Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Recently, Canadian faba bean seeded area has been dramatically increasing in western Canada. Pulse producers and livestock industry raise following crucial questions: What is best feeding strategy of utilizing these faba forage (hay and silage) and faba bean grown in western Canada? What is the best cutting stage for faba forage hay and silage (Growth Stage 1= Full Flower Stage vs. Growth Stage 2= Mid Pot Filled (Round Green) vs. Growth Stage 3=Late Pot Filled (Full Round) ? Does tannin content in faba forage and faba bean matter to ruminant livestock? If yes, what is an optimal level in faba forage and faba bean? What are feeding guidelines on faba bean or faba forage including grazing, hay, silage, and crop residue after harvest? All these questions are vital important to NOT ONLY pulse industry BUT ALSO livestock and feed industries. Unfortunately there is little information that can be found in the literature, in western Canada, particularly for newly developed faba varieties/new lines with zero/low and high tannin levels. There is no systematic study found in literature for western Prairie Provinces in Canada. There is an urgent need to get all the above answers for our pulse and livestock producers and related industries in Canada. The objectives of this research program are to use a systematic approach to investigate effects of recently developed variety/new line, growth stage (cutting time), tannin level, and various feed processing technology on nutritive values of whole crop faba forage (for hay and silage) and faba bean (for energy and protein concentrate) grown in western Canada under low heat unit climate condition and to develop new feeding strategies for livestock industry for using whole crop faba hay, faba silage and faba bean as energy and protein concentrate. It is expected that the research will highly benefit to our industries to extract value from faba forage and faba bean to maximize economic return to our pulse and livestock industry.