Biofuel co-products as livestock feed - Opportunities and challenges

452Biofuel co-products as livestock feed – Opportunities and challengesproduct for livestock feed. Individual biofuel plants do providean opportunity for local livestock producers to includeco-products in livestock rations or for use as supplementaryfeed, an opportunity that has been embraced. An expansionof the current first-generation biofuels industry wouldincrease the availability of protein feedstuffs – DDGS andoilseed meals – which could provide a useful source of supplementaryprotein for livestock grazing low-protein, drysummer pastures. DDGS is particularly suitable for this rolein ruminants, as unlike whole grain, DDGS is low in fermentablecarbohydrate and will not lead to the ruminal acidosisassociated with high starch loads in some grain, making it asafe supplement that can be fed ad libitum.NEW PRODUCTION SYSTEMS FOR BIOFUELSAND BIO-ENERGY IN AUSTRALIAIn many countries throughout the world, there is continuingdevelopment of new technologies and production systemsfor biofuels and bio-energy. The Australian governmentactively supports the development of non-food biofuelproduction systems through research programmes such asthe Second Generation Biofuels Research and Development(Gen 2) Program, which currently funds research into biofuelsfrom micro-algae, sugar cane bagasse and short rotationcoppicing (SRC) eucalypts (DRET, 2009). Some AustralianStates also support initiatives, such as the use of municipalwaste for biofuels (Invest Victoria, 2010). This section willonly deal with those developments that will affect livestock: through the utilization of a feedstock currently used bylivestock; the production of a co-product potentially useful tolivestock; or through a biomass production system that might beintegrated with the livestock production systems inAustralia and therefore livestock and biomass can beconsidered as co-products.The new production systems that will be considered are: Oil-based biofuels from Brassica juncea, algae and Pongamiapinnata. Lignocellulosic-based biofuels from two types of feedstocks:stubble (the stalk residue from cereal grain) andSRC eucalypts. SRC eucalypts, commonly known as oilmallees, characteristically have many stems that emergefrom an underground lignotuber. When harvested closeto the ground, the lignotuber remains intact, enablingthe tree to survive and the multiple stems to re-sprout,i.e. coppicing.Oil-based biofuelsBrassica junceaBrassica species are recognized for their ability, when usedas break crops, to reduce diseases in cereals and to improvethe production of the subsequent crops. The biofumigationeffect of brassica species reduces crown rot (Fusariumpseudograminearum), root lesion nematode (Pratylenchusthornei) (Trethowan et al., 2009) and take-all, a soil-bornedisease of wheat in south eastern Australia caused byGaeumannomyces graminis (Sacc.) Arx & Oliv. var tritici(Kirkegaard et al., 2000), while the broad-leaf cover ofbrassica crops reduces weed infestation. Canola (Brassicanapus) is grown in the higher rainfall areas of Australia asa break-crop and for the value of its oilseed, but its distributionis limited by its rainfall requirement. Consequently,some Australian State government agricultural researchagencies, universities and private companies have beeninvolved in the breeding and development of Brassica junceavarieties for use as a break crop in the drier and hotterareas of the Australian wheat belt, where the mean annualrainfall is 200 µmol/g)and low-glucosinolate (LG) European canola Brassica species(glucosinolate content of