on animal performance was observed,” the scientists state, “when feeding carinata meal at up to 10% of the total diet.” Carinata meal contains glucosinolates which do, as seen in this study, limit its percentage in animal feed, but breeding for lower levels of this substance started at least two decades ago and is ongoing. In 2019, US researchers published several papers on carinata meal. In one of them, they found that feeding the meal as a protein supplement at 0.3% of body weight of growing beef heifers per day “is a viable option for increasing average daily gain without affecting attainment of puberty, thyroid hor- mone status or eliciting an acute phase response.” In another paper from last year, it was found that carinata meal “per- formed similarly to commonly-used protein supplements, in- dicating its viability as a protein supplement for beef cattle.” This year, other researchers published results showing that carinata grown with certain nitrogen fertiliser levels in the southeastern US provides maximum seed and oil production. In another 2020 paper, cultivation of various carinata geno- types was examined and found to have “potential as a viable bioenergy winter crop to be integrated into the cropping sys- tems in the Southeastern US and other regions of the world.” Many of these scientists belong to a US organisation called the Southeastern Partnership for Advanced Renewables from Carinata. This group believes that “in the southeastern US, carinata can be produced as a cool-season crop covering mil- lions of acres of winter fallow land,” providing renewable energy and “a high-protein feed source for livestock.”
Nuseed activities Clayton believes that the certified sustainable production of Nuseed carinata is a particularly important trait nowadays. “Our primary production region is currently in South America, where we see the potential for millions of acres of Nuseed carinata cover cropping,” he says. “There is an equally large opportunity in North America as well, and development is underway to optimise has and identify cropping strategies for both Europe and Australia.” In Europe, in July this year Nuseed announced a “commercial off-take agreement” with Saipol, the largest biodiesel producer in Europe, to supply Nuseed carinata as a feedstock for certified low-carbon oil for renew- able fuels, and high protein non-GMO meal for livestock feed. This multi-year agreement follows the first commercial Nu- seed carinata shipment from Argentina to Saipol’s crush plant in France in June.
Breeding potential In terms of where carinata’s breeding potential now stands in relation to reducing glucosinates and other traits, in a July 2020 paper in the journal Nature, a team of geneticists as- sessed this. They published the results of an extensive analy- sis of carinata genetic diversity that involved sourcing ger- mplasm from around the world. Regarding the potential to make breeding progress with this crop, the scientists con- cluded that “while specific traits can be targeted for selection, further use of related species may be necessary to increase the levels of available genetic diversity.”
▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 28, No. 10, 2020 27
Close up of Carinata pods.
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