Cottonseed Meal: Feed Ingredients

Cottonseed meal is the byproduct remaining after cotton is ginned and the seeds crushed and the oil extracted. The remaining meal is usually used for animal feed. However, the meal can be fed only to adult ruminants because it contains a compound called gossypol. The compound is highly toxic to monogastrics and even sometimes to calves which are really "pre-ruminants" in terms of their developing digestive systems.

Cottonseed meal is produced in three protein levels. Cottonseed meals are classified as low gossypol if they contain less than 0.04 percent free gossypol. Forty-one percent cottonseed meal has a crude protein. level of 41 percent; crude fat, 2 percent; and crude fibre, 12 percent. Forty-eight percent cottonseed meal has a crude protein level of 48 percent; crude fat, 1 percent; and crude fibre, 8 percent. Although all three cottonseed meals are solvent extracted, the lower protein meals may contain some hulls.