Enzymes in the Animal Feed Industry

Presently livestock keepers require more competent exploitation of low-quality feedstuffs due to rising economic pressures. The animal's digestive system is not fully efficient. Swine and poultry cannot digest approximately one fourth of the diet they are fed because the feed ingredients contain undegradable harmful factors that hinder the digestive process and/or the animal is devoid of the necessary enzymes needed to degrade certain complexes in the feed. Supplementation of feed with enzymes enhances its nutritive value, thereby increasing the effectiveness of digestion. Animal feed enzymes help break down indiscriminating factors (e.g., fiber, phytate) that are naturally occurring in various feed ingredients. Indiscriminating factors may result in decreased meat or egg production and inferior feed efficiency, and can cause digestive disturbances as well. Exogenous enzymes are mainly added to enhance the accessibility of nutrients from feed ingredients. The animal feed industry uses enzymes that degrade crude fiber, starch, proteins, and phytates, and being proteins, they are eventually digested or excreted by the animal, having no residual effect on products like meat or egg. Feed enzymes enhance the competence of meat and egg production by improving the nutrient utilization and reducing animal excreta/waste.