With the introduction of vegetable oil in the bio-fuel productive chain in Brazil, the increase in the demand of oleaginous plants is expected as well as the offer of the resulting vegetable fibers from the extraction of the oil. Considering the animal feeding as link between the biodiesel production and the livestock, we propose the study of the use of by-products of these enterprises in the feeding system seeking to increase the productivity and to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from the animals, generating carbon credits and assisting to the interest of the private initiative. The in vitro gas technique has been used at LANA-CENA/USP with the purpose of studying the effect of feeds containing secondary bioactive metabolites upon the ruminal fermentation and organic matter degradability (MOVD), as well as, in the study of methane production. The total substitution of the soybean meal for meals of cotton seed, palm oil, castor oil plant and jatropha provided less total gas production and the production of methane was affected significantly by the inclusion of the meals, with soybean meal presenting methane production of 15.3 mL/g MOVD. Literature data also show that meals from biodiesel production present appropriate nutritional characteristics for inclusion in the diet of ruminant, however, discerning studies of those materials while raw materials for animal ration are necessary to evaluate possible harmful effects due to the presence of bioactive metabolites. Through analyses of high resolution chromatography, those metabolites may be identified. The introduction of meals with high fat content in the diets of ruminant can aid in the mitigation of enteric methane, and the production of some oleaginous plants can contribute with the sequestering of carbon for the Cerrado soils in the recovery of pastures, reducing the need of deforestations
nutritional characteristics; mitigation of greenhouse gases; bioactive metabolites
