Biotechnology Turns "Waste" into "Green Feed"

The Application of Biological Feed Helps Develop Unconventional Feed Resources and Reduce Farming Costs

Biological feed has several benefits, including supplementing nutrition, promoting animal growth, preventing diseases, and improving the quality of animal products. Its application helps develop unconventional feed resources, lower breeding costs, conserve food, and mitigate the issue of competition between humans and animals for grains. Additionally, it can reduce the nitrogen and phosphorus emissions from animal manure, significantly reduce environmental pollution, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the animal feed industry. Moreover, it reduces antibiotic usage in livestock production, which is crucial for obtaining high-quality and safe animal products.

Recently, Luo Yuanfeng, head of the Agricultural Resource Protection and Utilization Department of the Agricultural and Rural Bureau of Changde City, Hunan Province, stated in an interview with Science and Technology Daily, "Rice straw cannot be burned, and if left to decompose in the fields, it can affect subsequent cultivation and cause pest and disease problems, becoming an 'ecological burden'." Changde has explored a new model for the industrial utilization of rice straw, turning the recycled rice straw into silage feed, transforming the "ecological burden" into "green wealth."

According to Xin Guochang, Deputy Director of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, "China's feed industry has developed rapidly, with continuous production growth, increasing concentration, and accelerated transformation and upgrading. However, it still faces challenges such as increasingly prominent resource constraints and quality and safety risks in some sectors. Promoting the development of biological feed is an inevitable direction and strategic move to ensure the high-quality development of the feed industry in the future."

Not Only Environmentally Friendly but Also Reducing Antibiotic Usage

The China Biological Feed Industry Market Research and "14th Five-Year Plan" Development Trend Research Report points out that biological feed refers to a new type of feed resource and feed additive that uses modern biotechnology, such as genetic engineering, protein engineering, enzyme engineering, and fermentation engineering, to develop safe, efficient, environmentally friendly, and residue-free feed. Biological feed includes fermented feed, enzymatic feed, microbial enzyme co-fermented feed, and biological feed additives.

Biological feed has a wide range of materials and is more cost-effective compared to specialized feeds. Additionally, biological feed is renewable. Its application helps develop unconventional feed resources, reduce farming costs, conserve grains, alleviate the competition between humans and livestock for food, reduce nitrogen and phosphorus emissions from livestock manure, significantly lower environmental pollution, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the animal feed industry. Moreover, it reduces the use of antibiotics in breeding, which is significant for ensuring the quality and safety of animal products.

In recent years, biological fermentation technology has shown good results in improving feed quality, increasing utilization efficiency, and promoting animal health. The market acceptance of biological feed products is increasing, and it has become a rapidly developing emerging industry.

For example, in ecological pig farming, Professor Wang Yizhen, Dean of the College of Animal Science at Zhejiang University, said, "Biological fermented feed is a type of bioactive feed containing probiotics and their metabolites. Microbial fermentation can improve the physicochemical properties of feed substrates and enhance the feed's digestibility and utilization. During the fermentation process, probiotics are cultured and can help maintain the intestinal microbial balance of pigs, improving their gut function and immune system, ultimately promoting better health and safe production of pigs." Therefore, the use of biological feed is an important measure to achieve healthy and green ecological pig farming, especially in the context of African Swine Fever, feed antibiotic bans, and environmental pressures.

Furthermore, biological feed can extend the agricultural industry chain, enhance the value chain, optimize the supply chain, and build an interest chain, thereby promoting the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors of the rural economy. This is a vital step to prospering the rural economy, increasing farmers' income, and advancing agricultural supply-side structural reform and rural modernization. Biological feed links upstream with crop farming, and downstream with livestock farming and the antibiotic-free animal products processing industry, greatly promoting the healthy development of farming and breeding industries.

Comprehensive Policies to Support the Development of the Biological Feed Industry

China attaches great importance to the development of the biological feed industry and has implemented a range of measures, including management systems and technical standards, to promote the industry's standardized and healthy development.

The first industry standard for biological feed, "Biological Feed Product Classification," was released on January 1, 2018. "General Technical Regulations for Fermented Feed" was released on September 7, 2018, which ended the chaotic market situation and ensured better product quality.

In 2020, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Animal Husbandry," which clearly proposed "accelerating the development and application of biological feed," providing guidance for the accelerated development of the biological feed industry. Since the revision of the "Regulations on Feed and Feed Additives Management" in 2011, three additional revisions have been made to the regulations.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, in accordance with the "Regulations," has promptly developed corresponding supporting rules and normative documents. To date, the Ministry has issued five departmental rules, 16 normative documents, and more than 600 national or industry standards, forming a relatively complete feed management system.

Local governments have also introduced policies to vigorously develop biological feed. For example, in 2009, the Guizhou provincial government issued the "Opinions on Developing and Utilizing Crop Straw Biological Feed to Promote the Good and Fast Development of Ecological Animal Husbandry in Our Province." The policy proposes that science and technology, agricultural departments, universities, research institutions, and leading enterprises actively introduce and digest advanced technologies, develop diversified straw biological feed utilization technology systems, accelerate biological feed R&D and application, and improve its nutritional value and utilization rate.

Future Opportunities and Challenges for Biological Feed

"Policy and standards establishment has played an important role in the standardization and healthy development of China's biological feed industry. As a result, the industry has developed rapidly, with annual production exceeding 4 million tons. Currently, there are over 1,000 companies in China engaged in the production of biological fermented feed. Fermented products such as fermented soybean meal, yeast cultures, fermented distiller's grains, and fermented mulberry leaves are showing stable growth trends and are widely used in the feed and livestock industries," said Professor Wang Yizhen.

It is expected that by 2025, the market share of biological feed products will reach 200 billion RMB per year, and the production and application technologies will significantly improve and be standardized.

The China Biological Feed Industry Market Research and "14th Five-Year Plan" Development Trend Research Report also noted that developing healthy, environmentally friendly, and efficient antibiotic substitutes is the future trend for the feed industry, and biological feed will play a crucial role in reducing antibiotics in the industry. As the livestock farming industry becomes increasingly large-scale and intensive, it will strongly promote the rapid development of the biological feed industry.

However, despite the promising future of China's biological feed industry, the overall R&D and industrialization levels still need improvement, and there are several issues that need to be addressed.

In terms of standardization, the industry urgently needs to establish specific product standards, quality testing methods, labeling standards, and biological feed additive standards. Regarding production and preparation, there is a need to improve strain performance, raw material formulation science, and product stability while reducing bacterial contamination. Additionally, more engineers skilled in large-scale production techniques are required. In application, understanding of the synergy and safety of animal and microbial nutrition still needs improvement, and nutrition databases and appropriate additive amounts need to be enhanced. In industry management, biosecurity and the safety early warning platform for biological feed evaluation need further strengthening.

Global Development of Biological Feed Technologies and Industries

Abroad, the research and development of microbial fermented feed began in the early 1960s, initially using raw materials such as cellulose-rich solid residues (rice straw, crop residues, and sugarcane bagasse). With technological progress, the development of biological feed has accelerated, and the variety of raw materials has expanded, with an increasing number of probiotic strains used.

In terms of biological feed usage, countries and regions like Europe and North America already have over 50% of their farms using biological feed. For example, more than 15% of pig farms in Germany use liquid biological feed, while in the Netherlands and Finland, over 60% of large-scale pig farms use biological feed.

In biological feed technology research, the number of related patents globally has risen sharply since 2012, marking a period of explosive growth in biological feed technology research.