Net food production of different livestock: A national analysis for Austria including relative occupation of different land categories / Netto-Lebensmittelproduktion der Nutztierhaltung: Eine nationale Analyse für Österreich inklusive relativer Flächenbeanspruchung

Abstract

Summary The discussion on the role of livestock in human food security is often controversial. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the net contribution of different livestock to human food protein and energy supply. Furthermore, the proportions of feed protein and feed energy derived from different land categories were estimated. National data from 2011–2013 for the main Austrian livestock categories (cattle, dairy cows, growing-fattening bulls, swine, broiler chickens, laying hens, turkeys, sheep, and goats) were used in this case study. Cattle were the only species that were net contributors to both the human protein and energy supply. When accounting for the differences in protein quality between human-edible plant inputs and animal products, not only cattle, but also laying hens, sheep, and goats increased the value of protein available for human consumption. Except for growing-fattening bulls, about 50% of the feed protein and energy for ruminants was derived from permanent grassland, which could otherwise not be used for human food production. The results of this study showed that depending on the production system, the transformation process of feed into food of animal origin results in either an increase or decrease of the available food for human consumption, but it always increases protein quality.

Estimation of human-edible protein conversion efficiency, net protein contribution, and enteric methane production from beef production in the United States

“…In our model, we include production parameters consistent with common beef cattle practices combined with the systems approach of Peters et al (2014) . In addition, we use methodology presented by Wilkinson (2011) and Ertl et al (2015b , 2016a , 2016b ) to estimate the NPC to the human food supply from various beef cattle production scenarios in the United States.…”

“…Intakes of all classes of beef cattle represented in the model system were estimated using equations from NASEM (2016) . Feedstuffs with nutrient compositions presented by NASEM (2016) were classified as edible, partially edible, or inedible using criteria according to Wilkinson (2011) and Ertl et al (2016b ; Table 1 ). Calculations of HeP f were conducted according to Ertl et al (2016b) .…”

“…Bywater and Baldwin (1980) redefined feed efficiency of livestock by accounting for human-edible proteins ( HePs ) and energies consumed and produced, and Ertl et al (2016a) built on Wilkinson’s (2011) work by accounting for quality of HeP and by predicting net protein contribution ( NPC ). Ertl et al (2016b) reported dairy cows and beef cattle to have the greatest NPC followed by poultry and swine.…”

Effects of increasing alfalfa (Medicago sativa) leaf levels on the fattening and slaughtering performance of organic broilers

“…Due to the limited capacity to digest fibrous (human-inedible) feeds, monogastric animals consume high proportions of feedstuffs (e.g. soy products) that directly compete with human food (Ertl et al, 2016). The replacement of human-edible feeds by human-inedible feeds greatly contributes to more sustainable livestock systems (Schader et al, 2015).…”

Evaluation of net protein contribution, methane production, and net returns from beef production as duration of confinement increases in the cow–calf sector1

“…Production parameters were consistent with common beef cattle practices combined with the systems approach of Peters et al (2014). Additionally, we used methodology presented by Wilkinson (2011), Ertl et al (2015Ertl et al ( , 2016a, and Baber et al (2018) to estimate the NPC to the human food supply from various beef cattle production scenarios in the United States. Humanedible protein conversion efficiency, digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS), protein quality ratio (PQR), and NPC were estimated for each sector and the entire system according to methods described in Baber et al (2018).…”