The Probable Use of Genus amaranthus as Feed Material for Monogastric Animals

Abstract

This review presents, discusses, and provides a comprehensive understanding of the potential use of amaranth as feed for monogastric animals. Amaranth is an ancient nutritious crop that has been cultivated for multiple purposes. In America, Asia, and Africa, the leaves of amaranth species are used as vegetables. The change in climatic conditions globally has resulted in shortages of rainfall, unpredictable weather, and lack of inputs such as fertilizer. This has led to scarcity of protein sources in the market and instability in prices which makes it necessary to consider alternative ingredients in poultry, pigs, fish, and rabbits feed formulation. Amaranth is rich in fiber, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and phenolic compounds which have some health benefits in animals and can be used to improve productivity. It also contains anti-nutritional factors which can be reduced by several processing methods. Moreover, its use in monogastric nutrition is useful because amaranth has shown to improve monogastric productivity without having any adverse effect on animals’ productivity. Thus, from this review, it can be concluded that amaranth leaves and grains can be used successfully in monogastric animals though different processing methods which might need to be employed in order to reduce anti-nutritional factors before use in animals.

The Influence of Different Amaranth Leaf Meal Inclusion Levels on Performance, Blood Profiles, and Gut Organ Characteristics of Ross 308 Broiler Chickens

“…According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) ( 2 ), the demand for poultry feeds is increasing due to the high growth of commercial and smallholder poultry enterprises. Moreover, in the poultry sector, feed accounts for approximately 60–80% of the total cost ( 3 ), with fish and soybean meal used as the main protein sources. However, an increase in the world's population, together with the poultry sector growth, it fails to meet the increasing demand due to feed deficiencies and high costs ( 4 ).…”

Engineered Fungus Thermothelomyces thermophilus Producing Plant Storage Proteins

“…However, a small amount of Lys, an absence of Trp and many Leu make the amino acid (AA) composition of maize proteins (zeins) even more unbalanced [7]. Alternatively, Amaranthus hypochondriacus seed proteins, most of them being albumins, have the highest essential AA levels and balanced content [5,8,9]. The grain amaranth seeds contain an average of 13-19% crude protein (90% digestibility), with a high Lys and Trp content, 5.7-16.7% fat and 2.5-14% fiber, which are higher than most cereals.…”

“…The grain amaranth seeds contain an average of 13-19% crude protein (90% digestibility), with a high Lys and Trp content, 5.7-16.7% fat and 2.5-14% fiber, which are higher than most cereals. Moreover, the pseudocereals are gluten-free, which makes them attractive food and feed alternatives against coeliac disease and gluten sensitivity [9]. Overexpression of an amaranth seed albumin in tuber tissues of regular and sweet potatoes has improved a nutritional value of the transgenic plants [10,11].…”

Chemical Composition and Metabolomic Analysis of Amaranthus cruentus Grains Harvested at Different Stages

“…The potential value of climate smart crops, such as amaranth, in terms of their inclusion in animal and human diets is becoming more apparent as global demand increases. Amaranth is considered a highly nutritious food crop with excellent scope in terms of the nutritional value derived from both grain and leaves [ 11 ]. Most often, amaranth is used as feed for animals; however, its endowment with abundant secondary metabolites, such as flavonoids, alkaloids, phenols, vitamins and macro- and microelements as well as polyunsaturated fatty acids, also makes it an excellent plant for human consumption.…”