September 12, 2005

 

Exciting future for feed enzymes, says Danisco

 

 

While feed enzymes have been widely used in wheat and barley-based broiler feeds for many years, they have also been gaining wide acceptance for their role in optimising the nutritional value of corn and sorghum-based diets, Dr Milan Hruby, Technical Services Manager, Danisco Animal Nutrition, told delegates at the recent AveExpo Conference at Foz in Brazil.

 

Feed manufacturers and poultry integrators producing feeds based on corn or sorghum had been slower to embrace this exciting technology, for a number of reasons. One was confusion caused by the wide range of possible enzymes and enzyme combinations available in the market. In addition, many feed manufacturers and producers believed that corn was a consistent and highly digestible ingredient that cannot be further enhanced by enzymes, but this was not necessarily the case.

 

A substantial body of recent evidence suggested that adding specific combinations of enzymes to corn, sorghum and soymeal-based poultry diets could improve digestibility of the diet and subsequently improve bird performance. There were a number of reasons why this was the case:

• Enzymes such as xylanase helped break down fibrous cell walls, releasing encapsulated starch and protein that could then be digested by the bird.
   
• Enzymes such as phytases and proteases reduced the effects of anti-nutritional factors such as enzyme inhibitors (for example phytin and trypsin), lectin, and antigenic proteins, which reduced nutrient digestibility and/or contributed to an increase in endogenous losses. Reducing the effects of these anti-nutrients could contribute to significant improvements in nutrient and energy availability. 
   
• Supplementing the bird's own supply of enzymes with amylases, lipases and proteases directly improved starch, oil and protein digestibility. In the young bird, where production of the bird's own enzymes was limited during the first few days after hatching and during periods of stress, supplementing diets with enzymes could be especially important. Maximising performance, particularly in the young bird had an important impact on the bird's lifetime physical and financial performance.

Confident that this technology had a very positive future, Dr Hruby told delegates that research should focus on understanding the characteristics of feed ingredients such as corn, sorghum and soymeal. It should also identify enzyme activities and combinations that delivered optimum, consistent and cost-effective improvements in the performance of poultry fed these types of diets.

 

Danisco's own research in this area has identified key parameters that affected grain quality, from which they have developed a range of services that customise recommendations on enzyme use according to grain quality, to maximise profit from enzyme use.

 

Dr Hruby concluded that though the use of feed enzymes, including phytase, xylanase, amylase and protease, either alone or in combination, in corn, sorghum and soymeal poultry diets was a relatively recent development, commercial acceptance was rapidly increasing as producers focused on further optimising production costs while at least maintaining product quality. Investigating potential synergistic effects of enzymes with other feed additives, including organic acids, essential oils and probiotics, represented a fertile area for future research, particularly in antibiotic growth promoter-free feeds. 

 

 

Understanding the characteristics of feed ingredients is key to optimising production costs with feed enzymes, says Milan Hruby of Danisco Animal nutrition.

 

Danisco Animal Nutrition, a division of leading global food ingredient specialist Danisco A/S (Denmark), pioneered the development and use of enzymes and betaine in animal nutrition. Its products are now widely used by poultry and pig producers throughout the world. The company's mission is to deliver innovative, sustainable solutions that increase the efficiency and safety of the food production chain in an environmentally responsible way.

 

Further details are available at www.danisco.com/animalnutrition

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Andrea Barletta,                                        Julian Cooksley,

Global Marketing Director,                          Account Manager,

Danisco Animal Nutrition.                           Kendalls Communications.

Tel: +44 (0) 1672 517777                          Tel: +44 (0) 1394 610022

Email: andrea.barletta@danisco.com           Email: julian.cooksley@kendallscom.co.uk