**5. Nonconventional feed resources in poultry**

Over the years, there has been a massive rise in the consumption of chicken products, particularly poultry meat, and this trend is likely to continue. The developing world will account for a large portion of the rise in worldwide demand for chicken products [7]. The poultry industry's explosive growth has a substantial impact on the need for feed and raw materials. The demand for the four elements that make up conventional feed—maize, soybean meal, fishmeal, and meat meal—cannot be met, even with optimistic estimates. It is crucial to look into the use of locally available, alternative feedstuffs in feed compositions because it is predicted that the gap between local supply and demand for these traditional components will widen over the coming decades [8].

A wide range of alternative feedstuffs is available to all three poultry production systems. The semicommercial system and traditional family poultry systems (scavenging and backyard) hold the best possibility of properly utilizing these feeds. Only a portion of the feed requirement is met by commercial compounders; hence, the semicommercial technique allows for the mixing or dilution of purchased feeds with locally available, alternative feedstuffs. In local, low-input family poultry systems, alternative feeds can be used to supplement the feed foundation [9].

### **5.1 Nonconventional feed sources: Nontraditional feed resources**

The term "nonconventional feed resources" (NCFR) refers to all feeds that either are not typically utilized in commercially manufactured livestock rations or have not historically been used in animal feeding. NCFR generally includes a range of feeds derived from perennial crops as well as feeds with both animal and industrial origins [10]. Single-cell proteins, feed material made from agro-industrial byproducts of plant and animal origin, palm press fiber (an oil palm byproduct), pallet oil mill effluent, and other innovative sources of feedstuffs have all been referred to be NCFR. Common NFCRs include agricultural byproducts, cereal grains, citrus fruits, farmraised vegetables, and weeds that grow along the coastline [11].

### **5.2 Advantages of the nonconventional feedstuff**

Nonconventional feed resources offer the following common advantages to poultry: (1) These are unutilized tangible resources from production and consumption; (2) they can take the shape of a solid, slurry, or liquid and are primarily organic. Their economic worth is frequently quite low; (3) fruit wastes that have sugars, such as pineapple pulp and banana rejects, are much more advantageous energetically; (4) some of the NCFRs are great sources of fermentable carbohydrates, such as cassava and sweet potatoes; (5) the majority of feeds derived from crops are bulky, lowquality cellulosic roughages, suited for feeding to animals, with high crude fiber and proteins.

### **5.3 Factors affecting the use of nonconventional feed**

### *5.3.1 Nutrition-related aspects*

Although alternative feeds are the most affordable option, using them has certain drawbacks as well. First, the quantity and quality of their nutrients are variable and irregular. Information on the availability of nutrients is scarce. Antinutritional

elements may also be present in some of the feeds. They also require the addition of supplements while using them.

### *5.3.2 Technical factors*

Technically, nontraditional feed ingredients are not always available throughout the year. Such feeds are widely dispersed over the seasons of the year, and storage is costly. They are bulky for use, storage, and transportation due to their physical nature. Before using them, they need to be processed. There is a dearth of knowledge regarding their use in poultry digestion.
