January 14, 2026

 

Adisseo: A global 'whole-of-company' approach to poultry nutrition

 

Quality nutrition is one of the driving factors behind successful poultry farming, and, without debate, it is more than just that.

 

It takes a 'whole-of-company' approach to raise a chicken to well-developed maturation, as suggested by Adisseo's Guilherme Vasconcellos, Poultry Marketing Manager, Feed Digestibility Category Manager, and Sustainability Champion of Adisseo LATAM, and Vishwas Gowda, Regional Poultry Marketing Manager and Regional Category Manager for Animal Resilience in the Asia Pacific.

 

In this extensive interview, Vasconcellos and Gowda explain Adisseo's approach and thinking in establishing the best practices and standards for poultry health and nutrition across the world.

 

What are the advantages of employing the right nutrition to support the resilience of poultry birds against diseases in terms of cost, means of delivery, sustainability, ease of access to the appropriate solutions, etc?

 

Guilherme Vasconcellos: Nutrition is one of the most effective tools to strengthen birds' resilience. When a nutritional programme is well designed, it builds the foundation for consistent performance and robust health. At Adisseo, we focus on three essential pillars to support this resilience: an adequate supply of methionine, balanced vitamins, and highly bio  available organic minerals.

 

The benefits are clear. Birds that receive high-quality nutrients develop stronger immunity, better gut health, and a greater ability to fight against pathogenic pressure. This translates into improved feed conversion, lower mortality, and more profitable results.

 

From a cost perspective, proper nutrition offers one of the best returns on investment. It reduces the use of raw materials per kilogramme of meat produced, while minimising losses associated with diseases.

 

Sustainability gains are also important. More efficient flocks require less corn and soybean meals, make better use of natural resources, and deliver a lower carbon footprint. When resilience is compromised, all these investments are wasted, increasing both financial and environmental impact.

 

A robust nutrition is not only a way to support bird health, but also a strategic path to efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness for producers.

  

Vishwas Gowda: "For a producer, an animal resilience strategy is about securing profitability. The advantages are clear:

 

- Maximising ROI — Prevention is simply better business than treatment. By building resilience through nutrition, we stop the 'silent profit killers', like sub-clinical disease and poor feed conversion, before they start;

 

- Operational ease — Our solutions work 24/7 in the feed. Unlike labor-intensive vaccinations or water treatments, our nutritional technologies provide continuous protection without adding stress to the birds or the workforce;

 

- Future-Proofing — Sustainability is now a market demand, not just a buzzword. By strengthening the bird’s natural resilience, we reduce the need for antibiotics. This helps our customers meet the growing consumer demand for safe, sustainable food in markets like Australia and Japan, while ensuring long-term viability in challenged markets like Vietnam and India.

 

What are the key distinctions between poultry disease and nutrition challenges in Latin America and Asia Pacific?

 

Guilherme Vasconcellos: Latin America is a complex and diverse region. Producers often work under warm, humid conditions that favor pathogen survival.

 

Biosecurity levels may vary, which increases pathogen circulation and demands strong preventive programmes. Vaccination is well established, but the constant sanitary pressure forces birds to use more immune and metabolic energy just to stay productive at a profitable level.

 

Nutritional challenges add another layer of difficulty. Feed ingredients variability and availability vary a lot throughout the year, especially for corn and soybean meal. Both ingredients can present huge variations in their nutritional values depending on harvest and storage conditions, requiring a more precise feed formulation.

 

Producers also deal with cost volatility and limited access to some feed ingredients, depending on the country.

  

Vishwas Gowda: The distinction lies in the extreme diversity of APAC. We don't just have one market; we have two distinct realities.

 

In hubs like Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, producers face a perfect storm of high heat, humidity, and endemic viral pressure. Generic solutions often fail here because they aren't built for this level of environmental stress.

 

In Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand, the challenge is regulatory — strict welfare standards and zero-antibiotic mandates.

 

What sets Adisseo apart is our ability to adapt. We don't force a 'European' solution on an Indonesian farmer. We take our global science and tailor it to local raw materials and climate realities, ensuring our partners succeed regardless of their location."

 

 

How does Adisseo combine global scientific excellence with local market relevance to deliver value to customers, and what initiatives support this?

 

Guilherme Vasconcellos: Adisseo is a global company with a strong, local presence. Wherever you are, you can count on our high-quality solutions designed to meet the specific challenges of your production.

 

Our portfolio combines proven products with best-in-class services, delivered worldwide by a highly prepared technical and commercial team.

 

Nearly 3,000 people at Adisseo are dedicated to innovating, developing, and bringing the best solutions to our customers. Our mission is to feed the planet in a high-quality, affordable, safe, and sustainable way.

 

"In Science We Trust" is the mindset that drives company innovation and connects our teams worldwide. Nearly 6% of our revenue is reinvested in research and development to create or enhance processes, additives, and services that address the challenges of today and future generations.

 

Working regionally is also one of our strengths: collaborating with key opinion leaders and universities across the globe to stay closely aligned with local needs and demands.

 

Vishwas Gowda: We approach every market with a unified scientific philosophy but deliver it with local relevance.

 

A common bond is our rigorous R&D. Whether in France or the Philippines, we use the same high-standard solutions like Selisseo and Rovabio.

 

In APAC, we go beyond just selling products; we engage as partners. Under our "Secure Your Performance" initiative, we collaborate with key opinion leaders and regional universities to prove our concepts locally.

 

We actively share knowledge through platforms like our Advancia Academy. We bring global learning on antibiotic reduction and resilience to our APAC customers, helping them stay ahead of industry trends rather than just reacting to them.

 

 

In your opinion, is the nutritional aspect falling short in meeting a poultry bird's physiological needs in those regions? If so, why is it the case?

 

Guilherme Vasconcellos: Yes. The nutritional programme can be designed with the bird's needs. Modern genetics evolves faster, and it can create a gap between what the bird requires and what is actually provided through feed. Meeting these higher demands depends on precise amino acid balance, vitamin adequacy, mineral bioavailability, and consistent ingredient quality. However, these factors are not always guaranteed.

 

When feed formulations are done in outdated requirement tables or inconsistent ingredient matrices, the diet no longer supports the bird's metabolic and immune needs. As a result, even small inaccuracies in nutrition can affect growth, feed efficiency, and animal resilience. A good example is the scientific data proving that birds can make better use of improved levels of vitamin E and selenium in diets. Not only nutrients, but they can also serve as potent antioxidants, preparing the animal to better activate the immune system and combat pathogens.

 

 

What are the solutions and products that Adisseo has at hand to address the aforementioned challenges?.

  

Vishwas Gowda: We offer a complete ecosystem of solutions designed to work together. Rather than single products, we provide a strategy.

 

In the high-heat environments of Thailand and Vietnam, oxidative stress is a major loss factor. Selisseo^® is our proprietary organic selenium. It offers superior bioavailability compared to standard market sources, ensuring birds have the 'antioxidant shield' they need to maintain performance under stress.

 

Gut health starts with the right flora. Alterion^® is our unique probiotic strain (Bacillus subtilis DSM 29784). It gives producers peace of mind by delivering dual action: consistent pathogen inhibition and direct communication with the bird's immune system.

 

A healthy gut wall is the best defense. Adimix^® Precision features our specialised coating technology that ensures butyrate is delivered exactly where it counts — the hindgut. This precision allows our customers to see real results in gut integrity and absorption that generic uncoated products simply cannot match.

 

For high-challenge markets like Indonesia and the Philippines, we offer FRA^® C12 and FRA^® Butyrin Hybrid. These advanced glyceride technologies allow producers to manage viral and bacterial risks effectively, reducing reliance on medication while maintaining high productivity.

 

Given the variable quality of raw materials in APAC, toxins are a constant threat to immunity. Unike^® Plus is our comprehensive solution that not only binds toxins but also specifically deactivates them and provides organ support, protecting the liver and immune system from the inside out.

 

Rovabio^® and Lecimax^® act on undigested substrates such as carbohydrates, fat, and phytate, increasing nutrient availability. These substrates can also serve as fuel for pathogenic bacteria, so degrading them before they reach the hindgut helps create a more resilient environment and reduces pathogen pressure.

 

Adisseo offers one of the strongest service packages in the market. Our focus on precision nutrition gives producers the tools they need to apply our additives correctly and extract real value from them. The result is a more consistent use of nutrients, better technical outcomes, and higher returns at the farm level.

 

The Precise Nutrition Evaluation (PNE) provides a fast, real-time, and reliable analysis of the nutritional value of feed ingredients. It can be applied when raw materials arrive at the mill, ensuring supplier quality, but also through the precise adjustment of formulations by the nutrition team, considering the variability of feed ingredient sources.

 

All evaluations are based on Adisseo's proprietary calibration curves, developed under strict international research standards and supported by in vivo digestibility data. PNE also provides a complete evaluation of anti-nutritional factors in main feed ingredients, allowing nutritionists to check arabinoxylans and phytate present in diets.

 

ADICT automatically integrates NIR results into the formulation software, simplifying the formulation process and eliminating typing errors. It also enhances PNE data by incorporating Feedipedia equations, resulting in a more complete and robust ingredient matrix.

 

In addition, the tool brings a sustainability dimension to the operation by providing the carbon footprint of each ingredient used in the diet. With ADICT, producers can go beyond meeting nutritional requirements or reducing cost; they can formulate more sustainable diets using Adisseo's precision tools.

 

MycoMan is our platform for mycotoxin risk management. It interprets analytical results and turns them into clear, actionable decisions. The tool evaluates mycotoxin risk by species and production stage, recommends the correct Unike^® Plus dosage, and helps producers anticipate seasonal grain challenges. It transforms raw data into practical guidance, ensuring mycotoxin issues are addressed with the right solution at the right level. They work as partners in protection. Nutrition does not replace vaccines, but it helps them generate a stronger and more efficient antibody response. This is the kind of interaction nutritionists and veterinarians should actively use.

Vishwas Gowda: We believe in precision, not guesswork. We equip our customers with exclusive services that competitors find hard to match.

 

Precise Nutrition Evaluation, our NIR platform, gives producers real-time visibility into their raw materials, allowing them to formulate with confidence.

 

For our partners in Vietnam or the Philippines, mycotoxins are a constant threat. MycoMan allows them to assess the real risk and dose our binders (like Unike^® Plus) accurately, saving money and protecting birds.

 

The ADICT calculator helps nutritionists extract the maximum value from our enzymes.

 

Through Advancia Academy, we ensure our partners aren't just buying a product — they are gaining access to a global network of expertise to solve their specific farm challenges.

 

 

What factors inform and influence Adisseo's three-way nutritional approach to support the birds' immune system and mitigate the impact of viral infections?

  

Vishwas Gowda: Our approach is unique because it mirrors the bird's own biology. We call it the "Three Lines of Defense" strategy, and it simplifies complex health management for our customers.

 

We clean up the environment first. Rovabio removes the food source for pathogens, and Alterion 'out-competes' them. Also, a balanced diet provides the nutrients needed for a competent immune system, such as methionine and vitamins

 

Secondly, gut integrity must be protected, since viral infections often open the door to secondary infections, which is often where the real economic loss happens during a viral outbreak. Butyrate and probiotics help stabilise the microbiota and strengthen the mucosal barrier.

 

Thirdly, we boost the bird's internal ability to fight. FRA^® C12 and Selisseo provide the immune modulation and antioxidant power necessary to withstand viral storms without crashing performance.

 

Together, these factors reduce pathogen pressure, protect the gut, and enhance immunity during viral challenges.

 

This comprehensive approach gives producers the confidence that they are covered from every angle.

 

 

How would the efficacy and potency of vaccines affect the efficacy of nutritional products used?

 

Vishwas Gowda: They are partners in protection. We position our animal resilience solutions as vaccine enhancers.

 

Vaccines are a significant investment for any farm. Products like Selisseo^® and FRA^® C12 ensure that investment pays off by supporting the immune system to generate better antibody titers.

 

A vaccine can't work if the bird is fighting a war in the gut. By using Rovabio and Adimix to secure gut health, we provide a stable, healthy foundation that allows the vaccine to deliver its full potential.

At which stage of production can one expect a poultry farm to achieve the most sufficient protection against diseases once the nutritional aspect is adequately met?

 

Guilherme Vasconcellos: The stage that defines protection is the second week of life. Around 10 to 14 days, maternal antibodies drop quickly, and the bird begins to rely on its own immune system. It creates a vulnerability period, when passive protection is fading while the bird's own immunity is still developing.

 

When nutrition is solid from day one, supporting gut integrity, antioxidant balance, and a stable microbiota, the bird enters this transition better prepared. By 18 to 25 days, its immune system is already functioning more independently and responds consistently to field challenges.

 

In practical terms, the early phase is where the real challenge happens. Applying our animal resilience strategy from the start helps birds cross this gap window with better stability, stronger health, and more predictable performance.

 

- eFeedLink