TY  - JOUR
AU  - Muzzo, Bashiri Iddy
AU  - Provenza, Frederick D.
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/04/03
TI  - Phytochemically Rich Food-System By-Products in Ruminant Diets: Nutritional and Health Benefits from Animals to Humans within a Circular Bioeconomy
JO  - Recent Progress in Nutrition
SP  - 004
VL  - 06
IS  - 02
AB  - Food-system by-products (FSBP), including agricultural by-products, agro-industrial co-products, and food-processing residues, represent an underused source of nutrients and plant secondary compounds with significant potential in ruminant feeding systems. This review synthesized 96 peer-reviewed studies published between 2000 and 2025 on phytochemically rich FSBP in ruminant diets, focusing on composition, rumen fermentation, animal health and performance, product quality, and environmental outcomes. Across the studies, many FSBP were enriched in polyphenols, tannins, and other bioactive phytochemicals that can function as natural plant extracts in ruminant diets. When appropriately incorporated into feedlot and other high-concentrate systems, FSBP can modulate rumen fermentation, improve nitrogen use efficiency, attenuate oxidative and inflammatory stress, and exert antimicrobial, antiparasitic, and anthelmintic properties, thereby supporting immune function, animal health, and productive performance. These same health-related properties may also be reflected in animal products such as milk and meat. In particular, polyphenol-rich FSBP can modify fatty acid profiles, enhance antioxidant capacity, and increase the abundance and diversity of bioactive metabolites in these products, with potential implications for human nutrition and related health benefits. Emerging evidence supports biologically plausible biochemical linkages from plants, through animals, to humans, through which these functional properties may propagate along the food chain. Effective use of FSBP requires careful matching of fiber, protein, and phytochemical characteristics to ration composition, calibration of inclusion levels to avoid adverse effects on intake or digestibility, and processing methods such as drying, ensiling, or fermentation to stabilize composition and, in some cases, enhance bioavailability of key compounds. In intensive ruminant systems, these strategies may also reduce reliance on selected synthetic production inputs, mitigate methane and nitrogen emissions, improve life-cycle resource efficiency, and reduce competition for human-edible feed ingredients. Overall, phytochemically rich FSBP represent a promising pathway to enhance ruminant health and product quality, and to deliver downstream nutritional and health-related benefits while valorizing food-chain residues within a circular bioeconomy.
SN  - 2771-9871
UR  - https://doi.org/10.21926/rpn.2602004
DO  - 10.21926/rpn.2602004
ID  - Muzzo2026
ER  -