Effect of fermented tomato pomace on the growth performance, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal microflora in broiler chickens

Recycling Agricultural Waste: Sustainable Solutions for Enhancing Livestock Nutrition

The increasing demand for sustainable agricultural practices prompts a reevaluation of feeding strategies in ruminant nutrition. Agricultural waste, often viewed as a by-product (BP), presents a promising opportunity to enhance the sustainability of livestock production systems. This review explores the potential of incorporating various agricultural BPs into ruminant diets. Utilizing these BPs reduces the environmental impact of livestock farming and contributes to the circular economy by recycling nutrients back into the food system. The nutritional composition of these wastes varies widely, and their inclusion in ruminant diets improves feed efficiency, animal performance and overall health. Research indicates that specific treatments, such as fermentation and ensiling, enhance the digestibility and nutrient availability of these materials. Moreover, incorporating agricultural waste into ruminant nutrition leads to financial benefits for farmers by reducing reliance on conventional feed sources. However, key challenges remain, particularly the need for further research to optimize inclusion rates and address potential anti-nutritional factors found in some agricultural wastes. Notably, adding these materials to ruminant diets results in 10%-30% reductions in feed costs and improvements of 5%-20% in key performance metrics, such as weight gain and milk production. These findings highlight the economic and sustainability benefits of utilizing agricultural BPs in livestock feeding practices. This review emphasizes the necessity of developing innovative and sustainable feeding strategies that leverage agricultural waste, calling for interdisciplinary approaches that combine animal nutrition, agronomy and environmental science. By adopting these practices, the livestock sector contributes to food security while minimizing its ecological footprint. Future research focuses on innovative processing techniques, effective management of anti-nutritional factors, and assessing long-term impacts on animal health and productivity. Additionally, examining the nutritional and health aspects of commonly used BPs, such as pomegranate, grape, pistachio, saffron, raisin, olive and tomato, is essential for fully understanding their potential in ruminant nutrition and guiding the development of targeted feeding strategies.

Insight into the chemical composition, antioxidant capacity, meat quality, fatty acid profile, and volatile compounds of yellow-feathered chickens fed with fermented pineapple residue

This study aimed to evaluated the effect of dietary fermented pineapple residue (FPR) on the chemical composition, antioxidant capacity, meat quality, fatty acid profile, and volatile compounds in yellow-feathered chickens. GC-IMS technique combined with multivariate analysis were performed to clarify the key volatile compounds. The results showed that dietary FPR improved meat quality by increasing the antioxidant capacity and pH value and decreasing cooking loss of breast muscle. The fatty acid profile was altered in breast muscle of chickens that fed with FPR. GC-IMS detected 43 volatile compounds in breast muscle, including mainly aldehydes, alcohols, esters, and ketones. Among them, 12 volatile compounds could serve as potential aroma markers to distinguish meat flavor of chickens fed with FPR. Correlation analysis revealed that C18:1n9c, C18:2n6, and PUFA are important contributors for meat flavor formation. In conclusion, dietary FPR improved antioxidant capacity, meat quality, fatty acid profile, and volatile compounds of breast muscle in chickens.

Selected fruit pomaces: Nutritional profile, health benefits, and applications in functional foods and feeds

The utmost objective of every nation is to achieve zero hunger and ensure the health and well-being of its population. However, in impoverished nations, particularly in rural areas, such issues persist on a daily basis. Currently, there is a growing demand for fruit consumption due to their potential health benefits. Surprisingly, their most prevalent by-product is pomace, which is produced in millions of tonnes and is usually discarded as waste after processing or consumption. Even food produced with these kinds of raw resources can contribute to the objective of eradicating world hunger. Owing to these advantages, scientists have begun evaluating the nutritional content of various fruit pomace varieties as well as the chemical composition in different bioactive constituents, which have significant health benefits and can be used to formulate a variety of food products with notable nutraceutical and functional potential. So, the purpose of this review is to understand the existing familiarity of nutritional and phytochemical composition of selected fruit pomaces, those derived from pineapple, orange, grape, apple, and tomato. Furthermore, this article covers pre-clinical and clinical investigations conducted on the selected fruit pomace extracts and/or powder forms and its incorporation into food products and animal feed. Adding fruit pomaces reduces the glycemic index, increases the fibre content and total polyphenolic contents, and reduces the cooking loss, etc. In animal feeds, incorporating fruit pomaces improves the antioxidant enzyme activities, humoral immune system, and growth performance and reduces methane emission.

Effects of dietary supplementation of fermented Artemisia argyi on growth performance, slaughter performance, and meat quality in broilers

Artemisia argyi (AA) is promising as a potential feed additive. Microbial fermentation is beneficial to the degradation of cell walls and the better release of bioactive compounds of AA. However, there are few reports on the application of fermented AA as a feed additive for broilers. The present study intended to evaluate the application value of fermented AA as a feed additive for broilers by examining the effects of the dietary supplementation of Aspergillus niger-fermented AA and unfermented AA on growth performance, slaughter performance, and meat quality of brokers. A total of 360 newly hatched (1-day-old) broilers with similar body weight were randomly divided into the following 5 groups: basal diet group as control (C) group, basal diet +3% unfermented AA (E1) group, basal diet + 1% fermented AA (E2) group, basal diet + 3% fermented AA (E3) group, basal diet + 5% fermented AA (E4) group. Each group included 6 replicates with 12 broilers per replicate, and the feeding trail lasted for 48 d. Body weight and feed intake were recorded every 2 wk, and the feed gain ratio was calculated to assess growth performance. At 42 d, 6 broilers from each group were slaughtered, and the carcass traits were calculated. The results showed that compared with the control group, Aspergillus Niger could effectively destroy AA fiber, which contributed to better release of AA bioactive compounds. Moreover, dietary supplementation with AA could improve the growth performance of broilers (P < 0.05), and the effect of fermented AA was better than unfermented AA, especially 3% fermented AA. From 28 to 42 d, compared with the control group, the average daily gain of broilers in the group supplementation with 3% fermented AA was significantly increased (P < 0.05), and the feed-to-gain ratio was decreased (P < 0.05). At 42 d, the dressing percentage, half-eviscerated carcass percentage, eviscerated carcass percentage, and breast muscle percentage of broilers in the groups of 1, 3, and 5% fermented AA diets were significantly improved (P < 0.05), and the thigh muscle percentage of broilers in the group with 3% fermented AA diets was significantly improved (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the meat quality of broilers in the group with fermented AA diets was also significantly improved. Birds in AA groups had higher a* value and lower shear force of breast muscle, especially the group supplementation with 3% fermented AA (P < 0.05). In conclusion, fermented AA has good application value as a potential feed additive for broilers, dietary supplementation of fermented AA can improve the production performance and meat quality of broiler chickens, of which 3% fermented AA is more effective.