Byproduct utilization in Egypt: A proposed strategy for the development of animal feed resources

A. R. Abou Akkada and A. M. Nour
Department of Animal Production
Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Egypt

Summary
Feed and animal resources in Egypt
Animal feed resources in Egypt

Summary

The shortage of animal feed resources and increasing cost of traditional animal feeds have stimulated the utilization of agro-industrial byproducts as feeds for ruminants. This paper sets out a strategy for the development of animal feed resources in Egypt for the year 2000 and discusses utilization of the available byproducts in improving the feed balance.

Feed and animal resources in Egypt

Recent studies on the development of the livestock population in Egypt (Table 1) indicate that the rate of annual growth of the national herds of buffaloes and cattle is about 1.7 and 1.4% respectively. During the period 1980-2000, the annual growth rate of sheep and goat and camel herds is expected to be 0.7 and 0.5% respectively. However, the number of non-ruminant herbivores is expected to decrease at a rate of 0.5% in accordance with Ministry of Agriculture plans calling for an increase in farm mechanization. The relative importance of livestock in Egypt is indicated in Table 2. The annual feed requirements are estimated in terms of total digestible nutrients (TDN) and total digestible protein (DCP) according to the National Research Council (NRC, 1970) standards which suggest 1500 kg of TDN and 140 kg of DCP for each animal unit. The annual feed requirements amount to 9.9 and 0.93 million t of TDN and DCP respectively (Table 3). The feed requirements of cattle and buffaloes account for 29% and 38% respectively of the total livestock feed budget in Egypt. It is also noted that 17% of the total requirements are consumed by non-ruminant herbivores. The modern approach of utilizing farm machinery in agricultural operations will certainly reduce the stress of non-ruminants upon the nutritional requirements of livestock. Table 3 shows the present and the projected nutritional requirements of the livestock population in Egypt by the year 2000. The requirements will increase from 9.9 million t of TDN and 927 000 t of DCP in 1984, to 12.2 million t of TDN and 1.1 million t of DCP by the year 2000.

Animal feed resources in Egypt

The domestic sources of raw materials in Egypt are shown in Table 4. Roughages contribute the major portion of all available feed resources and represent 78% of the TDN. Green fodder represents 70% of the TDN in the total roughages. Berseem contributes more than 56% TDN and 87% DCP of the total roughages.

Table 1. The development of livestock population in Egypt during 1976-1984.

Animal type	1976	1978	1980	1984
	Animal population ('000 head)
Cattle	2079	2587	2423	2782
Buffaloes	2226	2542	2009	2531
Sheep	1878	2554	2488	2479
Goats	1349	1440	2409	2387
Camels	101	93	126	146
Non-ruminants	1528	1685	1719	2239

Source: Central Department of Agricultural Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Cairo, 1984).

Table 2. Relative importance of livestock types in Egypt and the projected populations in the year 2000.

Animal types	Year 1984		Year 2000
	Total animal units ('000)	% of total population	Projected populations ('000 units)	Relative importance %
Cattle	1947.77	29.41	2500.87	30.85
Buffaloes	2531.13	38.22	3427.15	42.28
Sheep	495.85	7.49	561.80	6.93
Goats	381.94	5.77	432.74	5.34
Camels	146.21	2.21	159.81	1.97
Non-ruminants	1119.42	16.90	1024.17	12.63
Total	7081.32	100	8106.55	100

Source: Central Department of Agricultural Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Cairo (1984).

Table 3. Annual nutritional requirements of livestock in Egypt and the projected demand for animal feeds by the year 2000.

Livestock	Requirements ('000 tons)
	TDN	DCP
Cattle	2921.65	292.69
Buffaloes	3796.70	345.36
Sheep	743.77	69.42
Goats	572.91	53.47
Camels	219.33	20.47
Non-ruminants	1679.13	156.72
Total (for 1984)	9933.49	927.13
Demand by the year 2000	12159.82	1134.92

Table 4. Amounts and nutritive value of feeds for livestock in Egypt.

		Annual amounts ('000 t)	Nutritive value ('000 t)
			TDN	DCP
Roughages:
	Green	58998.33	5027.10	1125.82
	Dry	5133.30	2155.46	34.78
	Total	64131.63	7182.57	1160.10
Concentrates:
	Grains and seeds	1315.37	1063.31	74.07
	Byproducts	1635.00	1016.35	202.40
	Total	1950.37	2079.66	276.47
Total roughages and concentrates		-	9262.23	1436.58

All other green fodders play a limited role in animal feeding and contribute only 1.5% of the roughage energy. The total annual amount of straw produced in Egypt is about 5.5 million t. The annual concentrate production is in the order of 3 million t and represents only 22% of the TDN in Egypt. Byproducts from vegetable oil, cereal milling and rice polishing industries, together with sugar-cane molasses, represent the bulk of concentrates (50 and 7% of TDN and DCP respectively). About 14 million tonnes of non-traditional feeds (Table 5) could be used annually in Egypt.

Table 5. Potential non-conventional feeds in Egypt.

Crops	Annual production of field crops ('000 t)	Potential crop byproducts ('000 t)
Corn (stalks)	3450.98	3321.69
Corn (cob)	3450.98	576.00
Sorghum	647.32	867.19
Sugar-cane	10953.00	2000.00
Sugar beets	425.00	446.25
Rice (hulls)	2716.00	500.00
Cotton (stalks)	-	2285.00
Vegetables	7695.00	2308.50
Fruits	2712.00	1084.80
Total	-	13389.43

The projected supply of animal feeds during the period 1984-2000 is based on the following assumptions, which are included in the five year agricultural development plan:

* A 10% improvement in berseem production to be achieved through better management. Berseem production is expected to reach 55.7 million t in the year 2000:

* An increase in the area cultivated with summer green fodder in the valley from 90 000 feddans in 1981/82 to 135 000 feddans in 1986/87 and 250 000 feddans in the year 2000;

* An increase in the area cultivated with green fodder in newly reclaimed land from 110 000 feddans in 1981/82 to 478 000 feddans in 1986/87 and 600 000 feddans in the year 2000;

* An intensification of production of the main field crops such as wheat, corn, rice and cotton;

* An expansion in the production of soybean crops;

* Maximum utilization of non-conventional feeds in the formulation of balanced livestock rations.

Based on these assumptions, it is expected that roughages will provide livestock with 11.1 and 1.5 million t of TDN and DCP respectively by the year 2000 (Table 6) and 0.430 million t of TDN and DCP.

Table 6. Projected supply of feeds for livestock by the year 2000.

		Projected amounts ('000 t)	Nutritive value ('000 t)
			TDN	DCP
Roughages:
	Green	94733.03	8265.14	1477.72
	Dry	6104.00	2278.47	22.19
	Total	100837.01	11043.61	1499.19
Concentrates:
	Grains	3013.00	2446.98	170.88
	By-products	2184.45	1359.53	259.02
	Total	5197.45	3806.51	429.90
Total projected feed supply		-	14850.12	1929.09

Roughages are expected to account for 74.4% of the total projected supply of energy (TDN) in the year 2000. Green fodder is also expected to represent 79.9% and 59% of the projected supply of energy in the roughages and the total feed resources respectively. Summer green fodders will account for 28.2% of the energy supply in the total green fodders. The locally produced concentrates are expected to provide about 26% of the projected supply of energy in the feed resources of Egypt.

Due to expected improvements in the production of the main field crops, vegetables and fruit, the unconventional feeds are expected to increase to about 16 million t. Assuming that the availability of these non-traditional feeds will be in the order of 40%, the expected available energy will amount to 3.3 million t in the year 2000 (Table 7).

Table 8 shows a comparison between projected demand and supply of animal feeds. The supply is expected to cover only 84.4% and 88.8% of the demand for TDN and DCP respectively in the year 2000. It seems that the use of non-traditional feeds in the formulation of livestock rations will be the major solution to the deficit of the feed balance in the future.

Table 7. Projected supply of non-conventional feeds.

Feed	Projected annual production ('000 t)	Projected amount available for feeding ('000 t)	Nutritive value ('000 t)
			DCP	TDN
Corn stalks	4135.68	2067.84	20.68	827.14
Sorghum stalks	1145.30	572.65	5.73	229.06
Corn cobs	732.36	439.42	4.39	197.74
Bagasse	3874.50	1356.07	13.56	476.63
Sugar beet residues	1224.00	1224.00	48.96	550.80
Rice hulls	571.86	457.49	4.57	114.37
Vegetable residues	3204.00	1281.60	64.08	576.72
Fruit residues	1500.40	600.16	24.01	270.07
Cotton stalks	2514.00	502.80	2.51	75.42
Total	16390.61	8502.03	188.49	3315.94

A national programme for 1984-1988, sponsored by the National Academy of science, is being carried out by the University of Alexandria, Ain Shams, Mansoura, Cairo and the Ministry of Agriculture in order to study the following aspects of the utilization of non-conventional feeds in the formulation of balanced livestock rations:

* A survey of unconventional feeds of economic importance;

* Methods of improving the nutritive value and palatability of non-traditional feeds;

* Formulation of balanced, integrated livestock rations based on the use of non-conventional feeds. Some balanced rations are now being used in a pilot test conducted jointly at village level by the extension service of the Ministry of Agriculture, Alexandria University;

* Additives and supplements required to make up for deficiencies in rations based on non-conventional feeds;

* Economics of the use of various non-traditional feeds in the formation of balanced livestock rations.

Table 8. Projected feed balance without or with non-conventional feeds by the year 2000 in Egypt.

	Animal requirements ('000 t)			Feed resources ('000 t)
	DCP	TDN		DCP	TDN
A. Without non-conventional feeds
Livestock	1134.92	1215.82	Roughages	1499.92	11499.30
Poultry	1038.06	5972.36	Concentrates	429.90	3806.51
Total	2172.97	18132.18	Total	1929.82	15305.82
Balance				-243.16	-2826.26
Self-sufficiency %				88.8	84.4
B. With non-conventional feeds
			Roughages	1499.42	11499.30
			Concentrates	429.90	3806.51
			Non-conventional	188.49	3979.13
			Total	2118.32	19284.95
Balance				-54.6	1152.77
Self sufficiency %				97.5	106.4