The goal with this project was to increase our knowledge about the feeding value of faba beans, and to find out if/how colour-flowered can be used in pig feed.
Our dependence on imported soy has recently become an issue. Faba beans may at least partly replace the soy. This is important for conventional as well as for organic production. The white-flowered cultivars are recommended for pig diets. The colour-flowered cultivars have better yields and disease-resistance, but the contents of antinutritional factors (ANF), particularly tannins, has limited their use in pig feed. The tannin level varies between cultivars within the colour-flowered group.
In this project we will study the contents of nutrients and ANF in cultivars grown in Sweden, choose 2 colour-flowered with high and low ANF content and compare these and a white-flowered in a feeding experiment with weaners. The experiment will be performed in 2 parts, one conventional, and one organic ie no amino acids added in the feed.
This project was managed by Emma Ivarsson and Maria Neil together, but sadly Maria passed away in October 2017.