Source Of Livestock Feed Research Articles

Potential for Conservation Agriculture in the Dry Marginal Zone of Central Syria: A Preliminary Assessment

This paper reports on early soil related outcomes from conservation agriculture (CA) benchmark sites located within the marginal rainfed environment of agro-ecological zone 4 (annual rainfall: 200–250 mm) in pre-conflict central Syria. The outcomes reported are specifically those that relate to beneficial soil quality and water retention attributes relative to conventional tillage-based soil management practices applied to the fodder barley–livestock system, the dominant system in the zone. On-farm operational research was established to examine the impact of a barley (Hordeum vulgare) and vetch (Vicia sativa) rotation intercropped with atriplex (Atriplex halimus) and salsola (Salsola collina), under CA and conventional tillage agriculture, on the soil quality parameters and crop productivity. Preliminary results showed that CA had a positive effect on the soil quality parameters and crop performance. The soil moisture and hydraulic conductivity were higher under CA (p < 0.05), combined with improved productivity (grain and above-ground biomass) under specific crop mixes. The results suggest that despite the marginal nature of the zone, the use of CA is a viable option for the future of farmers’ livelihoods within similar localities and agro-climates, given the benefits for soil moisture and grain and straw productivity. In addition, it is likely to positively impact those in marginal environments where both pastoralism and agro-pastoralism production systems co-exist and compete for crop biomass as a main source of livestock feed. The increase in grain and straw yields vis-à-vis improvements in biophysical parameters in the CA system relative to tillage agriculture does suggest, however, that the competition with livestock for biomass is likely to reduce over time, and farmers would be able to return increased levels of straw (as stubble and residue) as mulch, given improved biomass yields.

Livestock Feed Production from Sago Solid Waste by Pretreatment and Anaerobic Fermentation Process

Food needs in Indonesia is increasing, including beef. Today, Indonesia has problem to do self-sufficiency in beef. The cause of the problem is the quality of local beef is still lower compared with imported beef due to the quality of livestock feed consumed. To increase the quality of livestock is through pretreatment and fermentation. Source of livestock feed that processed is solid sago waste (Arenga microcarpa), because in Indonesia that is relatively abundant and not used optimally. Chemical pretreatment process for delignification is by using NaOH solution. The purposes of this research are to study NaOH pretreatment, the addition of Trichoderma sp, and fermentation time to improve the quality of sago solid waste as livestock feed through anaerobic fermentation. The variables used are addition or without addition (4%w NaOH solution and Trichoderma sp 1%w) and fermentation time (7, 14 and 21 days), with the response of crude fiber and protein. The result of this research shows that the pretreatment with soaking of NaOH solution, addition of Trichoderma sp and 14 days of fermentation was more effective to improve the quality of solid sago waste with decrease of crude fiber from 33.37% to 17.36% and increase of crude protein from 4.00% to 7.96%.

Assessment of Livestock Feed Resources in Boloso Sore Woreda, Wolayita Zone, Ethiopia

The study was conducted in Wolita zone Boloso sore woreda. The objective of the study was to assess and identify major livestock feed resources availability and feeding calendar. Livestock feed resources was identified using semi-structured questionnaire, group discussion and key informants. Observations were also made to cross check the information obtained. The average landholding of the area is 0.95 ha per household. Grazing areas (both individual and communal) constituted the largest proportion in wet and sustainable feed supply throughout the year. Crop residue is the main feed source for livestock during dry season. About 14.16% of the total land holding is used for grazing (for cut and carry and free grazing). Feed resources available to the farmers are dominated by poor quality of natural pastures and crop production. Shortage of grazing land and inadequate feed supply are the major constraints of livestock production in the area. Having many more problems associated with livestock feeding with regard to shortage of feed, there is no strategic feed conservation in the form of silage and hays. Therefore, government and non-governmental organizations should play a significant role through training farmers, and creating awareness about livestock feed resource improvement (conservation of feed, improved forage development and etc.) regarding to quantity as well as quality aspects.

Banana as a Cash Crop and Its Food Security and Socioeconomic Contribution: The Case of Southern Ethiopia, Arba Minch

Food security is a challenge in many developing countries. Nations are still struggling to make use of available resources so as to combat hunger. Drought, land degradation, marketing constraints, improper post-harvest handling and anthropogenic factors are minimizing the production and productivity of agricultural land resources. Making use of improved technologies, adaptable crops and high yielding cash crops, however, are also helping many to cope up with food insecurity. Banana production is significantly contributing for food security as well as livelihood opportunities in Southern Ethiopia. But, technical works on the value chain of the crop are still minimal; it would have resulted a tangible impact on the national income in terms of export earnings and food security too. The Southern Ethiopia, Gamo Gofa Zone is the leading banana producer in the country. This article assesses the potential contribution of banana production to food and income security in the area. The paper also explored the major banana production maximization bottlenecks. 63 farmers of Arba Minch Zuriya District were interviewed to extract primary information. Discussions were held with Government officials. Different reports and related literatures were also reviewed. The result showed that, banana production was having a significant role for the wellbeing of the community explained in terms of food security, income source and serving as source of feed for livestock. Problems associated with marketing and post-harvest handling are also identified being production problems. The fact that, the production of banana is mainly dominated by men has also let the men to sell the crop and have an independent control over the cash. Therefore, community awareness development, improving production systems and developing the culture of saving could help to have a sustained impact of banana production in the region.

A Review of Production, Post-harvest Handling and Marketing of Sweetpotatoes in Kenya and Uganda

Sweetpotato (Ipomea batatas) is a versatile crop that serves the roles of food and nutrition security, cash crop in both raw and processed forms. It is a source of livestock feed and has great potential as a raw material for industrial processing. The potential of sweetpotato has been greatly under exploited by the fact that it has been regarded as a poor man’s food and is mainly grown under marginal conditions for subsistence by most producers, who are rural small-scale farmers in developing countries, such as Kenya and Uganda. Losses in the highly perishable root crop and its leaves are exacerbated by lack of appropriate postharvest knowledge, technologies and facilities. Inadequate information on available cultivars also limits the maximum utilization of the crop and leaves. The current review examines production potential, post harvest handling practices, marketing, and physicochemical and nutritional properties of sweet potatoes.

Yearling Cattle Performance on Continuously Stocked ‘Tifton 85’ and ‘Florakirk’ Bermudagrass Pastures

Cynodon grasses are a major feed source for livestock in the US Gulf Coast region. Although continuous stocking is widely used for regional perennial grass pastures, there has been limited evaluation of animal performance on continuously stocked bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.]. This 3‐yr experiment compared forage and animal performance on continuously stocked ‘Tifton 85’ (Cynodon spp.) and ‘Florakirk’ bermudagrass pastures using a variable stocking rate during summer (average of 159 d yr−1). Tifton 85 had greater herbage accumulation than Florakirk (average of 13.6 vs. 7.5 Mg ha−1 yr−1, respectively), in part because Florakirk percentage cover declined from 89% at initiation of the experiment to 35% after 3 yr. Change in cover of Tifton 85 over the same period was 93 to 90%. The Tifton 85 forage concentrations of in vitro digestible organic matter was greater than for Florakirk (563 vs. 523 g kg−1, respectively), but yearling cattle average daily gain did not differ between grasses (0.61 kg d−1). Greater herbage accumulation for Tifton 85 resulted in a greater average stocking rate than for Florakirk (6.4 vs. 3.8 head ha−1, respectively) at a similar herbage allowance of approximately 1.0 kg forage dry matter kg−1 animal body weight. Gain ha−1 was greater for cattle grazing on Tifton 85 than on Florakirk (638 vs. 358 kg ha−1, respectively). Tifton 85 was superior to Florakirk bermudagrass under continuous stocking in northern Florida because of its greater herbage accumulation, herbage in vitro digestible organic matter, average stocking rate, animal gain ha−1, and persistence.

A novel methodology to assess land-based food self-reliance in the Southwest British Columbia bioregion

AbstractThere is a growing awareness that climate change, economic instability, resource limitations and population growth are impacting the capacity of the contemporary global food system to meet human nutrition needs. Although there is widespread recognition that food systems must evolve in the face of these issues, a polarized debate has emerged around the merit of global-versus-local approaches to this evolution. Local food system advocates argue that increasing food self-reliance will concomitantly benefit human health, the environment and local economies, while critics argue that only a globalized system will produce enough calories to efficiently and economically feed the world. This debate is strong in British Columbia (BC), Canada, where residents and food security experts have called for increased food self-reliance while the provincial government largely supports export-oriented agriculture. As elsewhere, however, in BC this debate takes place in absence of an understanding of capacity for food self-reliance. The few studies that have previously evaluated self-reliance in this region have been limited in their approach in a number of ways. In this study we use a novel methodology to assess current (2011) status of land-based food self-reliance for a diet satisfying nutritional recommendations and food preferences that accounts for seasonality of crop production and the source of livestock feed, and applied it to the Southwest BC bioregion (SWBC) as a case study. We found that agricultural land use in SWBC is dominated by hay, pasture and corn silage, followed by fruits and vegetables. Fruit and vegetable production comprise 87% of total food crop production in SWBC by weight, and a substantial amount is produced in quantities beyond SWBC need per crop type, representing an export focused commodity with limited contribution to food self-reliance. Results illustrate that SWBC is a major producer of livestock products, but these industries rely on feed grain imports. The production of feed grain could therefore be considered a major constraint on self-reliance; SWBC's total dietary self-reliance is 12% if discounting livestock feed imports or 40% if including them. Results demonstrate that a diet including foods that cannot be grown in the region or consumed fresh out of season, limits potential food self-reliance. Our methods reveal the value of factoring dietary recommendations and food consumption patterns into food self-reliance assessments and the necessity of accounting for the source of livestock feed to fully understand the self-reliance status of a region.

Duckweed: A Tool for Ecotoxicology and a Candidate for Phytoremediation

Abstract: Background: Duckweed is the common name for Lemnaceae, a plant family consisting of five major genera: Lemna, Spirodela, Wolffia, Wolffiella and Landoltia. They are the world's smallest and simplest flowering plants with a high growth rate under appropriate environmental conditions. Duckweed can be used as a feed source for livestock and poultry, as well as biomass for production of biofuel and recombinant proteins. Over the last 40 years a great deal of research has been published on the use of duckweed to treat wastewater. These plants can recover nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and they can also remove or accumulate metals, radionuclides, and other pollutants in their tissues. Methods: A summary of some of the published works done on duckweed species to remediate natural, domestic, industrial and agricultural wastewaters is presented. The potential of these species for phytoremediation is considered and discussed. Results: Certain duckweed species have the ability to grow on wastewaters, making their biomass production an environmentally friendly process. Duckweed has been extensively studied in pilot-studies and in tertiary treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters, as well as nutrient recovery from swine wastewater. A relevant number of studies concerns the behaviour of duckweed species towards heavy metals and other elements, such as selenium and arsenic. More recently the attention has been also focused on metals, named Rare Earth Elements (REE) and on emerging pollutants (i.e. pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides and surfactants). The phytoremediation ability of duckweed depends on the growth conditions of the species, the type of pollutants and their concentrations. Conclusion: Progress has been made on use of duckweed in phytoremediation. Current knowledge on the removal efficiencies of several pollutants is limited to laboratory experiments and batch systems, rarely on microcosm- or mesocosm-scale. The removal mechanisms involved, the toxicity to plants caused by contaminants, and the influences of certain important environmental parameters are not fully elucidated. Further studies in this area are still needed in order to provide more and better convincing evidence of the remediation performance of larger laboratory-scale, pilot-scale or fullscale of duckweed.

Satellite remote sensing of grasslands: from observation to management

Aims Grasslands are the world’s most extensive terrestrial ecosystem, and are a major feed source for livestock. Meeting increasing demand for meat and other dairy products in a sustainable manner is a big challenge. At a field scale, Global Positioning System and ground-based sensor technologies provide promising tools for grassland and herd management with high precision. With the growth in availability of spaceborne remote sensing data, it is therefore important to revisit the relevant methods and applications that can exploit this imagery. In this article, we have reviewed the (i) current status of grassland monitoring/observation methods and applications based on satellite remote sensing data, (ii) the technological and methodological developments to retrieve different grassland biophysical parameters and management characteristics (i.e. degradation, grazing intensity) and (iii) identified the key remaining challenges and some new upcoming trends for future development. Important Findings The retrieval of grassland biophysical parameters have evolved in recent years from classical regression analysis to more complex, efficient and robust modeling approaches, driven by satellite data, and are likely to continue to be the most robust method for deriving grassland information, however these require more high quality calibration and validation data. We found that the hypertemporal satellite data are widely used for time series generation, and particularly to overcome cloud contamination issues, but the current low spatial resolution of these instruments precludes their use for field-scale application in many countries. This trend may change with the current rise in launch of satellite constellations, such as RapidEye, Sentinel-2 and even the microsatellites such as those operated by Skybox Imaging. Microwave imagery has not been widely used for grassland applications, and a better understanding of the backscatter behaviour from different phenological stages is needed for more reliable products in cloudy regions. The development of hyperspectral satellite instrumentation and analytical methods will help for more detailed discrimination of habitat types, and the development of tools for greater end-user operation.

Assessment of Pastoral Perceptions towards Range and Livestock Management Practices in Chifra District of Afar Regional State, Ethiopia

This study was conducted to assess the perceptions of pastoralists’ about range and livestock management practices as influenced by altitude in Chifra district of the Afar Regional State, Ethiopia. There are 19 pastoral associations and these were stratified into two based on altitude i.e., >550-850 m a.s.l and >850-1,100 m a.s.l. Nine pastoral associations were selected randomly from the two altitudes of the study district. In this regard, five PAs from lower altitude (>550-850 m a.s.l) and four PAs from upper altitude (>850-1100 m a.s.l.) were identified for the study. A total of 90 households were selected using a random sampling method, where 40 households were from the upper altitude (>850-1,100 m a.s.l) and 50 households were from the lower altitude (>550-850 m a.s.l) based on proportional number of households available in the two altitude zones. The socio-economic study revealed that average household size in the study district was 7.87 persons per household with a range of 3 to 15. The households were interviewed independently. The main source of income of the respondents was from the sale of livestock, their products and crop production. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) in mean number of animals owned by the pastoralists living in different altitude groups. Rangelands are the major source of livestock feed and most of the pastoralists in both altitudes believed that the composition of the rangeland vegetation dramatically changed in the past two decades. Fifty and 60% of the respondents in the upper and lower altitudes rated their rangelands as fair and poor in condition, respectively. Hence, continued awareness creation through training of the pastoral communities, and restoration of the rangelands through different approaches are crucial to improve the rangelands.

Proximate Composition of Some Mangrove Leaves Used As Alternative Fodders in Indian Sunderban Region

The estuarine ecosystem of Sunderban region is endowed with indigenous mangrove fodder trees and halophyte species, which are important feed source for livestock in the concerned area. Present study shows that Avicennia marina and Derris trifoliata may be considered as alternative fodder due to presence of good nutrients and low level of tannins.

Native Australian shrub legume species may provide an alternative feed source for livestock

The feed quality of a variety of native shrub and herbaceous legume species from the Riverina area of southern New South Wales was determined to provide an indication of their potential use in livestock grazing systems. Fifteen species were sampled from each of two locations (chiefly low fertility roadsides or travelling stock reserves) at four times within a 12-month period viz. August, November, February and May according to the most likely plant parts to be consumed by grazing animals for each species. Digestibility was estimated using an in vitro rumen fluid digestion assay and crude protein was estimated from nitrogen analysed using the Dumas combustion method. Digestible organic matter in the dry matter (DOMD) was greater than 550 g/kg dry matter (DM) for seven of the native legume species and was highest for Daviesia spp. (D. latifolia 696.2 ± 15.0, D. leptophylla × latifolia 642.5 ± 15.1 and D. leptophylla 622.7 ± 15.4), Glycine spp. (G. clandestina 628.2 ± 18.1, G. tabacina 621.9 ± 28.0 and G. canescens 580.4 ± 25.4) and Indigofera australis (617.8 ± 15.3). Crude protein content was greater than 80 g/kg DM for all species analysed, suggesting that these plants are able to fix nitrogen under low phosphorus fertility conditions. Studies examining grazing management as well as nitrogen fixation and nitrogen transfer to companion grasses are required in order to optimise the management of these plants in grazing systems.

The Nutritive Evaluation and Utilisation of Moringa oleifera Lam in Indigenous and Broiler Chicken Production: A Review

There has been a decline in chicken production in most developing countries, yet poultry constitute an important pillar in HIV/AIDS alleviation and act as an income source plus food security in rural communities. The limited availability and high cost of stock feeds that have not increased concomitantly with producer prices are partly responsible for the decline. These limitations are especially important in rural communities because they are resource poor. Farmers therefore enlisted a priority research on alternative feed sources for poultry production since home-grown feeds available to the farmer can sometimes be limited. Maize and sorghum are usually the most abundant sources of grain available, which can supply adequate carbohydrate but not protein. Protein sources are expensive and hence unaffordable to the smallholder farmer. Small holder farmers have been using leaf meals as protein sources in order to alleviate feed limitations in poultry production. One such leaf meal is Moringa oleifera Lam (syns. Moringa pterygosperm, family Moringaceae). The uses of Moringa oleifera have attracted attention of researchers. Preliminary investigation showed that the plant has high biomass production. Its leaves are used as vegetables by humans in central Africa and have a good profile of amino acids that makes it a valuable source of livestock feed.

A case study of evaluation, demonstration and adoption of improved forages for a cut-and-carry system in Eritrea

Eritrea, a largely arid or semi-arid country in north-east Africa, lies on the western side of the Red Sea between about 12 and 18° N, and has an elevation ranging from -75 m to 3,018 m asl. Soils span from shallow, often infertile stony soils in steeper areas to fertile clays and clay loams on the flats. Soil pH ranges from slightly acid to moderately alkaline. About 80% of the population is engaged in subsistence mixed farming, with livestock being used for meat, milk, draft and fiber, as well as serving as a financial reserve. Average farm size in the most intensively populated area (central highlands) is about 0.2 ha, and about 2 ha in the less populated western lowlands. In extensive farming systems, the rangelands that account for more than 90% of livestock feed, have a carrying capacity ranging from about 20 ha/Tropical Livestock Unit (TLU  one bovine with a body weight of 250 kg) in the 100 mm rainfall zone to about 4 ha/TLU in the 600 mm rainfall zone (Kayouli et al. 2002). Crop residue is the second largest source of feed for livestock, with sorghum residue being the most important by a large margin. In the more intensive dairy systems, perennial forages such as Medicago sativa cvv. Hunter River (uplands) and Hairy Peruvian (lowlands) and Pennisetum purpureum are used by some farmers. Columbus grass (Sorghum x almum) has been introduced in limited areas in recent years. The combination of an extensive and diverse livestock population, and unreliable and strongly seasonal rainfall, has contributed to widespread overgrazing, which in turn has led to significant loss of ground cover and soil erosion. Much of the native grassland is now severely degraded, and more productive endemic species largely lost.

In-situ Alkaline Transesterification of Jatropha curcas seed Oil for Production of Biodiesel and Nontoxic Jatropha seed Cake

The production of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) by direct in situ alkaline-catalyzed transesterification of the triglycerides (TG) in Jatropha curcas seeds was examined. The experimental results showed that the amount of Jatropha curcas seed oil dissolved in methanol was approximately 83% of the total oil and the conversion of this oil could achieve 98% under the following conditions: less than 2% moisture content in Jatropha curcas seed flours, 0.3–0.335 mm particle size, 0.08 mol/L NaOH concentration in methanol, 171:1 methanol/oil mole ratio, 45.66 oC reaction temperature and 3.02 h reaction time. The use of alkaline methanol as extraction and reaction solvent, which would be useful for extraction oil and phorbol esters, would reduce the phorbol esters content in the Jatropha curcas seed cake. The cake after in-situ transesterification is rich in protein and is a potential source of livestock feed. Further, the the toxicity studies were also investigated on male rate by feeding the seed cake after after in-situ transesterification as well as the from solvent and mechanical extraction. Food intake, growth rate, protein efficiency ratio (PER) and transformation index (TI) showed that the meal is potential as protein supplement to livestock feed.

Grazing intensity effects on the vegetation in desert rangelands of Southern Tunisia

Although the effects of non-grazing and heavy grazing on vegetation structure have been extensively studied in a wide range of ecosystems, the effects of moderate grazing on desert land are still largely unknown. Many management opportunities exist for increasing forage intake. In order to determine an optimal management method of desert rangelands with high heritage value, we examined the respective effects of heavy grazing, moderate grazing and non-grazing on total vegetation cover, species richness, the Shannon-Wiener diversity index and rangeland productivity. Sampling was done from 2010 to 2012 (from the second year after treatments were imposed) using permanent transects under different grazing intensities. While total vegetation cover, species richness, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, species composition and primary production were significantly greater on the ungrazed site and significantly weaker on the heavily grazed site, in contrast, moderate grazing had no significant effect on total vegetation cover, species richness, Shannon diversity index, species composition and primary production. These studies suggest that desert rangelands plant communities in general lack response to moderate grazing disturbance, and if managed properly they can provide a valuable source of feed for livestock.

Evaluation of Sweet Sorghum Bagasse as an Alternative Livestock Feed

ABSTRACTRecently, sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench] has garnered renewed attention as a promising feedstock for ethanol production. A byproduct of this is bagasse, which is sweet sorghum stalks remaining after juice extraction. It is possible that sweet sorghum bagasse could provide a source of livestock feed and that its nutritive value could be increased by ammoniation. Ammoniation refers to the treatment of low‐quality forages with NH3 to improve crude protein concentration, digestibility, and animal intake. The main objective of this study was to evaluate sweet sorghum bagasse as a livestock feed and determine the effect of ammoniation on in vitro true digestibility (IVTD) and crude protein (CP) of sweet sorghum bagasse. In vitro true digestibility and CP were determined on bagasse of 12 sweet sorghum cultivars grown in three environments and treated with and without anhydrous NH3 (39.0 g kg−1). Across environments, ammoniation increased bagasse IVTD from a mean of 731 g kg−1 dry matter (DM) to a mean of 750 g kg−1 DM, but IVTD of bagasse from only two of three environments was increased. Crude protein averaged 117 g kg−1 DM for ammoniated samples compared to 26 g kg−1 DM for nontreated samples. Ammoniation increased CP in every cultivar and in every environment. Sweet sorghum bagasse IVTD and CP characteristics combined with large yields indicate that this byproduct could serve as livestock feed and merits further investigation.

Potential of Jatropha curcas as a Biofuel, Animal Feed and Health Products

AbstractJatropha curcas is a multipurpose plant with numerous attributes. It can potentially become one of the world's key energy crops. Its seed weighs 0.53–0.86 g and the seed kernel contains 22–27% protein and 57–63% lipid indicating good nutritional value. The seeds can produce crude vegetable oil that can be transformed into high quality biodiesel. Several methods for oil extraction have been developed. In all processes, about 75% of the weight of the seed remains as a press cake containing mainly carbohydrates, protein and residual oil and is a potential source of livestock feed. The highly toxic nature of whole as well as dehulled seed meal due to the presence of high levels of shells, toxic phorbol esters and other antinutrients prevents its use in animal diet. The genetic variation among accessions from different regions of the world and rich diversity among Mexican genotypes in terms of phorbol ester content and distinct molecular profiles indicates the potential for improvement of germplasm of Jatropha through breeding programs. The extracts of Jatropha display potent cytotoxic, antitumor, anti‐inflammatory and antimicrobial activities. The possibilities on the exploitation potential of this plant through various applications have been explored.

Seasonal availability and physical and chemical characteristics of four major browse plants used for stall-feeding of livestock in Eastern Nigeria

Four major browse species were studied with respect to their time of availability throughout the year and some aspects of their physical and chemical characteristics. Elaeis guineensis and Ficus elasticoides were available at all times of the year for stock feeding. For the physical milling characteristics studied, the browse species compared well with those of the legume species included in the study or were intermediate between those of the legumes and grasses. The nutrient composition indicated that the browse species could be a good source of livestock feed, especially during the dry season when grass from the natural grassland is scarce. Key words : Nutrient composition, milling characteristics, livestock, browse species.

DEVELOPMENTAL GENETIC ANALYSIS FOR CRUDE FIBER CONTENT AND CRUDE ASH CONTENT OF RAPESEED MEAL IN TWO DIFFERENT GROWING YEARS

Developmental genetic analyses method for diploid seed quantitative traits was used to determine the unconditional and conditional genetic main effects and genotype × environment interaction effects from embryo, cytoplasm and maternal genetic systems on crude fiber content (CFC) and crude ash content (CAC) of rapeseed meal in two growing years. The results suggested that the performance at most developmental times/stages for CFC and CAC was mainly affected by the genetic main effects. By using the conditional analysis method, for the different genetic systems, CFC and CAC were simultaneously controlled by the genetic effects from three genetic systems, especially for the maternal main effects. Also, the additive effects were more prominent at most developmental times/stages, and the improvement of both traits could be expected in earlier generation(s) in rapeseed breeding programs. The heritability analysis revealed that the maternal heritability was more prominent during seed development times, especially at maturity. Thus, it suggested that maternal plant selection could be utilized to reduce CFC and increase CAC in rapeseed meal breeding programs. The study further suggested Youcai 601 could be used for reducing CFC, while Huashuang 3 and Zhongyou 821 were suitable for increasing CAC in rapeseed, as evidenced from their predicted parent effects. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Rapeseed is an industrially and commercially important oilseed crop. For the oilseed industry, the meal remaining after oil extraction represents a product of a value equal to that of the oil itself. It represents a very valuable protein component of feed mixes that are, in turn, indispensable in modern monogastric animals raising for intensive production of meat, eggs and milk. In certain cases, the oilmeal is further processed to produce concentrates (with 50–60% of crude protein) or isolates (nearly pure protein) for use in human food. Rapeseed flours, protein concentrates and isolates are lower in protein but higher in crude fiber and ash contents than corresponding soybean products. Also, rapeseed or canola meal has been used as fermentation substrate, as an additive in compost for commercial button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) production and also as substrate for xylanase production by Trichoderma reesei. Oilmeals are mainly valued for low fiber content, high protein content of good quality and absence or low presence of toxic and antinutritional compounds. One drawback of rapeseed meal is its higher crude fiber content, which results in lower digestible energy, especially for non-ruminants. Decreasing the crude fiber and improving the crude ash (an indicator of the mineral content) could increase the demand for rapeseed meal as a feed source for livestock.