Special edition: Novel Proteins
Pea gin coproduct provides protein for cows
Protein rich co-products of pea gin production could be a substitute for soybean meal in dairy cattle feed, found a research team based across several universities in Wales, Scotland and Ireland as well as in a distillery.
Their project, which we reported on in July last year, is supported by the EU funded program, TRansition paths to sUstainable legume based systems in Europe (TRUE), run by the James Hutton Institute in Scotland.
The researchers carried out a life cycle assessment (LCA) comparing the environmental footprint of one liter of packaged gin produced from either 1.43kg of wheat grain or 2.42kg of peas via fermentation and distillation into neutral spirit.
Pea gin has a larger land footprint than wheat gin, depending on rotation effects, they found. However, the team argues that the supply of animal feed co-products and their use in livestock production could offset the carbon footprint of pea gin.