Use of enzymes to increase the nutritional quality of animal meal for feed production

Abstract

The continued growth of the food industry results in a large amount of animal slaughterhouse waste. The processing of this meat results in a huge amount of co-product. The large amount of waste produced besides being a great loss of material with great potential for reuse in the productive chain, also causes serious management problems, both economic and environmental. One of the residues generated is animal meal (FOA), an ingredient rich in proteins, minerals and energy source in rations of monogastric animals. The use of enzymes becomes an interesting strategy because they can make FOA an ingredient of greater nutritional value. Enzyme supplementation benefits the digestion and absorption of the ingredients, and their addition in animal meal can improve the nutritional quality of the rations and, consequently, the performance of the chickens. This review presents a discussion on enzymes useful for animal nutrition, especially the proteases used in the hydrolysis of protein residues, such as FOA.