Plant By-products Transformed Into Animal Feed
SPAIN - Basque Country's AZTI-Tecnalia has proven the viability and nutritional value of feed from plant products that are currently managed as waste. These residual products (fruit, vegetables, potatoes, coffee and bread etc.), when no longer used on a commercial scale, can be processed into animal feed, according to a group of researchers.
1 March 2013
1 minute read
A significant portion of approximately 25,000 tonnes of vegetable by-products end up in landfills, where they are managed as waste. According to Spanish agency Sinc, in order to make use of these products, AZTI-Tecnalia has initiated the "Clean Feed" project, which just completed its second phase.
After identifying the materials that can be processed, technicians tested different technologies for drying and processing the vegetable by-products into animal feed. About 70 per cent of the 25,000 tons that are currently treated as waste could be converted to feed.
In addition to environmental value, the project will strengthen the feed sector by developing new quality feed, the group said.
The project is aimed towards reducing use of feed grains such as soybeans and wheat, which are raw materials with highly fluctuating market prices and are not of local origin, since they come mostly from South America.
The plant byproducts AZTI-Tecnalia has selected for the project are fruit and vegetable remains , remains of potato, husks from coffee roasters, bread crumbs, apple pulp and residual products from wineries.
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