Nontraditional Feedstuffs as an Alternative in Poultry Feed

*Mohamed I. Alshelmani, Emhimad A. Abdalla, Ubedullah Kaka and Muhammad Abdul Basit*

### **Abstract**

Soybean meal and yellow corn are conventional feedstuffs used as the main ingredients in poultry feeds due to their high nutrients availability. On the other hand, these two feedstuffs are high in demand by other animals (soybean meal) and humans (yellow corn). By the year 2050, the world's population is expected to increase up to 9.1 billion. Global consumption of poultry products, such as meat or eggs is increasing predominantly in developing countries. Consequently, the global demand for poultry feedstuffs would increase. The availability of feedstuffs for poultry nutrition nowadays is becoming more competitive. Thus, food security, especially in the developing countries, would be threatened. Currently, efforts are being made to use alternative feedstuffs to substitute portion of soybean meal and yellow corn in poultry diets. This chapter discusses the alternative feedstuffs that can be incorporated in poultry feeds. In addition, the nutritive content and availability are examined as well as how to improve the nutritive quality of such nontraditional feedstuffs.

**Keywords:** alternative feedstuffs, insects, algae, poultry feed

### **1. Introduction**

Due to their high nutrients contents, soybean meal and yellow corn are conventional feedstuffs in poultry feeds. Moreover, these two feed ingredients are also high in demand by other animals (soybean meal) and humans (yellow corn). The global consumption of poultry products, such as meat or eggs, appears to be increasing in the developing countries. Therefore, the global demands of the main poultry feedstuffs would increase leading to higher cost of poultry production. Studies have shown that the world's population is expected to increase to 9.1 billion by the year 2050, [1]. This tremendous increase in population would produce competition in the available poultry feed ingredients for poultry nutrition. Furthermore, this increase in population will increase demand for poultry products. As a result, the availability of feed ingredients for poultry nutrition would become more competitive. In addition, there is an increasing trend to produce biofuel from feedstuffs, especially corn, to meet the demand all over the world. This further poses a serious food security risk, especially in the developing countries.

Currently, efforts are being made worldwide to use alternative sources of protein and energy to be substituted for soybean meal and yellow corn in monogastric animals such as poultry and swine. It is known that some developing countries produce a huge amount of alternative feedstuffs, considered as agro waste by–products

such as wheat bran, rice bran, cotton seed meal, copra meal and palm kernel cake. However, many of these agro waste by–products are featuring on presence of nonstarch polysaccharides (NSPs) such as xylan and mannan as well as anti-nutritional factors [2].

The NSPs are found to be the main reason for increasing the viscosity in the small intestine of the birds, and hence lead to increased moisture content of the excreta. Hence, the productivity and health status of the chickens could be affected [2]. Therefore, the inclusion of these agro waste by–products in poultry feed are limited. The nontraditional feedstuffs can be defined as those feed ingredients that have not been conventionally or commercially used in poultry rations. This chapter discusses the nontraditional feedstuffs with potential to be replaced partially or totally with soybean meal and yellow corn in poultry feeds.
