Banana Silage: An Alternative Feed for Swine

The livestock sector is of crucial importance to the economies of states like Hawai‘i with limited opportunities, especially in terms of employment, incomes, and food security. Although the numbers of livestock producers in the state have remained relatively stable, the number of breeding animals has declined by 25% in the past 5 years (National Agriculture Statistics Survey 2012). Lack of feed availability and high cost of feed were considered major factors negatively affecting the overall livestock sector. The sustainability of livestock production depends, in large measure, on feed supplies. Feed is typically the largest single cost item in all forms of livestock production, running as high as 70 percent of total annual operating costs, and its cost is expected to continue rising (USDA 2012). Commercial swine diets are composed mainly of ingredients like corn, wheat, and soybean meal to meet the animals’ energy and protein requirements. However, market availability of these ingredients is variable, and cost is expected to increase continuously due to competition between food, feed, and fuel and feed ingredient’s limited production (USDA 2012). In Hawai‘i, due to limited land availability and a climate conducive to year-round plant pest and disease susceptibility, growing grains and other conventional animal feeds is not economically feasible. Livestock producers, therefore, either bear the expense of imported feed for their herds or are forced to go out of business. Thus, making animal feed using locally available byproducts will play a pivotal part in the survival of the livestock industry in Hawai‘i.