Rapeseed meal contains approximately 40% of protein which rates among the nutritionally best plant proteins. For Monogastric diets it has better amino acid balance than soybean meal.
Rapeseed meal is used basically in animal feed due to its protein content of 36-38%.
Rapeseed Meal contains a blend of amino acids suited to non-ruminant diets but its use is limited by the presence of several ANFs.
Whilst sinapine is responsible for the fishy taint of eggs from hens fed high levels of rapeseed meal, the most significant ANF with regard to feed is glucosinolate, which is highly goitrogenic and cannot be inactivated by heat processing.
However, conventional (non-GM) plant breeding has addressed this through the production of ‘double-zero’ varieties of rapeseed containing low content of erucic acid and low content of glucosinolates.