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The United States and China account for the vast majority of total world consumption of nonprotein nitrogen (NPN) in animal feeds, followed by Western Europe, Brazil, Canada, Central and Eastern Europe, and Japan. Although there are many regions with large populations of cattle, most of these other regions consume very little quantities of NPN, particularly India and Mexico.
In all regions, urea has been and will continue to be the major source of NPN feed. In the United States and China, urea consumption has declined as a result of shrinking cattle populations, as well as the increased availability and use of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) as a feed supplement. DDGS is a coproduct of bioethanol production from corn; some is consumed as wet distillers grains.
The following pie chart shows consumption of nonprotein nitrogen by major region:
On a nitrogen basis, dairy cattle consume approximately 20% of all NPN products and beef cattle consume about 80%; in comparison, sheep and other animals are negligible consumers of NPN. Cattle on feed are major consumers of NPN products, urea in particular. NPN in dairy rations has become more commonplace and use of liquid protein supplements in this sector is projected to increase over the next several years. However, total dairy consumption of NPN supplements is expected to decrease because the size of the dairy herd is decreasing.
In general, naturally occurring proteins are preferred to NPN in Western Europe. In addition, high-moisture silage from young grass, which is popular in Europe, contributes to the NPN content in the feed ration.
In China, NPN consumption for animal feed has remained fairly stable since 2004. Growth in cattle populations has been offset by increasing consumption of DDGS. China became a bioethanol producer in 2003, but also imports DDGS from the United States. Several other nitrogen compounds are used in China as an NPN source, including urea phosphate.
Globally, NPN feed (and fertilizer) prices have increased significantly in the past few years because of high natural gas feedstock prices and increased world demand for urea for fertilizer and industrial uses. The rate of price increases must remain competitive with natural protein sources such as corn, soybean and cottonseed.
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