Lower pork consumption and technological change in feed production can reduce the pork supply chain environmental footprint in China

Global pig production has increased by 140% since the 1960s. The increase in global population, coupled with improving socioeconomic conditions of many countries has led to an increased consumption of meat globally, including pork. To keep up with demand and capitalize on economic opportunities, the countries of China, the United States (US), and the European Union (EU) have become the top 3 pork producers globally. China is of particular interest, as it is the both the largest country in pork production and pig numbers, as well as being the largest importer of pork from other countries. Globally, the efficiency of pork production has improved, in relation to the integration of pig production and the dramatic increase in research efforts in pig nutrition and production. Through integration, large producers can consolidate resources and maximize profits and efficiency. The increased research interest and efforts in pig production have given scientists and producers the opportunity to collaborate to adapt to challenges and identify possible solutions to issues brought on by a volatile global market. Intestinal health (23%), general nutrition and growth (23%), and amino acid nutrition (15%) were the top 3 areas (61%) leading research trends in pig nutrition and production. Major dietary interventions with feed additives evaluated include functional amino acids, feed enzymes, pre-/pro-/post-biotics, and phytobiotics with a common goal to improve the growth efficiency by enhancing nutrient utilization and intestinal health. With increasing global issues with environment, pig producers and the supporting scientists should continue their efforts to improve the production efficiency and to reduce the environmental footprint from pig production.

Current status of global pig production: an overview and research trends.

Increasingly more studies are raising concerns about the increasing consumption of meat and the increasing amount of crops (cereals and oilseeds in particular) used to feed animals and that could be used to feed people. The evolution of this amount is very sensitive to human diets and to the productivity of feed. This article provides a 2050 foresight on the necessary increase in crop production for food and feed in three contrasting scenarios: diets with no animal products; current diets in each main region of the world; and the average diet of developed countries extended to the whole world. We develop empirical aggregate production models for seven world regions, using 43 years and 150 countries. These models realistically account for the contribution of feed from food plants (i.e. plants that would be edible for humans) and of grassland to animal products. We find that the amount of edible crops necessary to feed livestock in 2050 is between 8% and 117% of today's need. The latter figure is lower than that in comparable foresight studies because our models take into account empirical features occurring at an aggregate level, such as the increasing share of animal production from regions using less crop product per unit of animal product. In particular, the expected increase in animal production is estimated to occur mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, where the amount of feed from food crops required per unit of animal product proves to be lower than that in other areas. This 117% increase indicates that crop production would have to double if the whole world adopted the present diet of developed countries.

A global foresight on food crop needs for livestock

Livestock-associated -Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (LA-MRSA) contamination on pork has emerged as one of the major concerns worldwide. Combinations of natural plant extracts (NPEs) and food preservatives were tested for their anti-MRSA activities. The most effective combination was evaluated using texture profile, physicochemical analysis and sensory quality. The synergistic antibacterial mechanisms were examined using transcriptomic sequencing and electron microscope. Results showed that 1/8 minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) (−)-epicatechin gallate (ECG) + 1/16 MIC chitosan had the optimum inhibition on the growth of MRSA with FIC of 0.19. The combination extended the shelf life of pork from 5 to 7 d at 4 °C and from 36 h to 48 h at 25 °C based on MRSA challenge test. The combination effectively maintained the hardness, elasticity, cohesion, recovery, and chewiness of pork and delayed the process of spoilage, lipid oxidation, accumulation of free amino acid, and Met Mb of pork contaminated by MRSA. Synergistic antibacterial mechanisms may be associated with improved cell deformation (stickiness and slight shrinkage). Six differentially expressed genes, lrgB and LytM, clfA, icaB, and icaA and blaI were confirmed to be responsible for the synergistic antibacterial mechanisms. Combining ECG with chitosan may be useful food preservatives in the pork industry. 

The synergistic inhibition and mechanism of epicatechin gallate and Chitosan against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and the application in pork preservation

The implications of using co-products from the supply chains of human food and biofuels in pig diets for the environmental impacts of Canadian pig systems were examined using Life Cycle Assessment. The functional unit was 1 kg expected carcass weight (ECW) and environmental impacts were calculated as: Acidification Potential (AP), Eutrophication Potential (EP), Global Warming Potential (GWP), Nonrenewable Energy Use (NRE) and Nonrenewable Resource Use (NRRU). Maximum inclusion limits which would not negatively affect animal performance were defined for: meat meal (55), bakery meal (87), corn DDGS (261) and wheat shorts (291) (numbers in brackets represent average across all feeding phases in g/kg as fed). Nutritionally equivalent grower/finisher (G/F) diets containing maximum inclusions of these co-products were formulated individually. These diets were compared to a simple control diet based on corn and soya meal using 1000 parallel Monte-Carlo simulations. The maximum inclusion of meat meal reduced NRRU and NRE per kg ECW by 9% and 8% compared to the control (P  10% (P

Can the environmental impact of pig systems be reduced by utilising co-products as feed?

This paper reviews the changes in pork production in China, the largest pork producing and consuming nation in the world. The pork sector in China has changed dramatically since the 1990s, with large-scale intensive pork production systems replacing the former, exclusively family-based pork production systems. Modern breeding, feeding, vaccinating, and management technologies are widely used now. However, smallholders still account for a large proportion of the total production. The intensification and specialization of the pork sector is expected to continue in the future, but there is increasing awareness and 1 OVERVIEW OF THE PORK PRODUCTION SECTOR IN CHINA The pork production sector makes a vital contribution to the agricultural industry. With just over 18% of the global population, Chinese people consume nearly 50% of the total pork produced in the world (Fig. 1). The huge consumer demand for pork has greatly stimulated the pork production sector, especially in recent decades. Swine slaughter exceeded 660 million head per year some ten years ago, equivalent to an annual pork production of > 50 Mt (Fig. 2). However, with the impact of African Swine Fever in 2019, both swine numbers and pork production declined dramatically, with annual swine slaughter falling to 540 million head, and annual pork production to 43 Mt. In the first three quarters of 2020, this situation got even worse with the impact of COVID-19 with drops of 11.7% in swine stocks and 10.8% in pork production compared with 2019 (Fig. 2). Nevertheless, both the government and the industry have predicted a recovery of pork production after 2020, considering that pork consumption has continued to increase in recent years and has created substantial market potential. The per capita consumption of pork was about 20 kg in 2016 and nearly 23 kg in 2018, representing about 63% of the total meat consumption in China. By 2029, total annual pork production is predicted to exceed 60 Mt. Due to the rapid development of the pork production sector and poor management, incomplete regulation, and the spatial decoupling of crop and pork production systems, pork production has greatly increased environmental pollution, especially through the improper disposal of manures and slurries and waste of feed resources. Annual pig manure production exceeded 60 Mt in 2017, while the comprehensive utilization rate of pig manure is > 50%. The pork sector accounted for ~ 30% of total pollutants sourced from the animal husbandry industry, which is almost equivalent to the amount of pollutants originated from the whole industry. The main regions of pig production are the southwestern and northern areas of China and south of the Huaihe River. The top five provinces (Sichuan, Henan, Hunan, Shandong, and Yunnan) account for > 40% of the total pig manure production. In 2018, the average feed conversion ratio of fattening pigs was approximately 2.6:1, with feed consumption exceeding 195 Mt (Fig. 2), among which the consumption of corn exceeded 110 Mt and that of soybean exceeded 50 Mt. Crop residues were used as pig feed in the past but are now increasingly disregarded, and thereby contribute to environmental pollution and nutrient losses. © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) pressure to develop more environmentally-sustainable production systems. The relative shortage of domestically produced feed, the low utilization efficiency of feed ingredients, the large emissions of nitrogen and phosphorus to the environment, the high use of antibiotics, and the presence of residual metals in manures are very large challenges for the pork sector nowadays. To solve these problems, techniques including new feed resource utilization, precise feeding, low-protein diets, alternatives to antibiotics and increased manure recycling are all important topics and research directions today. With new techniques and management approaches, it is possible to build more sustainable pork production systems in China. Fig. 1 Key pork producers in the world in 2018 (data sourced from FAO). 16 Front. Agr. Sci. Eng. 2021, 8(1): 15–24

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Pork production systems in china: a review of their development, challenges and prospects in green production

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Pork production systems in china: a review of their development, challenges and prospects in green production