Functional enzymes for animal feed applications.

The great demand for animal feed additives is directly proportional to the increased world human population. Such increase in demand has inspired scientists to look for alternatives to traditional feed additives in order to cope with the increased requirements in animal feeds which ultimately enter the human food chain. Antibiotics have been used traditionally as animal feed additives for their various beneficial effects. However, their application has been recently banned after discovering several potential side effects, which will ultimately enter the human food chain, resulting in many health problems. In addition to probiotics and prebiotics, functional enzymes are considered to be one of the major sources for non-traditional feed additives, and they have been intensively investigated in the last two decades. This chapter highlights the application of different functional enzymes as animal feed additives. Moreover, the different groups of phytases and xylanases will be discussed in detail for their role as feed additives, including their characterization as well as their microbial production and application.