ABSTRACT
Today, the major protein sources used for animal and poultry production are the residues of oil production or oilseed meals. Oilseed production has been increasing over the years, and it has increased from 325 million metric tons in 2001-2002 to 392 million metric tons in 2007-2008.[1,2] Soybean, peanut, safflower, sesame seed, sunflower, and rapeseed are grown primarily for their seeds, which can be used for oil production. Canadian rapeseed cultivars that contain low erucic acid in the oil and low glucosinolate in the meal are tradenamed “Canola.” Cottonseed is a byproduct of cotton production, and its oil is used for food and other purposes. In the past, linseed was grown to provide fibers for linen cloth production, but it is now mostly grown for industrial oil production. Soybean is clearly the prominent oilseed produced in the world,[1,2] and soybean meal accounted for 68.3% of the world production of protein meals in 2007-2008 (Table 1).
