Protein hunger of the feed sector: the alternatives offered by the plant world

Abstract

The expected future demand for highly nutrient animal food products will push the animal production system to search for new sources of high-quality protein feedstuffs. In this scenario, economic and environmental issues will have to be considered while reducing the competition with the plant-based human food chains. Legume grains and some oilseed cakes, by-products from the oil industry, are the main protein sources for ruminants and terrestrial monogastrics such as pigs and poultry. Their relevant role will hold in the next decades, but it is necessary to increase the diversification of sources that can be grown profitably throughout the world, including European countries. Microalgae are a promising source of protein and other nutrients for animal feeding. However, an amazing richness of biologically active substances makes these organisms very interesting as feed ingredients, as their role go far beyond the supply of nutrients. Due to the limited usage of microalgae as human foodstuffs or food ingredients, low competition between microalgae-based feed and food chains is predictable. This review aims to synthesise current knowledge on minor pulses and other protein-rich plant products and microalgae, as alternative ingredients to the conventional animal protein sources, focussing on their production, availability, and nutritional values. Points of strength, weakness, opportunity and threat related to the use of these protein sources in animal feeding are separately analysed through a SWOT approach to underlie future needs in terms of research and/or technological development that could help valorise these nutrient sources as feed ingredients.

A Multipurpose Leguminous Plant for the Mediterranean Countries: Leucaena leucocephala as an Alternative Protein Source: A Review

“…In the following sections, pros and cons of using the Leucaena as protein source are assessed by a detailed analysis of literature data on the topic according to a four-box analysis framework approach: strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats, known as SWOT analysis [ 10 ], as already performed by the authors elsewhere [ 11 , 12 ].…”

Appetite Regulation, Growth Performances and Fish Quality Are Modulated by Alternative Dietary Protein Ingredients in Gilthead Sea Bream (Sparus aurata) Culture

“…In particular, the dried marine microalgae biomass (DMB) is a source of lipids, especially n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA), with an essential amino acid profile similar to other conventional plant proteins. Likewise, its inclusion in the diet can provide nutrients and functional components such as vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, and natural antioxidants [7][8][9][10][11][12]. In aquaculture, DMB has been proposed as a potential protein and energy supplement that could replace marine ingredients and synthetic additives [7,10,11,13].…”

The Effect of Processing on Bioactive Compounds and Nutritional Qualities of Pulses in Meeting the Sustainable Development Goal 2

“…Consumption of pulses has many health benefits including prevention of cancer, lowering glycemic index, and protection against cardiovascular diseases (Ha et al, 2014;Ferreira et al, 2021). That aside, pulses such as faba beans, lupins, and field peas have relevance in the preparation of nutrient rich animal feed (Robinson et al, 2019;Parisi et al, 2020). Besides their food and feed applications, there are emerging applications for the use of pulse bioactives such as bioactive proteins, dietary fibre, resistant starch, polyphenols, and oligosaccharides extracted from pulses for nutraceuticals, functional foods, drug delivery, edible bioplastics, and biofuel production (Okagu et al, 2018;Acquah et al, 2020b;Tassoni et al, 2020).…”