesand livestock farmers.KNOWLEDGE GAPS AND FUTURE RESEARCHNEEDSRicin is one of the most potent naturally occurring planttoxins, and all care has to be ensured that the detoxificationprocess is foolproof. This will ensure that the detoxifiedcake can be safely fed to any category of livestock irrespectiveof species or age. Different researchers have usedvarious approaches to quantifying the toxin and as a result,though some of the methods were effective in neutralizingthe toxins completely, this was not necessarily reflected inanimal experiments. This is a major limitation: lack of asensitive and commonly accepted approach. Further, fewof the processing methods were limited to neutralizationof toxins, and the subsequent animal experiments were notcarried out to ascertain the efficacy of the same. There is aneed to identify the most reliable and acceptable methodthat would have high correlation between the chemicalquantification and animal response. This would ensurethat the selection of an appropriate detoxification methodbased on toxin quantification would correlate well with theresponse in animal studies. In addition, most of the studieshave been carried out at a laboratory scale, where theconditions are comparatively easy to control. Up-scalingto a commercial level while retaining the same efficiencyalways presents a problem. Involving the industrial partnersin evolving appropriate processing methods at an earlierstage of technology development would facilitate easieradoption of technology. The technology needs to be practical,industry adaptable and inexpensive for detoxifyingthe ricin and completely inactivating the allergens withoutaffecting the quality of the product. Crop scientists usingrecent advances in plant breeding and biotechnologicalapproaches could contribute significantly by evolving newvarieties with low or negligible toxin levels.CONCLUSIONSAn increased demand for biofuels based on castor seedwould result in availability of large quantities of castorcake, and utilizing this feed resource would add greatvalue to the castor processing industry and livestockproduction. At present, the cost of untreated castor cakeis 40 to 60 percent cheaper than the conventional proteinsupplements used in livestock feed in India, and addingthe processing cost would not change the price structuredrastically, thus making castor seed cake competitive andcommercially viable. Incidentally, the major producers ofcastor – countries like Brazil, China and India – have largelivestock populations and a shortage of protein supplements.The technology could have great relevance for regionaldevelopment. Although a lot of research has been carriedout and the research continues to develop an appropriatetechnology for detoxification, the current technologies havenot been adopted by industry or otherwise commercialized.There is a strong need to address this issue, involving theresearchers and the industries concerned in successfullytranslating the knowledge generated into commerciallyviable technologies. This would only be possible bybringing together all the stakeholders: crop breeders,livestock nutritionists, castor processing industries, feedindustries and farmers. A collaborative approach is requiredall the way from selection of superior cultivars withlow anti-nutrients; through selection of effective andeconomical detoxification method; to scaling up methodsfor commercial-scale operations; together with large-scalefield trials involving plant breeders, livestock nutritionists,feed technologists, castor processing industries, feed millsand farmers. This offers a way forward for successfulcommercialization and popularization of castor cake aslivestock feed.BIBLIOGRAPHYAdedeji, J.A., Apata, D.F., Aderinola, O.A., Rafiu, T.A. &Amao, S.R. 2006. Performance and haematological/serumcharacteristics of rabbits fed boiled castor seed cake-baseddiet. World Journal of Zoology, 1(2): 91–93.Agarwal, S.K. 2001. Performance of rabbits fed on processedcastor bean meal incorporated diets. MVSc Thesis. IndianVeterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, India.Ambekar, V.R. & Dole, K.K. 1957. Detoxification of castorcake. Indian Journal of Dairy Science, 10: 107–122.Anandan, S., Anil Kumar, G.K., Ghosh, J. & Ramachandra,K.S. 2005. Effect of different physical and chemicaltreatments on detoxification of ricin in castor cake. AnimalFeed Science and Technology, 120: 159–168.Anandan, S., Anil Kumar, G.K. & Ramachandra, K.S.2005. Effect of physical processing methods on chemicalcomposition and in vitro digestibility of castor cake (Ricinuscommunis). Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology,5: 47–52.Ani, A.O. & Okorie, A.U. 2006. The efficacy of twostagecooking as a method of detoxifying castor oil bean(Ricinus communis, L) meal for livestock feeding. Journal ofSustaining Agriculture and Environment, 8: 14–22.