The Role of Insect-Based Feed in Mitigating Climate Change: Sustainable Solutions for Ruminant Farming

Abstract

There has been an unprecedented demand for livestock production due to factors such as the ever-increasing population, limited resources (land, water, feed, etc.), and changing human lifestyles. Moreover, due to the interconnected nature of the world's biodiversity crisis, pollution, and climate change, environmental sustainability is going to play a pivotal role in addressing these pressing issues. Because of their high nutritional value and environmental benefits compared to conventional livestock feeds, insects as animal feed have demonstrated great potential for long-term sustainability. The current state of the IBF application on ruminants is presented in this review, together with its challenges, future direction, and strength-weakness-opportunity-threat analysis. The results from many studies on ruminants have demonstrated that insect nutrients-primarily amino acids, protein, and fat-are highly digestible, safe, and beneficial to ruminant health and productivity. Additionally, they do not harm the ruminant fermentation and microbiota, even having the benefit of possibly lowering ruminant farms' well-known methane emissions. Nevertheless, concerns continue to arise because this method is still relatively new and there is a lot of unexplored knowledge; as a result, regulation is not yet well established globally, which is a barrier to its implementation.

Keywords: alternative feeds; climate change mitigation; insects; sustainable livestock farming.

Figure 1

Total greenhouse gas emissions attributed to livestock production by regions in million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO₂e) [23].

Figure 2

Comparison between the mineral composition of insect protein and conventional protein meals. Calcium (Ca); phosphate (P); potassium (K); sodium (Na); magnesium (Mg); iron (Fe); manganese (Mn) [31].

Figure 3

SWOT analysis of insect-based feed for sustainable livestock farming.