Biochar as a Novel Feed Additive for Ruminants

Abstract

Prosperity of animal husbandry depends on good husbandry practices including scientific feeding, encompassing macro-and micronutrients as well as additives/supplements. Biochar is a novel, relatively less-explored additive, produced through pyrolysis of biomass at temperatures of around 700 °C with no or low oxygen levels. The quality of biochar is determined by its primary biomass source, residence duration, and temperature during pyrolysis that ultimately affect its physico-chemical properties such as elemental composition, surface area, porosity, retention capacity, and overall applications. Of late, biochar, when included as feed additive, has shown the potential to improve the production performance and health of ruminants. In many studies, usage of biochar in rumi­nant rations at 0.5–3% has demonstrated to improve feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, immune response, carcass attributes, and overall quality of animal products. The mechanisms underlying these effects are based on the adsorption abilities in detoxifying mycotoxins in feed raw materials, regulating plant-produced toxins, having a high affinity for pollutants, and improving the populations of beneficial gut microorganisms in ruminants. Nevertheless, it appears that more research on the usefulness of biochar in animal production is needed due to some inconsistent findings in the published literature along with a focus on safety aspects and cost economics. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.