Opportunities, Constraints and Future Implication of Biotechnology in Animlal Feed Improvement

The major cause of poor livestock productivity in tropical regions of the world is inadequate nutrition. The shortage of feed in most developing countries and the increasing cost of feed constituents entail that there is a call for to improvement feed utilization strategies in developing countries. Animal feeds and feeding practices can be enhanced by biotechnology to develop better animal nutrition packages in smallholder and commercial production systems as well as to reduce environmental waste. Roughages are the major diets of farm animals, particularly ruminants in the tropics; hence, improving the nutritive value of such kind of feed is very important for best utilization. Among application of biotechnology, roughage improvement using a non-toxic fungus has been practiced in many countries. The white rot fungi have been used especially because of their ability to delignify the plant material. The other application of biotechnology is to produce genetically modified fodder crops of vast benefits to consumers as well as environment like that of food crops. Another area of nutritional biotechnology is the successful attempt in the use of genetically modified micro organisms to enhance rumen fermentation and thereby increase nutrient availability to the host animal. The ultimate goal of using biotechnology in animal feeds and feeding systems is then to improve the plane of nutrition through the use of enzymes to improve the availability of from feed and to reduce the wastage of the feed. Though application of biotechnology has various opportunities, it is not easily expanded due to prevailing environmental and social constraints of developing countries in the tropics.