Blood meal, blood flour, fresh blood

Description: 

Blood is often collected in conjunction with the slaughtering of animals and subsequently used as a supplemental protein source for livestock. Normally it is dried and made into blood meal so that it can be handled and incorporated into rations more easily. Unlike other animal protein sources it has a poor amino acid balance with lysine being relatively high and isoleucine being very low. Blood meal is somewhat unpalatable and is normally restricted in rations to less than 5 to 6 %, depending upon the level of performance desired and the availability of other supplemental protein sources. Normally blood is dried using one of the following methods; drum, ring, flash or spray dried. The drying method used has an effect on the digestibility of the CP of the blood meal, because there is a direct relationship between the amount of heat applied and the digestibility of the CP. As the amount of heat applied increases the digestibility of the CP decreases.

Cautions:  

Blood should always be heated prior to be used as a supplemental protein source for livestock to prevent the transfer of disease organisms. Raw blood should not be fed without being heated to 100oC for 15 minutes. Possible link to Animal Health and Disease Publication.

Source:  

Blood can be collected during the slaughter of various livestock species (cattle, pigs, chicken, etc.) under a wide range of conditions. Blood should be processed as soon as possible after collection to assure that it doesn’t deteriorated and the highest quality blood meal is produced.

Processing:  

Blood must be heated to 100oC for 15 minutes to destroy pathogenic organisms and prevent the spread of disease. Excessive heating will reduce the digestibility of the CP and reduce the CP availability to the animals that are consuming the blood meal (AO)(AGRIS 80-570364)(Juokslahti, 1979);(AZ6)(AGRIS 95-158117) (Kats, 1994). The amount of heat applied during the drying process is directly correlated with the digestibility and solubility of the blood CP. Blood meal is somewhat hydroscopic (water loving) and needs to be dried to less than 10-12 % moisture and stored in a dry place in order for it not to deteriorate. Blood meal can be prepared by a small-scale operation. After the blood is collected it is slowly boiled in a pot while stirring constantly, then after most of the water has been boiled off it can be spread out to be dried by the sun or using an artificial heating system. It is possible to combine the boiled blood with another feed, such as, millrun, bran, rice bran, etc. prior to drying, which improves its drying and handling characteristics and improves the nutrient content of the feed that it is combined. It is important to keep the temperature as low as possible during the cooking and drying processes to assure that the quality of the resultant product is high. Blood meal made from whole blood contains more isoleucine then blood that have been coagulated prior to drying. Raw blood can be stabilized and stored for one week by adding 0.7% sulphuric acid or an equivalent amount of another acid. Blood can be coagulated to aid in the removal of water, by adding 1 % unslaked or 3 % slaked lime. This method of water removal will increase the amount of dry matter losses by 10 – 15%, which includes many of the minerals. Feed Systems: Blood meal can be used as a supplemental source of protein and used to increase the CP content of cereal grains, plant by-products and forages. Blood meal is somewhat unpalatable, so care needs to be taken to not add more than 5 to 6 % blood meal to a ration, especially if high feed consumption and performance are desired. Often an adaptation period is required to get animals use to eating blood meal. Blood meal is limiting in isoleucine, so care needs to be taken when formulating rations for monogastric animals to assure that adequate isoleucine is contained in the ration for the level of performance desired (AX1)(AGRIS 1999-013003) (Piepenbrink, 1998); (AW)(AGRIS 97-065432)(Maiga, 1996). Supplementing rations with methionine that was formulated with blood meal as the primary supplemental protein source shown improved performance in swine (AZ5)(AGRIS 93-020446)(Shen-Jianying, 1992). The lysine level in the blood meal is relatively high (7-8 %), which makes it an excellent supplemental protein source to use with plant derived feed ingredients that are low in lysine. Excessive heating of blood meal during the drying process can dramatically reduce its available lysine content, but enough heat needs to be applied to destroy the pathogenic organisms. Protein solubility is a good simple indicator of protein and amino acid availability. Pepsin digestibility has been shown to be a good test for assessing the availability of the protein fraction of blood meal (AJ)(AGRICOLA IND 90002321)(Hegedus, 1989). In some situations blood needs to be stored for a period of time prior to being processed and dried. A method for acidification of blood and subsequent sun drying has been described (AL)(AGRICOLA ADL 88027387)(Divakaran, 1988). Blood can be stabilized by adding sulphuric acid (AM)(AGRICOLA ADL 87040172)(Divakaran, 1987) and stored for short periods of time. Blood should be processed as soon as possible after collection to assure that the highest quality blood meal is prepared.

Feeding Experiments: 

Blood meal has been shown to be a satisfactory replacement for other supplemental protein sources in various species of livestock; dairy cattle (AU)(AGRIS 1998-074566)(Henson, 1997); (AB)(AGRICOLA IND 21990739)(Santos, 1998);(AZ7)(AGRIS 95-157451)(Cunningham, 1994), beef cattle (AZ1)(AGRIS 94-069184)(Sindt, 1993);(AE)(AGRICOLA IND 20904580)(Rangngang, 1997), sheep (AZ3)(AGRIS 94-026892)(Schloesser, 1993), silkworms (AZ8)(AGRIS 95-054653)(Matsura, 1994), swine (AG)(AGRICOLA IND 20442306)(Kats, 1994); (AH)(AGRICOLA IND 20365795)(Hansen, 1993), turkeys (AI)(AGRICOLA IND 90008714)(Liu, 1989), laying chickens (AK)(AGRICOLA IND 89052428)(Odukwe, 1987), especially at lower performance levels. When blood meal replaced fish meal performance was reduced in carp (AQ)(AGRIS 84-094625)(Trzebiatowski, 1982), and broilers (AY)(AGRIS 89-093119)(Offiong, 1982). Dried porcine plasma was found to be superior to skim milk during the early stages of growth in swine (AZ)(AGRIS 94-120771)(Hansen, 1993). Combining blood meal with other supplemental protein sources has been shown to increase performance in ducks (AP)(AGRIS 85-036737)(Sucheep-Suksupath, 1980). It was found to lower performance in tilapia when replacing fishmeal (AC)(AGRICOLA IND 21987295)(El-Sayed, 1998). A lactating dairy trial showed that intake was depressed when blood meal was fed, but that the production of milk and milk components were similar or increased (AD)(AGRICOLA IND 21960941)(Grant, 1998). Research has shown that degradability of the blood protein fraction declines as the processing temperature raises above 70oC (AV)(AGRIS 1998-005917)(Wang, 1997). 

Lysine availability in blood meal was found to be directly related to the amount of heat applied during processing (AN)(AGRICOLA IND 86033747)(Batterham, 1986). Spraying drying, which is the processing method that has the lowest amount of heat applied, resulted in better performance than flash drying in swine starter diets (AG)(AGRICOLA IND 20442306)(Kats, 1994). Spray dried blood was found to be superior as a supplemental protein source to dried skim milk in piglet starter diets (AH)(AGRICOLA IND 20365795)(Hansen, 1993). The rumen degradability of the CP in blood meal was lower than soybean meal (AW)(AGRIS 97-065432)(Maiga, 1996); (AX1)(AGRIS 1999-013003)(Piepenbrink, 1998); (AZ2)(AGRIS 94-057815)(Bani, 1993). Limiting amino acid in blood meal was isoleucine, therefore it should be combined with other supplemental protein sources in order to provide a balanced amino acid profile (AX)(AGRIS 1999-012564)(Richards, 1998);(AW)(AGRIS 97-065432)(Maiga, 1996).

Nutrient Characteristics: