Canada is a powerhouse when it comes to farming and food production. Research in canola is creating excitement that this crop may have the ability to enter into the plant protein market for human consumption, adding to its excellent reputation as a healthy cooking oil. In this podcast, Dr. Rob Duncan describes current research to further improve Canada's most valuable crop. He also delves into plant breeding terminology, shedding light on the different approaches for improving desirable plant attributes.
Rob Duncan is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba focusing on improving canola and rapeseed cultivars in Western Canada.
Canada is a powerhouse when it comes to farming and food production. Research in canola is creating excitement that this crop may have the ability to enter into the plant protein market for human consumption, adding to its excellent reputation as a healthy cooking oil. In this podcast, Dr. Rob Duncan describes current research to further improve Canada's most valuable crop. He also delves into plant breeding terminology, shedding light on the different approaches for improving desirable plant attributes.
Rob Duncan is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba focusing on improving canola and rapeseed cultivars in Western Canada.
Welcome to the Manitoba Agriculture and food Knowledge Exchange podcast I'm Jordan Cieciwa, and today we've got one of those topics that as somebody that eats a lot of food and is always looking for the next way to use a product, we've got something exciting for today's topic. We're adding value to Canada's most important crop and that's canola. And that might sound like an overstatement to say most valuable crop. But when we get through with this podcast, you're going to see why we're saying that, we've got an expert in the field with more than 20 years plant breeding experience. We've got Rob Duncan and Rob is an associate professor in the department of plant science at the University of Manitoba and he calls himself a canola and rapeseed breeder at the U of M frankly, this is going to be a fun discussion. Rob, let's jumped right into this. What are you currently researching?
Rob Duncan:Thanks Jordan. happy to be here and I appreciate your time. One of the topics that we're currently focusing on among others, but one of them is really adding value to canola production in Canada, we produce over 20 million acres of canola and the reason I say we're adding value to it is about 20 to 22% of the seed of the canola that's produced is composed of protein or plant proteins. I'm sure you've heard tonnes about plant proteins and plant proteins in your diet and often in canola or historically this protein has been viewed as a by product and often it's been relegated to be used just as animal feed. But because of that immense production that we have in Canada, there's a huge opportunity to add value to the seed component, to the entire canola industry, to expand the market for plant proteins and possibly even bring this canola protein into use for human consumption.
Jordan Cieciwa:So this is what's exciting to me is yes, I've actually heard of the protein from canola being utilized as a feed source, which is fantastic. Cause it's using a product and feeding cattle and cutting down a lot of excess waste that way on the cows are removing it so that we as humans, don't just remove a waste product it's being consumed, but talking about this, and you know, I'm fortunate, I've been hanging around the, faculty of agricultural and food sciences for awhile. So I know that quality of protein is key when talking about human consumption. So what kind of quality does canola have for protein?
Rob Duncan:So overall canola has the proteins and a well balanced amino acid profile and normally, usually for human food consumption soybean protein is what is often used. So I would describe that as the main competitor for canola proteins. And as I say, canola protein does have a well-balanced amino acid profile but there are improvements that can be made both in the quantity of the protein, as well as the quality and that's where me as a plant breeder and the group that I work with in the department of plant science really has that opportunity to improve that quantity and quality.
Jordan Cieciwa:And so what are you doing to accomplish that? Cause that actually sounds very interesting from a genetic standpoint, are we talking, breeding on that, I guess.
Rob Duncan:Yeah. So I guess the main things that we would be be doing in that case are number one, you want to utilize the natural variation that's out there for either, and again, there's kind of two topics of the quantity as is one topic. The quality of the protein is another topic, but one of the first things you do in plant breeding is evaluate the natural variation that's out there in the germplasm related brassica species, different oil types of canola or rapeseed, and try to find the traits in that natural variation that you desire. So whether that's high protein or low protein, whatever your target is, you want to examine that natural variation. Once you've then examined that natural variation and maybe found some variants or mutants that you might find useful to breed a target. Then you can use those variants in your breeding, but also use them to find out what genes are involved in controlling that particular trait.
Jordan Cieciwa:Interesting. So I'm a proud Manitoba, and I think this is something that more Manitobans need to know is canola was created in Manitoba and can you speak to that a little more? Because when I hear that I'm thinking how do we create a plant species, this is genetic modification, I guess, to it's best.
Rob Duncan:I wouldn't call it in some, but depending upon how you define modification, it could be. There's no doubt that humans have modified it. It wouldn't be, that wouldn't fall under the tradition. What people would would term right now, a genetically modified organism per se, under the media's definition or the general public's definition, but there's no doubt that humans took Brassica Napus and found variants of it that had low glucosinolates. That was one of the components that canola, utilizes a low glucosinolate compound and then one that also had lower uric acid levels. Basically they took those two variants similar to my story that I was describing before finding that natural variation. And then combining those traits in a low glucosinolates and low uric acid in one single genotype. And that's how it's the same species, but all they did was use that natural variation to make some progress in any one desired direction.
Jordan Cieciwa:I was going to say, let's find that, because I love where you're going with this, because as somebody that finds themselves in a lot of health and wellness discussions, and I'm like, I know that this now could open up a we need seven hours to go over this. But from that genetic genetically modified conversation, this is something that I learned a long time ago, quickly and early in my career is that genetic modification as somebody like yourself would look at, just meant you found qualities in the natural occurring plants and you introduced them just like you know what, I've got a newborn baby. So my wife and I, our genetics, we introduced new genetics together to make a brand new baby and that baby has never been seen before. So that's similar, I think. Right?
Rob Duncan:I agree, personally, I do not like the term GMO at all, to me what I would, what the public or some parts of the public or what somebody might be against, it would be a better term for that would be transgenic. So that means that they've brought in a gene from another species, whatever that species is, and they brought it in maybe through a nontraditional manner. Whereas, that's why I would prefer the term transgenic is used rather than genetically modified GMO, genetically modified organism because in my mind, in a simple English definition it is very hard for any of us to find any food that humans haven't modified for 10,000 plus years, going back all the way to maybe selecting the fruit that lasted longer or something that matured before the frost came in September or October. So humans have been modifying their food through selection for thousands and thousands of years nd so really the development of canola in the first you are right, the first culture breed registered in 1974 out of the breeding program at the university of Manitoba and that was just through selection and recombination and essentially the glucosinolate content and fatty acid profile were modified.
Jordan Cieciwa:Ah, I love it. I love it because I'm a proud Manitoban and I actually had it explained to me by the canola growers association, what they had done and just like you said, it was selecting the breeds that would give us the best oils and the best end product that we need and now this is where you come in is because all I want or all I thought I wanted was the oils. But now let's talk about the focus on the protein related traits, because this is where you're going with it and I'm sort of throwing that genetic modification thing on you that, that's a can of worms.
Rob Duncan:I'm actually happy to have the opportunity to cover it, because I really feel it's unfortunate, I think in mainstream media, but even scientists seem to use the word GMO. And I really think it's not a good use of terminology to describe it. I think, often as I say, what people are maybe against, or think they're against is the idea of a transgenic crop, bringing a gene from another species. I'm happy to discuss it and it does tie into what we're doing very well here, because if I can just add one more thing, Jordan. So, in the seventies, normal commodity canola was developed. And I bring this topic up because it's going to tie into what we're doing. Since then, and even in the eighties and then nineties, and this was another U of M major contribution with the development of specialty oil canola. So that was something that has high oleic acid or low linolenic acid, and that's turned into a big proportion of the market. So we really, today farmers will either be growing specialty oil canola, or just kind of commodity canola oil. And the reason I mentioned that is what we're going to talk about here in terms of protein related traits. I do feel there's a huge opportunity for specialty protein canola moving forward.
Jordan Cieciwa:Well, let's talk about that because this is something that I've heard the whisperings just because I'm somebody that the plant-based protein side of things has fascinated me for years. You know, I train high performing athletes and their need for complete proteins and protein sources, but also always looking for different areas to get them. I'm going to let you just kinda go out there with what's going on with the protein side of it.
Rob Duncan:Okay. So when I'm talking about a protein or protein related traits, as I mentioned earlier, I'm really talking about several things, just grouping them under that protein related term. We can be talking about quantity. So there would be benefits to simply increasing the amount of protein. But I'm also talking about quality. So, and when I say quality, I'm talking about different types of the actual different types of seed storage proteins that make up the total protein within the seed and in canola, there's two main storage protein types, they're called cruciferin and napin, but what's so exciting about this field is that at this, because all the effort in the past had gone into lowering glucosinolates, the fatty acid profile decreasing your rusic acid or increasing oleic acid, and or increasing oil content most of the research over the previous decades has focused on those traits and little to no effort has gone into the protein side of things, mainly because it was viewed as a by-product, it was a by-product of the oil crushed, but I really feel that because of the emphasis that our society and some of our diets are requiring in terms of plant-based proteins we really have an opportunity to turn that by-product into a co-product. And so, yeah, I'll maybe leave it at that.
Jordan Cieciwa:Well, I guess this was the other thing too, when we discovered that we could use it as animal feed, that also kind of, you know, what further research do we need? We've got the by-product, but we can feed it to our cattle. So let's leave it there. But now people like yourself have come along and said, wait with a few changes, this can be human consumable.
Rob Duncan:Yeah. So I'll give you a few examples, in the seed, if you were to take a sample from the combine or the truck going to the elevator Canadian canola usually averages around 20% protein. It fluctuates based upon the year. In the seed, it's about 20% protein and then when the seed is crushed for the oil and it goes through the processing process, it's heated and things degrade the protein, but in the resulting meal, after that oil crash you are anywhere from 36 to 38% protein left in that meal and in one of the main competitors would be soybean meal, as I mentioned before and it's a fair bit higher, so immediately canola proteins are at a disadvantage. So there's really large opportunity to increase that seed or meal protein content and add value to canola, overall. The challenge in doing that, Jordan, is that there is a relationship between oil content and protein content. The main product has been oil from the crush, there's a negative correlation between the two, and if you increase protein content, you could have a negative impact on oil content, but there is that opportunity to maintain the oil at an acceptable level and yet increase the protein content. As an example, in our program, we have genotypes that rather than that 20, 22% protein content in the seed, we have genotypes that are well over 30% protein. So it's a big, big bump up.
Jordan Cieciwa:Now, when you hit that 30%, what does happen to the oil content? I guess, the conversation that Canadians should know is canola produces a huge amount of money for our country as an export, as well as we use it. A lot of people use it more than it would even have any inclination that they use it in their daily baking, cooking, et cetera. It's a huge product for Canada. So if you do jump to that 30%, what does that do to the oil content.
Rob Duncan:Good question. If you get into the 34- 35% protein range in the seed, there's no doubt, oil takes a big hit. Though I do think there is an opportunity to have something that has oil content in the high forties- 48, 49, maybe even 50% of the seed and still have protein in that range of the high twenties- 28%, which is still a big jump up from that 20% average.
Jordan Cieciwa:Yeah. I think you need to get more excited about this because as somebody that from an economic standpoint, hearing what you're describing is all of a sudden canola adds value to the plant based boom, that's going on, and has the oil content to continue that side of it. You're just giving an upside and letting growers use the same crop or the field volumes, but now adding a significant income source. That's fantastic research.
Rob Duncan:That's, what's so exciting about it and that's just one of the topics that's just on the quantity side of things. On the quality side of things, there's a very similar situation where there's an excellent opportunity to focus in on those two main storage protein types that I mentioned before, say increasing cruciferin content or increasing the napin content and so that's what to me is a really good analogy to the specialty oil canola types. These could be specialty protein types. So for example, in kind of a standard or an average brassica napis or canola plant cruciferin content is around 60% and napin content is around 20% of the seed protein content and two of my graduate students, actually Armantur doing her masters and Kenny So doing his PhD, are actually looking at the natural diversity of the cruciferin content and napin content in the brassica germplasm. And we're starting to see significant variation for these traits and the reason why this is important is cruciferin and napin and have different functional properties in foods and I can give you some examples of those. But it could lead to potential as protein extracts, or isolates that could be used in a wide range of products and there's actually quite a good movement already within Manitoba for industry to start focusing on some of these.
Jordan Cieciwa:Oh, I love it. Well, just before we kind of stop this conversation that I'm really actually enthralled, and this is a lot more than I was expecting. What are some end uses of this protein? Obviously, like I was saying before, the oil we see that produced in sold around the world? What do we have going for some of these protein products?
Rob Duncan:So as I say, cruciferin and napin both have different properties that can make them useful in different food applications. So napin is what is composed mainly of albumin proteins. So what those are as they actually have excellent solubility so they can be used in transparent solutions, whether that's an energy drink. They have good foaming capability and so they can be used in protein beverages or aereted desserts and or protein bars. Say we were able to find and or develop and breed and understand the genetics to increase napin content, the extraction efficiency would only improve to be utilized in some of these protein beverages or bars. Whereas cruciferin, which does make up the majority in the seed and actually there are groups in Manitoba starting to work on this. Now, cruciferin is composed of mainly globulin proteins and these have potential use in gel formation, like in dressings or sauces and also as a thickening ingredient binding agent. So these cruciferin extracts or isolates could be used in baked goods, again, protein bars or sauces and or meat substitute and so along those lines, Merit Functional Foods is right now building a plant protein production facility where some of these products are going to be produced.
Jordan Cieciwa:Outstanding. Dr. Rob Duncan, you are doing some cool work and, I'm jealous of your day to day. That sounds like a lot of fun to go in there and watch this kind of blossoming, no pun intended- but pun intended, watches blossom into something that gives back to the country. Amazing.
Speaker 3:Wonderful. Thank you for your time, Jordan.
Jordan Cieciwa:Well, we're going to have you back because there's a lot more to go. I'm sure that we just scratched the surface. So appreciate your time greatly.
Speaker 3:Okay. Talk to you soon.