A team at Plant & Food Research – now part of the Bioeconomy Science Institute – has developed a method for isolating protein from two pasture crops – alfalfa and ryegrass – which delivers the full suite of essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein) needed in a healthy human diet.

Through this partnership, the research team aims to develop ingredients from the isolated protein as well as work on scaling up the process for commercial use.

Pāmu Landcorp is New Zealand’s largest farmer, offering a significant area of suitable land that could be applied to growing the complementary crops required as commercial opportunities develop. The work explores higher-value uses from existing land within current farm systems, consistent with Pāmu Landcorp’s highest‑and‑best‑use principles and a core‑farming focus.

The research also supports good environmental attributes of the new ingredient, while the remaining ‘feed cake’ can be used as a nutritious stockfeed with lower protein levels, improving nitrogen balance in the diet for improved utilisation.

These side streams from processing may also have higher value uses through further bioprocessing, which are being explored in parallel research streams, utilising the wide-ranging scientific expertise at the Bioeconomy Science Institute.

“Traditionally, New Zealand has focused on our ability to produce excellent pasture and exported this as high-quality dairy and red meat,” says Thomas Sowersby, Bioeconomy Science Institute project leader.

“We want to extend the potential of pasture crops to include plant protein ingredients as well. Most pasture protein extraction technologies have concentrated on recovering just RuBisCO, a leaf protein that only accounts for about 50% of the protein available in these plants. Our technology has a higher yield and retains a broader suite of proteins, leading to ingredients with key nutritional and functional properties.”

 Scientists at the Bioeconomy Science Institute are working to scale up the pasture protein isolation process they have developed for commercial use.

Head of Innovation and Extension at Pāmu Landcorp Paul McGill says: “This partnership leverages our core skills in pasture and agronomy, using existing rotations like lucerne where appropriate, and keeps us focused on farm performance. It also aligns with our commitment to innovation and sustainability by unlocking new value from the land while meeting our environmental goals. By developing pasture products for high-quality plant protein, we’re creating new opportunities for diversified land use and future-focused farming.”

Sarita Males, the Bioeconomy Science Institute’s commercialisation manager for the project adds, “Development of our new ingredient concept is focused on a key issue identified by food manufacturers – the ability to provide the full amino acid profile in a plant-based protein ingredient that has advantageous properties such as high dispersibility and solubility. This can then be used in applications, including protein beverages, without leaving undesirable texture or sediment, like many of the currently available plant protein ingredients.

We’ve already received interest from multinational food and ingredient companies and are looking forward to progressing the research and these partnerships to get products containing New Zealand-grown pasture ingredients onto supermarket shelves globally.”

Source: AgResearch Group