Biofuel co-products as livestock feed - Opportunities and challenges, Technical summary
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Distillers grains (DG), a by-product of the alcoholic drink and beverages production, have been fed to livestock for several years, initially to pigs and dairy cows. The upsurge in the use of DG was spearheaded by the search for transport fuel other than that from fossil fuels, which in recent years has been supported by a large increase in research funding into the use of co-products. The co-products are the residues after extraction of the biofuel – ethanol or biodiesel. Currentl y, these coproducts are an important feed resource in over 50 countries, for ruminants, non-ruminants and fish. Biofuels contribute to the twin objectives of increasing fuel security and as a tool in the reduction of emissions of green house gases (GHG). As the majority of currently used feedstocks to produce biofuels are crops grown on agricultural land, the requirements for food, feed and fuel must be balanced so that the quest for biofuels does not result in an inflationary ri se in the cost, or shortage, of food or feed. This raises the question of second generation feedstocks from cellulosic sources, the use of crop residues and stubbles and woody material grown on marginal land with a minimum of resources, including irrigation. Also it raises the potential for promoting little-used feeds, from non-conventional feedstocks, of which some may require detoxifying to produce safe livestock feed. The co-products produced by the biofuel industry are disc ussed below in two main headings: a) produced along with the ethanol production, and b) produced along with the biodiesel production.