Fermentation of agro-industrial by-products as a strategy to obtain quail feed additives

Agro-industrial activity in Mexico generates a significant amount of vegetable by-products (37.5 Mt, estimated production), which are generated during the processing of harvested fruits. These agro-industrial by-products are an essential source of nutrients and bioactive compounds that can be reevaluated. In this manuscript, the findings of different investigations are reviewed, in which the use of solid-state fungal fermentation (SSF) for the recovery of compounds from agro-industrial by-products with possible use as ingredients in quail feed is evaluated. Concerning the chemical composition of agro-industrial by-products will depend on the plant species, anatomical region (peel, pulp, and seed), and processing conditions (fresh or dry). These by-products have bioactive components, such as enzymes, vitamins, organic acids, pigments, and phenolic compounds (phenolic acids and flavonoids). As an alternative to conventional and unconventional extraction methods, SSF is a novel method for recovering bioactive components from agro-industrial by-products of crops, such as apple, wheat, corn, cassava, rice, potato, pomegranate, blueberry, chickpea, and orange. The bioactive components recovered by SSF are an alternative with potential use as additives for quail feed.