Waste to worth: fruit wastes and by-products as animal feed.
2015
Manju Wadhwa | Bakshi, M. P. S. | Makkar, H. P. S.
The increasing trend future consumption of animal products will give rise to a huge demand of animal feed. Meeting this demand will be a challenge, given the scarcity of natural resources such as land and water. Currently approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food is lost and wasted annually, and fruit and vegetables (FV) form a substantial part of this loss. Use of FV loss and waste, as animal feed, can contribute to meeting the feed deficiency existing in most developing countries. Also their use as animal feed will bring them back into the human food chain. Simultaneously it will help mitigating environmental problems that arise due to decomposition of such wastes in the environment. This review, first in a series, discusses options and challenges in using fruit wastes and by-products as animal feed. The fruits discussed are amla, apple, apricot, banana, citrus and raspberry, among many others. The nutritional value, conservation methods, feeding management and guidance on the levels at which these unconventional feed resources can be used in the diets of farm animal species are presented. Some of the major constraints in the use of fruit wastes and by-products are the presence of pesticides, pesticide residues, mycotoxins, heavy metals, furans and dioxins. There is a need to regularly monitor such contaminants in these feed resources. Equally important is to conduct risk assessment given the presence of these contaminants in the animal diets. A concerted research and commercial efforts are needed to realize the full potential of such wastes and by-products for the animal agriculture.
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