Pea Starch Makes Excellent Feed Ingredient if Flow Issues Can be Resolved

A swine nutritionist with the University of Saskatchewan says, if flow issues can be resolved, pea starch can provide an excellent source of energy in swine rations.

Research conducted by the University of Saskatchewan in partnership with the Prairie Swine Center and the Canadian Feed Research Centre in North Battleford showed pigs fed pelleted rations containing 40 percent pea starch grew really well with great feed efficiency.

Dr. Denise Beaulieu, an Assistant Professor Monogastric Nutrition with the University of Saskatchewan, says we're seeing an increased interest in pea starch primarily because of availability and we expect availability to increase further in the future.

Clip-Dr. Denise Beaulieu-University of Saskatchewan:

The pea starch is a byproduct of the pea protein industries.As we see these increased meat substitutes available, a lot of them are based on peas.
If you take the protein out of the peas and make a meat substitute, you're left with this pea starch.

There's a lot of interest in it because it's out there, it's available and it's a really good source of energy in our pig diets.In terms of cost and availability, there are several plants here in western Canada that are producing the pea protein and thus have pea starch available as a byproduct.

One of the main factors that we are looking at is, when they make this pea starch, the process they use to make it results in a product that's a really low particle size.

One of the issues we have, because of this low particle size, is the handling of it.It doesn't handle well in our feed systems, it doesn't handle well when we're mixing it.That is one thing that we have to be aware of when we're using it in our diets that we may have to pellet our diets or process our diets in some way so that we can get it through our systems.

Dr. Beaulieu says, if you can find pea starch at a reasonable cost, it can be a very good ingredient.She suggests pelleting the ration to address the flow issues or restricting the amount included in the diets to 10 percent.