Soybean meal is the main protein supplement included in U.S. dairy cow diets. However, canola meal has recently become more competitive as a protein source for dairy rations as its availability has improved considerably. Recent expansion of the Canadian canola industry has increased the supply of canola meal. According to the Canola Council of Canada, during the 2017-18 crop year, the U.S. imported 2.976 million tons, representing more than 70% of Canada’s total meal exports. In addition, the U.S. imported 500,000 tons of canola seed. The top dairy-producing states are the main destination of Canada’s canola meal.
Six research projects conducted in the U.S. (Wisconsin, South Dakota and Ohio) and Canada (Quebec) during the last decade have evaluated the effects of replacing soybean meal with canola meal on the performance and protein efficiency of mid-lactation dairy cows. Both meals were extracted by solvents.
The nutrient compositions of canola and soybean meal used in five of those studies are reported in Table 1. The study carried at Ohio State University (Weiss et al., 2015) did not publish the chemical composition.
On average, compared with canola meal, soybean meal was 27% greater in protein content on a dry matter (DM) basis, at 41.8% versus 53.0%. However, canola meal was higher in both neutral detergent fiber (NDF) — 27.3% versus 8.0% — and acid detergent fiber (ADF) — 18.3% versus 4.9% — as well as fat — 3.5% versus 1.6% — compared to soybean meal.
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