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Population growth in many countries results in increased demand for livestock production and quality products. However, beef production represents a complex global sustainability challenge, including meeting the increasing demand and the need to respond to climate change and/or greenhouse gas emissions. Several feed resources and techniques have been used but have some constraints that limit their efficient utilization which include being product-specific, not universally applicable, and sometimes compromising the quality of meat. This evokes a need for novel techniques that will provide sustainable beef production and mitigate the carbon footprint of beef while not compromising beef quality. Fossil shell flour (FSF) is a natural additive with the potential to supplement traditional crops in beef cattle rations in response to this complex global challenge as it is cheap, readily available, and eco-friendly.
Author and Year of Publication | Brief Methodology | Species | Country | Summary of Findings |
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Ikusika [29] | Twenty-four Dohne Merino rams were completely randomized and individually housed in pens for 90 days. Four different supplementation levels of FSF (0, 20, 40, and 60g/kg) were considered treatments for the rams. |
Sheep | South Africa | The average daily feed intake, body condition score, average daily weight gain (g), and coefficient of preference (CoP was evaluated as the proportion of diet consumed by an individual to all the diets’ standard intake) were significantly higher in rams supplemented with 60 g FSF/kg than the other treatments. The order of preference of diets supplemented with FSF in feed intake by Dohne Merino rams was: 60 g FSF/kg > 40 g FSF/kg > 20 g FSF/kg > 0 g FSF/kg. |
Ikusika [30] | Twenty-four wethers, weighing 20 ± 1.5 kg on average were fed dietary food-grade fossil shell flour in a completely randomized design of four treatments with six wethers in each treatment. The wethers were fed a basal diet without FSF addition (control, 0%), or with the addition of FSF (2%, 4%, or 6%) into the diet for 105 days. | Sheep | South Africa | Using fossil shell flour supplementation in the diets (2%, 4%, and 6%) improved dry matter intake, average daily weight gain, and body condition score as well as influenced feed preference and wool production and quality of Dohne–merino wethers. |
Emeruwa [31] | Sixteen rams (18.5 ± 1.05 kg) were allotted to four treatments: Tl (0% FSF), T2 (2% FSF), T3 (4% FSF), and T4 (6% FSF) in a twelve-week growth study. | Sheep | Nigeria | The inclusion of 2.0% fossil shell flour in the diet of West-African dwarf sheep improved dry matter intake and reduced weight loss during lactation, while the inclusion of 4.0% enhanced the daily weight gain. |
Adeyemo [27] | A total of 120-day-old broiler chicks were used for the experiment and randomly allotted to 5 treatments (T1—0.9%, T2—1.2%, T3—1.5%, T4—1.8%, and T5—0% inclusion levels, respectively). | Broiler chickens | Nigeria | Fossil shell inclusion had no significant influence on feed intake and feed conversion ratio but had a significant impact on weight gain. Values for feed intake and feed conversion ratio showed no significant differences (p > 0.05) among the treatment means. Results showed that for feed intake, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) observed, and all treatments had the same mean value. For feed: gain ratio, T4 had the highest value (2.91) while T1 had the lowest value (2.31). Weight gain, however, showed significant differences (p < 0.05) between T1 and T4 (1.30 and 1.03, respectively). Results for the finisher phase showed no significant differences (p > 0.05) and were observed for weight gain, feed intake, and feed–gain ratio. Values for feed–gain ratio showed that T4 had the highest value (3.10) while the control (T5) had the lowest value (2.06). However, T2 (4.39) and T5 (3.62) had the highest and lowest values, respectively for feed intake. Weight gain values showed that T1 (1.78) and T4 (1.36) had the highest and lowest values, respectively. |