Production and Utilization of Protein in Oilseed Crops

This publication contains the proceedings of a seminar on 'Production and Utilization of Protein in Oilsead Crops', held at Braunschweig from 8 to 10 July, 1980. The meeting was held under the auspices of the Commission of the European Communities, as part of the EEC Common Research Programme on Plant Protein Improvement. Methods for the intensive production of meat and milk have been adopted to an increasing extent in EEC coun±ries over the past two decades, their success is based on animal diets of high quality, balanced for energy and protein contents. The substantial improvements in cereal yields in EEC over this period has kept pace with the increasing demand for dietary energy in concentrated animal foodstuffs, but provision of the necessary protein supplementation has required ever-increasing imports of soybean products. Grain legumes and oilseed meals are the two main sources of concentrated protein for the animal feeds industry, and there is an urgent need for increased EEC production of both. Seminars on grain legumes have been held at regular intervals since 1976; the meeting at Braunschweig, now reported, was the first to consider in detail the potential contribution from oilseed crops suitable for EEC conditions. Local arrangements for the seminar were made by Professor Dr. M. Dambroth, Dr. C. Sommer, and their colleagues at the Institut fUr Pflanzenbau und Pflanzenzuchtung, Braunschweig - Volkenr6de.