The Application of Biotechnology on Livestock Feed Improvement

Biotechnology has a role on animal feed improvement in three main ways, those are: value-addition to forage used as animal feed, production of feed additives and the manipulation of rumen microbes to improve feed utilization. Know a day; there is shortage of animal feed in most parts of the world, and an increasing in the price of feed ingredients, which is an indicative of improving feed utilization. The developing world accounts majority of the world’s human population. Due to this fact, biotechnology has a key role in livestock feed improvement in order to fulfill the requirements of animals as well as human beings. Many of the biotechnological techniques can be employed in the area of quality assurance programs, which would be of great importance to produce livestock products of assured quality and public health safety. Monogastric animals, like pig and poultry, are unable to digest poor quality feeds unlike ruminant animals. Such animals need biotechnology to improve the nutritive value of poor-quality feed and its ability to digest fibers. As a result, the productive and reproductive performance of those livestock used biotechnological feeds become higher. Therefore, the objective of this review is to investigate the role or application of biotechnology on livestock feed improvement.

Keywords: Biotechnology; Livestock; Feed improvement; Rumen microbes; Monogastric animals