The use of Moringa oleifera in animal nutrition

Dear colleagues,

This week we have chosen an article that summarises the benefits of Moringa Oleifera in ruminant nutrition.

Moringa could be considered a multipurpose tropical tree used in agriculture, food and animal feed due to its wide range of benefits.

In relation to animal feed, moringa is not only a cheap source of protein, vitamins A, B and C, and minerals such as iron. It is also a good source of biogenic molecules such as pterygospermine, an interesting antimicrobial agent against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, and antioxidant molecules such as the flavonoids kaempferol and quercetin, which help animals cope with oxidative stress.

However, Moringa also has several anti-nutritional factors that could affect the productivity of monogastric animals, so without any special treatment it should be fed with care to pigs and poultry.

In summary, I believe that Moringa could be a functional and nutritional ingredient with great potential in animal feed, but more research is needed, especially regarding methods to reduce anti-nutritional molecules in order to increase the dosage in monogastric animals.

Enjoy the article.

Photo: Venkatx5, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons