Alternative Feeds for Ruminants: Sustainability and Nutritional Innovation

Dear Colleagues,

The livestock industry currently faces a critical turning point. With the rising costs of traditional grains and increasing pressure to reduce the environmental footprint of animal agriculture, the search for sustainable nutritional alternatives has never been more vital. Ruminants possess the unique biological capacity to convert non-competitive, fibrous biomass into high-quality protein, making them central to a bio-circular economy.

This Special Issue aims to gather original research and comprehensive reviews that explore the nutritional, economic, and environmental viability of non-conventional feed resources. As the journal focuses on advancing sustainable livestock production, this issue specifically seeks to address how alternative feeds—ranging from agro-industrial by-products to novel forages—impact rumen fermentation, animal performance, and methane mitigation. We intend to provide a definitive resource that bridges the gap between laboratory discovery and practical farm application.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

• By-product Valorization: Utilizing DDGS, fruit pomace, fruit peel, and brewery residues.
• Novel Forages: Evaluating drought-resistant shrubs and halophytes.
• Methane Mitigation: The role of seaweeds and bioactive plant extracts.
• Circular Economy: Integration of insect meal or food waste in ruminant diets.
• Other feed additives availability: Microbial, Prebiotics, Synbiotics

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Suban Foiklang
Dr. Anusorn Cherdthong
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.