Sustainability in Animal Feed Production:Importance of LCA in feed ingredients

Improved Feed Efficiency

Enhancing feed conversion efficiency is a key approach to reducing the carbon footprint of animal production. By formulating balanced diets, optimizing nutrient utilization, and incorporating innovative feed ingredients, such as by-products or alternative protein sources, the overall carbon emissions per unit of animal product can be reduced.

Manure Management

Efficient management of animal waste, particularly manure, is vital for minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. Implementing anaerobic digestion systems or composting techniques can capture and utilize methane from manure, turning it into a renewable energy source while mitigating its impact on climate change.

Renewable Energy Integration

Utilizing renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, to meet the energy needs of animal production facilities can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Transitioning to clean energy sources helps decouple animal production from fossil fuel dependence and contributes to a more sustainable and low-carbon future.

Nitrogen and Phosphorus Waste Reduction:

• Precision Feeding: Implementing precision feeding practices, based on accurate nutrient requirements and advanced feeding technologies, minimizes excessive nutrient intake by animals. This approach reduces nitrogen and phosphorus excretion in manure, thus mitigating nutrient pollution and enhancing nutrient utilization efficiency.
• Nutrient Management Planning: Developing comprehensive nutrient management plans that consider the nutrient content of feed, manure handling practices, and field application rates can optimize nutrient cycling. By matching nutrient supply with crop demand, the risk of nutrient runoff into water bodies can be minimized, reducing the environmental impact of animal production.
• Advanced Manure Treatment Technologies: Employing advanced manure treatment technologies, such as anaerobic digestion, nutrient recovery systems, and composting, can help extract valuable nutrients from manure while minimizing nutrient losses. These technologies improve nutrient recycling and reduce the environmental impact of excess nitrogen and phosphorus in the environment.

As the environmental impact of agriculture receives increased attention, it becomes crucial to evaluate the sustainability of feed ingredients through comprehensive assessments. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) emerges as a valuable tool for analyzing the environmental footprint of ingredients used in animal feed production.

Understanding Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment is a systematic approach that evaluates the environmental impacts of a product or process throughout its entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal. In the context of animal feed production, LCA provides a holistic perspective by assessing the environmental burdens associated with feed ingredient cultivation, processing, transportation, and utilization.

Assessing Feed Ingredient Sustainability:

1. Carbon Footprint: LCA enables the calculation of carbon emissions associated with feed ingredient production, including direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. By quantifying the carbon footprint, we can identify high-impact ingredients and implement strategies to reduce emissions through improved sourcing, production techniques, and transportation methods.
2. Land and Water Use: LCA helps evaluate the land and water resources required for feed ingredient cultivation, including crop production and water consumption. This assessment allows us to identify ingredients with high land or water footprints and explore alternatives that are more resource-efficient, such as utilizing co-products or incorporating novel ingredients that require fewer resources.
3. Biodiversity and Ecological Impacts: LCA considers the potential impacts of feed ingredient production on biodiversity and ecosystems. By examining the use of pesticides, fertilizers, and land conversion, LCA helps identify ingredients with significant ecological footprints. This information can guide the selection of ingredients that minimize negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, promoting sustainable agricultural practices.

The increasing recognition of the environmental impact of swine feed within pork supply chains has led to the adoption of a multi-objective feed formulation approach in the global animal industry. This approach utilizes Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) environmental impact data for feed ingredients to formulate diets that are least-cost, nutritionally adequate, and have low environmental impacts. Several studies have highlighted the potential of this approach in improving the sustainability of animal production systems.

1. Integration of LCA Environmental Impact Data: The multi-objective feed formulation approach incorporates LCA data on the environmental impacts of different feed ingredients. LCA provides a comprehensive assessment of the entire life cycle of feed ingredients, including their production, processing, and transportation, enabling a more accurate understanding of their environmental footprints.
2. Least-Cost Formulation: The approach aims to formulate diets that meet the nutritional requirements of swine while minimizing costs. By considering both the nutritional composition and environmental impact of feed ingredients, the formulation process can optimize the feed composition, ensuring that the diet is economically viable.
3. Nutritionally Adequate Diets: Alongside cost considerations, the multi-objective feed formulation approach ensures that the formulated diets meet the nutritional needs of the animals. This includes providing the necessary macronutrients, micronutrients, and amino acids required for optimal growth and performance.
4. Low Environmental Impact Diets: By utilizing LCA data, the approach aims to select feed ingredients with lower environmental footprints. This involves considering the greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water consumption, and other relevant environmental indicators associated with each feed ingredient. By optimizing the composition of the diet based on this data, it is possible to reduce the overall environmental impact of swine feed.
5. Evidence-Based Decision Making: The integration of LCA environmental impact data into the feed formulation process allows for evidence-based decision making. This approach provides a quantitative basis for evaluating the trade-offs between nutritional requirements, cost considerations, and environmental impacts, facilitating informed choices in feed ingredient selection.

Study

Under this context a group of researchers set forth a study where they conducted an LCA of diets fed to growing-finishing pigs within the primary pig production regions in the U.S (Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Southwest). The assessed diets were corn and soybean meal-based, with or without DDGS inclusion. They also contained other feed additives like: synthetic amino acids, thermally-processed supermarket food waste, and phytase.

Materials and Methods

The feeding programs which were evaluated included:

1) standard corn-soybean meal (CSBM) diets

2) CSBM containing 15% corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS)

3) CSBM with 8.6% thermally processed supermarket food waste (FW)

4) low crude protein CSBM diets supplemented with synthetic amino acids (SAA), and 5) CSBM with
phytase(PHY) added at 600 FTU (phytase units)/kg of diet

Summary of the Results

• The corn dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), food waste (FW), and low protein-synthetic amino acid (SAA) diets had less estimated N and P excretion compared with corn-soybean meal (CSBM) diets, and the addition of phytase (PHY) to CSBM diets resulted in the greatest reduction in P excretion among feeding programs.
• Adding FW to diets resulted in the least overall greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and land use compared with all other feeding programs, and land use was less for the DDGS and SAA feeding programs than CSBM and PHY feeding programs.
• The Midwest had the least GHG emissions and land use impact compared with other regions, while the Southwest region had the greatest water consumption associated with feeding programs.

Final Considerations

Addressing the urgent need to reduce the carbon footprint and mitigate nitrogen and phosphorus waste in animal production systems is critical for global food security and sustainability. By implementing strategies such as improving feed efficiency, optimizing manure management, integrating renewable energy sources, and adopting precision feeding and nutrient management practices, we can reduce the environmental impact of animal production while ensuring efficient resource use. Embracing integrated farming systems and conservation practices further enhances sustainability, biodiversity, and resilience.

Life Cycle Assessment of ingredients used in animal feed production is a vital tool in promoting sustainability and responsible resource management. By quantifying the environmental impacts associated with feed ingredient production, LCA guides the selection of ingredients, optimization of processes, and transparent reporting within the supply chain. Integrating LCA into feed production systems enables the industry to minimize its environmental footprint.

These collective efforts contribute to a more sustainable, climate-smart, and environmentally responsible animal production sector that supports the long-term well-being of our planet and future generations.

You may also like to read: “Precise nutrition is essential for an efficient and sustainable production.”

Source: This abstract was taken and modified from the original cited article: “Gerald C Shurson and others, Environmental impacts of eco-nutrition swine feeding programs in spatially explicit geographic regions of the United States, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 100, Issue 12, December 2022.”