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Crambe Utilization
Primary products from crambe seed produced in North Dakota include oil (28-33 percent), meal (64-69 percent) and hulls (3 percent).
The oil is a valuable raw material that can be used for numerous industrial products. Oil from crambe seed ranges from 50 to 60 percent erucic acid by weight. Erucic acid is primarily used as a slip agent on plastic and transmission fluid additive. Other derivatives from crambe oil can be used for lubricants, rubber additives, new types of nylon, base for paints and coatings, high temperature hydraulic fluids, dielectric fluid, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, waxes and other products.
Crambe meal is the reside remaining after solvent or expeller oil extraction of the high erucic acid oil. Whole seed meal is approximately 30% crude protein with an estimated 30% ruminally undegradable protein. Dehulled meal can contain up to 45% crude protein. Crambe meal is a biologically useful protein source for beef cattle with positive results from a number of recent feeding trials. Crambe meal was included at 10% of creep feed, 16% of growing diets, 4.2% of finishing diets, and 9% of gestating and lactating beef cow diets with no negative effects. However, the Food and Drug Administration has placed a limitation on the use of crambe meal based on research conducted in the 1970's. It is to be fed only to feedlot cattle at a maximum of 4.2% of the diet. Efforts are being made to remove this restriction and broaden the use of crambe meal.
Crambe meal contains glucosinolates, similar to rapeseed meal, which cause a sharp flavor. These compounds are similar to those producing the strong flavors in mustard and radish. As a result, crambe meal is more palatable when mixed with other feeds. Monogastric animals (swine and poultry) can experience palatability problems with crambe meal and may encounter reduced thyroid activity due to goitrogenic effects of the glucosinolates, which are thought to tie up iodine. This activity has not been observed in ruminants in recent studies based on thyroid hormone assays.
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