Advances in Sustainable Feed for Livestock: Impacts on Nutrition and Food Quality
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Nutrition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 97
Special Issue Editors
Interests: biotechnology; animal nutrition; food chemistry; food safety; food quality; meat; eggs; milk; broilers; layers; calf; nutrition; welfare
Interests: poultry nutrition; feed additives; by-products; nutritional quality; lipid quality of animal products; antioxidant status; food quality; functional foods
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
2. Integrated Center for Research, Development and Innovation in Advanced Materials, Nanotechnologies, and Distributed Systems for Fabrication and Control (MANSiD), Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 720229 Suceava, Romania
3. Mountain Economy Center (CE-MONT), “Costin C. Kiriţescu” National Institute of Economic Researches (INCE), Romanian Academy, 725700 Vatra Dornei, Romania
Interests: food rheology; food texture; antioxidant activity; food composition; bioactive compounds; functional foods; physical treatments
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The global intensification of livestock production has raised urgent concerns regarding environmental sustainability, resource competition, and food system resilience. Feed, representing a significant input in animal agriculture, is actively shaping both the environmental footprint of production systems and the nutritional quality of animal-derived foods. Conventional feed ingredients, such as cereal grains and soybean meal, are increasingly criticized for their contribution to deforestation, land and water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and competition with human food resources. Importantly, the feed composition also influences the nutritional profile, functional properties, and safety of animal products.
In response, sustainable feeding strategies are gaining popularity, aiming to reduce the environmental impacts while maintaining or enhancing animal performance and the quality of animal products. Innovations include the use of alternative feed resources such as agro-industrial by-products, food chain co-products, microalgae, insect meal, and microbial biomass, along with precision nutrition approaches and circular economy models. The current developments are increasingly being supported by system-level tools, including lifecycle assessments, nutrient modeling, and omics-based analyses.
This Special Issue will highlight recent advances in sustainable livestock feed, focusing on novel ingredients, physiological responses, and the impacts on product quality. By integrating animal nutrition, environmental science, and the quality assessment of animal products, this collection aims to bring together multidisciplinary perspectives that support the transition toward more resilient, efficient, and health-conscious livestock systems. All types of papers related to the topic will be considered.
Dr. Daniela-Mihaela Grigore
Dr. Petru Alexandru Vlaicu
Dr. Mădălina Ungureanu-Iuga
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- agro-industrial by-products
- macroalgae
- insect meal
- microbial biomass
- nutrition
- feed
- meat quality
- egg quality
- circular economy
- environmental sustainability
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