Concerning the increasing global demand for food and accumulation of huge amounts of biomass waste from the agro-food industry whose manipulation is usually inadequate, the potential of livestock to convert by-products as alternative feed ingredients into valuable proteins has been proposed as an outstanding option. Soybean molasses present a by-product of soybean protein concentrate production with low commercial cost but high nutritive and functional value. It is a rich source of soluble carbohydrates in the form of sugars and soybean phytochemicals. Therefore, this paper provides a review of published works about the production of soybean molasses, chemical composition, and nutritive value. In addition, the possibility of the application of soybean molasses in animal nutrition as a pelleting aid and functional feed ingredient is also discussed. Special attention is devoted to the influence of the inclusion of soybean molasses in the diets for ruminants, non-ruminants, and aquaculture on animal performance and health.

A digestibility trial was conducted with African catfish hybrid juveniles in order to determine the apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) of different nutrients. The experimental diets contained defatted black soldier fly (BSL), yellow mealworm (MW), or fully fat blue bottle fly (BBF) meals, in a 70 : 30 ratio between the control diet and the tested insect meals. The indirect method for the digestibility study was performed using 0.1% yttrium oxide as an inert marker. Fish juveniles of initial weight were distributed in 1 m³ tanks (75 fish/tank) of a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), in triplicates, and fed until satiation for 18 days. The average final weight of the fish was . The ADCs of the dry matter, protein, lipid, chitin, ash, phosphorus, amino acids, fatty acids, and gross energy for the test ingredients and diets were calculated. A six-month storage test was carried out to evaluate the shelf life of the experimental diets, while the peroxidation and microbiological status of the diets were also assessed. The ADC values of the test diets differed significantly ( ) compared to those of the control for most of the nutrients. Altogether, the BSL diet was significantly more digestible for protein, fat, ash, and phosphorus than the control diet but less digestible for essential amino acids. Significant differences were found between the ADCs of the different insect meals evaluated ( ) for practically all nutritional fractions analyzed. The African catfish hybrids were able to digest BSL and BBF more efficiently than MW, and the calculated ADC values agreed with those of other fish species. The lower ADCs of the tested MW meal correlated ( ) with the markedly higher acid detergent fiber (ADF) levels present in the MW meal and MW diet. Microbiological evaluation of the feeds revealed that mesophilic aerobic bacteria in the BSL feed were 2–3 orders of magnitude more abundant than those in the other diets and their numbers significantly increased during storage. Overall, BSL and BBF proved to be potential feed ingredients for African catfish juveniles and the shelf life of the produced diets with 30% inclusion of insect meal retained the required quality during a six-month period of storage.

This study delved into the impact of two extrusion processing parameters—screw speed (SS at 400, 600, 800 RPM) and material moisture content in the extruder barrel (M at 12, 15, 18%) at constant feed rate (50 kg/h)—on reducing the content of alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), tenuazonic acid (TeA), and tentoxin (TEN) in whole-grain red sorghum flour. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography combined with a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS/MS) was employed for the determination of Alternaria toxin levels. The extruder die temperature fluctuated between 136 and 177 °C, with die pressures ranging from 0.16 to 6.23 MPa. The specific mechanical energy spanned from 83.5 to 152.3 kWh/t, the torque varied between 88 and 162.8 Nm, and the average material retention time in the barrel ranged from 5.6 to 13 s. The optimal parameters for reducing the concentration of all Alternaria toxins with a satisfactory quality of the sorghum snacks were: SS = 400 RPM, M = 12%, with a reduction of 61.4, 76.4, 12.1, and 50.8% for AOH, AME, TeA, and TEN, respectively.