| Summary: | The effects of the partial substitution of corn and soybean meals with bakery former foodstuffs (BFF) and wheat wet distiller’s grains (WDGs) on environmental sustainability, production performance, and health status were evaluated in beef cattle. Newly arrived Limousine beef heifers (n = 408) housed an intensive farm in Campagnatico (Grosseto, Italy) were balanced for initial weight and body conformation and then randomly divided in two groups: (i) Traditional corn– soybean meal diet; (ii) Circular diet with average as-fed 1.5 kg BFF and 1.5 kg WDGs as substitute for 1.6 kg corn and 0.3 kg soybean meal. The environmental impact of the diet was analyzed con-sidering greenhouse gases emissions (GHG, kg CO2 eq), water (H2O, L), and land use (LU, m2) as well as consumption of human-edible feeds (HE, kg). The growth performance, feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), carcass characteristics, apparent total tract digestibility (aTTD), and health status of heifers were evaluated. The Circular diet led to a reduction per kg of cold carcass weight (CCW) of 1.00 kg CO2 eq of GHG, 72.38 L of H2O, 1.20 m2 of LU, and 0.95 kg of HE (p < 0.0001). Growth performances, carcass characteristics, and health status were not affected (p > 0.05). Sugar and pectin aTTD were significantly higher (p < 0.0001) in the Circular group. Replacing traditional feed ingredients with BFF and WDGs reduced the environmental impact of the diet of fat-tening Limousine heifers and the food competition between humans and beef cattle in accordance with circular economy principles. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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