Production of Green Biorefinery Protein Concentrate Derived from Perennial Ryegrass as an Alternative Feed for Pigs

Rajeev Ravindran, Sybrandus Koopmans, Johan P. M. Sanders, Helena McMahon and James Gaffey
Additional contact information
Rajeev Ravindran: Circular Bioeconomy Research Group (CIRCBIO), Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre, Munster Technological University, Dromtacker, V92 CX88 Tralee, Ireland
Sybrandus Koopmans: Grassa BV, 5928 SZ Venlo, The Netherlands
Johan P. M. Sanders: Grassa BV, 5928 SZ Venlo, The Netherlands
Helena McMahon: Circular Bioeconomy Research Group (CIRCBIO), Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre, Munster Technological University, Dromtacker, V92 CX88 Tralee, Ireland
James Gaffey: Circular Bioeconomy Research Group (CIRCBIO), Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre, Munster Technological University, Dromtacker, V92 CX88 Tralee, Ireland

Clean Technol., 2021, vol. 3, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: Perennial rye grass is a widely used forage species in Ireland, on which the ruminant sector of agriculture is heavily dependent. While this species of grass is the primary source of fodder for cows, it is also abundant in plant protein, which could form a potential alternative ingredient in monogastric animal feed using a green biorefinery approach. In this study, perennial rye grass was processed using a novel biorefining process to extract value added products including protein as a potential replacement for soybean meal in monogastric feeds. Feed trials were conducted on a commercial farm with 55 weaner pigs for 31 days until slaughter. The diets comprised a control and a trial diet which integrated the green biorefinery protein concentrate. The effects of the new diet were determined by measuring the daily feed intake (DFI), average weight gain (AWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Amino acid profiles of grass protein concentrate and soybean meal were comparable, with the latter having a slightly higher amount of total protein content, lysine and cysteine. The DFI and ADW indicated that the treatment diet was superior to the control. DFI for the treatment diet (1.512 kg/d) was 8% higher than the control diet (1.400 kg/d) by the end of the trial. Additionally, the ADW for the treatment diet was 6.44% higher than that achieved in the control sample. Meanwhile, FCR calculations indicated that the treatment diet is just as efficient as the conventional diet. Overall, the results of the study indicate positive potential for perennial ryegrass-derived green biorefinery protein concentrate as an alternative protein source for pig feed formulations in Ireland.

Keywords: green biorefinery; perennial rye grass; grass protein concentrate; monogastric feed; protein recovery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/3/3/39/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/3/3/39/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jcltec:v:3:y:2021:i:3:p:39-669:d:635049

Access Statistics for this article

Clean Technol. is currently edited by Ms. Shary Song

More articles in Clean Technol. from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().