Protein Sources for the Animal Feed Industry
Livestock production is growing rapidly as a result of the increasing demand for animal products. FAO projections suggest that global meat production and environmental and feed supply problems arising from the concentration of livestock production.
The big increase in animal protein demand over the last few decades has been largely met by the world wide growth in intensive livestock production, particularly poultry and pigs. This is expected to continue as real income grows in the emerging economies.
Feed grains are thought to compete directly, or in the use of land, with grains for human consumption and because there is inefficient use of feed and energy in some livestock systems, it is often blamed for this occurrence. However, if efficiency is seen over the entire production chain, and expressed as input of edible human food/output in human edible food, the view of animal production takes on a more positive outlook. Note that 233 million t meat, 568 million t milk and 55 million t eggs produced globally contain more than 65 million t of protein. So while input is higher than output, if improved protein quality on the output side is considered, a reasonable balance emerges.
A recent FAO study shows that the increasing use of feed grains has not had an adverse effect on the provision of cereals for human consumption. Indeed, many argue that the production of cereals for feed acts as a global buffer and therefore has a positive effect on global food security.
Over the last 30 years, FAO has worked in the field to develop technologies for integrated farming systems appropriate to small producers, particularly in the tropics. For ruminant livestock, urea treatment of straw and the use of multinutrient blocks have been shown to greatly improve nutrition of animals fed on low quality roughage diets. Legumes and tree forages have also provided needed
protein inputs into cattle, sheep and goat production systems, while benefiting the environment through nitrogen fixation and organic matter.
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