Researchers from the Don State Technical University (DSTU) have proposed the use of essential oil plant processing waste as a useful additive to livestock feed for birds. The scientists’ work was published in the journal Agriculture.
Prebiotics are substances that promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut. Their presence provides high immunity and stress resistance. However, they are now rarely used in livestock – a source for their cost-effective production is difficult to find.
One of the researchers, Dmitry Rudoy, Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Industry at DSTU, said that scientists studying plant wastes of various agricultural industries in southern Russia managed to simultaneously find three products whose cakes have high prebiotic properties. .
Wastes from the processing of mustard, camelina and lavender increase the acid-forming properties of lactic acid bacteria. The high acidity of the intestinal environment leads to a decrease in the number of enterococci, E. coli and lactose-positive bacteria, the excess of which is dangerous for chickens.
According to Rudoy, the direct economic benefit of using at least four tons of cake in animal feed will be about one billion rubles per year. Mustard, camelina and lavender account for 30-40% of the processing waste of all essential oil crops in Russia, with a total volume of about 38 thousand tons per year. At the same time, the scientist emphasized that most of the cake today is simply thrown away.
Source: Ferra
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