Towards saving freshwater: halophytes as unconventional feedstuffs in livestock feed: a review

Abstract

Water represents 71% of all earth area and about 97% of this water is salty water. So, only 3% of the overall world water quantity is freshwater. Human can benefit only from 1% of this water and the remaining 2% freeze at both poles of earth. Therefore, it is important to preserve the freshwater through increasing the plants consuming salty water. The future prosperity of feed resources in arid and semi-arid countries depends on economic use of alternative resources that have been marginalized for long periods of time, such as halophytic plants, which are one such potential future resource. Halophyte plants can grow in high salinity water and soil and to some extent during drought. The growth of these plants depends on the contact of the salted water with plant roots as in semi-desert saline water, mangrove swamps, marshes, and seashores. Halophyte plants need high levels of sodium chloride in the soil water for growth, and the soil water must also contain high levels of salts, as sodium hydroxide or magnesium sulfate. There are many uses for halophyte plants, including feed for animals, vegetables, drugs, sand dune stabilizers, wind shelter, soil cover, wetland cultivation, laundry detergents, and paper production. This paper will focus on the use of halophytes as a feed additive for animals. In spite of the good nutritional value of halophytes, some anti-nutritional factors as nitrates, nitrite complexes, tannins, glycosides, phenolic compounds, saponins, oxalates, and alkaloids may be present in some of them. The presence of such anti-nutritional agents makes halophytes unpalatable to animals, which tends to reduce feed intake and nutrient use. Therefore, the negative effects of these plants on animal performance are the only objection against using halophytes in animal feed diets. This review article highlights the beneficial impact of considering halophytes in animal feeding on saving freshwater and illustrates its nutritive value for livestock from different aspects.

Compost Enhances Forage Yield and Quality of River Saltbush in Arid Conditions

“…COM 5 , COM 10 , and COM 15 increased the activity of PPO by 19, 19, and 22% over the control in the first season, while these increases were 31, 19, and 35% in the second growing season. 4.8 ± 0.0 a 3.2 ± 0.0 a 2.6 ± 0.0 a 5.0 ± 0.0 a 3.4 ± 0.0 a 2.4 ± 0.0 a COM 10 5.0 ± 0.0 a 3.2 ± 0.0 a 2.5 ± 0.0 a 5.2 ± 0.0 a 3.1 ± 0.0 a 2.5 ± 0.0 a COM 15 5.2 ± 0.0 a 3.3 ± 0.0 a 2.4 ± 0.0 a 5.0 ± 0.0 a 3.…”

“…Atriplex spp. has a high content of crude protein and is valuable as animal feed ingredients [9,10]. Halophyte plants are promising, due to their potential of being a feed resource, especially in arid regions and poor soils [6].…”

Sustainable Valorization of Halophytes from the Mediterranean Area: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Their Fatty Acid Profile and Implications for Human and Animal Nutrition

“…These have to be evaluated and taken into account due to toxicity issues. However, the toxicity rate is also affected by several factors such as the rate of ingestion, type and rate of microbial transformation of such metabolites [46]. Environmental and soil conditions, as well as seasons, may also influence the FA content.…”

High Salt Diet Affects the Reproductive Health in Animals: An Overview

“…With the rise of population in the world and decrease in the use of lands for agriculture practices, several approaches in agriculture systems involve the culture of plants in salinity land for animal feeding [1,2]. Moreover, many countries are suffering from scarcity of freshwater with an increase in the ambient temperature which had led to a decrease in the availability of freshwater.…”