Rapeseed meal-glucosinolates and their antinutritional effects. Part 1. Rapeseed production and chemistry of glucosinolates.

This review, which will be presented in seven parts is concerned with the use of rapeseed meal as an animal feeding stuff. The presence of glucosinolates in the meal limits its use due to a number of antinutritional and physiological effects. Whilst not in itself exhaustive, this review updates earlier reviews by reference to recent papers on the above topics. In this first paper the history of the crop and the current production situation are presented and the nature of glucosinolates and methods for their analysis are reviewed in order to facilitate a better appreciation of the problems referred in later sections.