Potential of Agro-Food Residues to Produce Enzymes for Animal Nutrition

Abstract

The supplement of animal diets with hydrolytic enzymes could also improve the nutritional factors by removing antinutrients from diet or being applied as a predigestion process of animal feed to degrade materials such as cellulose and hemicellulose and increasing its digestibility and quality. Several agro-food wastes have been reported to be efficient as substrates to produce enzymes in the animal feed industry, which not only contribute to their management but also transformed them into value-added products. This chapter presents an overview of agro-food waste potential to produce enzymes useful as a supplement in animal feed, such as cereals straw, whey, fruit shells, and bagasse, among others. A description of several enzymes used in animal feed, their production by fermentation of residues, purification processes, and their perspectives are also presented.