Environmental impact of using specialty feed ingredients in swine and poultry production: A life cycle assessment1

Abstract

Livestock production has a variety of environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, acidification, and primary energy consumption. The demand for livestock products is expected to grow substantially, creating even more environmental pressure. The use of specialty feed ingredients (SFI) such as supplemented AA and phytase can reduce nutrient input into the system without compromising productivity and consequently can reduce emissions. The global change impact of using SFI in pig and broiler production systems in Europe and North and South America was studied. A life cycle assessment according to international standards (ISO 14040/44) analyzed contributions from producing SFI and animals to global change. Three different alternatives were analyzed. In addition, partial sensitivity analysis was conducted using 5 scenarios for each region for both production systems. Specialty feed ingredient supplementation in pig and broiler diets reduced greenhouse gas emissions (cradle to farm gate) by 56% and 54% in Europe, 17% and 15% in North America, and 33% and 19% in South America, respectively, compared to an unsupplemented diet. A total of 136 Mt CO 2 equivalent (CO 2 eq) was saved in 2012, rising to 146 Mt CO 2 eq in 2050 on the basis of United Nations population projections. Considerable benefits of supplementation with SFI were apparent in European and South American diets when direct land use change was considered because of the reduced demand for soybean meal. The eutrophication potential of unsupplemented diets was reduced by up to 35% in pig and 49% in broiler production systems compared to supplemented alternatives. The acidification potential of supplemented strategies was reduced by up to 30% in pig and 79% in broiler production systems. The primary energy demand was similar in all alternatives, and this could be an area where the SFI industry can improve. Overall, SFI supplementation substantially reduced the global warming, eutrophication, and acidification potentials in all regions studied.

Effect of observed individual data of performance and excretion on life cycle assessment of piglets

“…Our results are in agreement with Kebreab et al (2016) and Monteiro et al (2017b), who also did not observe differences of CED between diets with different CP and total phosphorus levels. Kebreab et al (2016) concluded that the high non-renewable energy used during IAA production could be an area where the industrial sector could act to reduce impacts.…”

“…emissions due to the effect of land use change because of rainforest conversion in crop areas, increasing GWP of soybean meal. In this situation, replacing soybean meal by cereals and IAA seems an interesting strategy to reduce GWP impact, as shown by Kebreab et al (2016) and Monteiro et al (2016).…”

“…Experimental feeds with high IAA addition showed higher CED, per kg of feed (Table 1). This was expected, because according to Mosnier et al (2011) and Kebreab et al (2016), the production of IAA and phytase demands high amounts of non-renewable energy. Despite this high contribution of feed production to CED impact (almost 54 %; Figure 2), the IAA addition did not significantly affect CED per kg BWG.…”

Life cycle assessment as a tool to evaluate the impact of reducing crude protein in pig diets

“…These results may be associated with the fact that the authors did not consider grain production with any deforestation. Contrasted results could be obtained according to the region considered, such as those obtained by KEBREAB et al (2016) in Europe, North America and South America, and by MONTEIRO et al (2016a) in Europe and South America, since the nutritional strategies affected each pig production context differently, and the effect of AA supplementation on the GWP of pig production is highly dependent on the GWP of the protein sources.…”

“…According to KEBREAB et al (2016), the addition of industrial AA and phytase to pig diets also reduced EP and AP in all the regions studied.…”