Potential of grain legumes to substitute rapeseed meal as protein source in dairy cow diets

Slides presented during " The Diversity of end uses for Legumes"

Webinar 4: European legumes in transition 27th April 2021

"Potential of grain legumes to substitute rapeseed meal as protein source in dairy cow diets"

Grain legumes such as faba bean and lupin are interesting alternatives as protein sources to rapeseed meal in dairy cow diets owing to their N fixation ability.  A series of studies was conducted to investigate if home-grown grain legumes can replace rapeseed meal in dairy cow diets without compromising milk production.  It was shown that substituting rapeseed meal with grain legumes often resulted in similar performance in terms of energy-corrected milk yield but milk protein yields were usually compromised.  Even when grain legumes were not as effective protein supplements as rapeseed meal their use in dairy cow rations can be recommended due to their other beneficial effects in crop production at farm level.

Presented by : Aila Vanhatalo - University of Helsinki, Finland