October 1, 2013

DSM held its DSM Pig Tour Asia 2013 from September 3 - 6 with the theme of "New Trends in Pig Production", spotlighting nutrition, health and specialised management technologies.

The event spanned three countries; it kicked off in Tokyo, Japan on September 3, followed by Seoul, Korea on September 4 and ended in Bangkok, Thailand on September 6. Bangkok was used as a hub to hosting customers from across Asia Pacific region.

There were 3 technical speakers on the speaking tour. They were Tony Edwards (Principal Consultant, ACE Livestock Consulting, Australia), Gilberto Litta (Global Vitamin Category Manager, DSM Nutritional Products, Switzerland) and Rolando Valientes (Regional Eubiotic Category Manager, DSM Nutritional Products Asia Pacific, Singapore). Rupert Claxton (Senior Consultant, Gira Meat Club) was exclusively invited to speak at the tour seminar in Thailand.

In his talk on "New Trends in Pig Production, Tony Edwards highlighted the increase in pork demand as a result of rapid advances in the wealth of developing countries and the widespread of pig industry restructuring to improve productivity and resource use (feed) efficiency of pig production.  He went on to review some of the recent research & technology developed in pig production and the challenges of group-housed sows without the use of sow stalls on welfare grounds. He concluded there was a pressing need not only to develop new technologies to overcome constraints in production but also to make better use of the existing technology to realize 30+ pigs/sow/year and pig feed efficiency values of under 2.0:1 from weaning to slaughter.

Gilberto Litta emphasized the significance of vitamin nutrition to efficiently drive pig production when presenting "Metabolic Drivers for Efficient Pork Production." He described the advancement in genetic selection profoundly modifying different aspects of pig physiology and metabolism as well high sensitivity to stress and pathological processes with lesser feed intake for high growth rate. Therefore, regular update of vitamin supplementation is very much needed for satisfying the metabolic requirements of modern genetic strains and ensuring both their health and welfare conditions.  He also highlighted the essentiality of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (HyD) in improving the reproductive performance of modern sows with large litter sizes, the selection rate of gilts for herd replacement, the piglet immunity and pig myogenesis.

Following Gilberto Litta's talk, Tony Edwards illustrated the attention to detail was required when using feed enzymes (RONOZYME and ROXAZYME) and organic acids to extract the nutrients from feed ingredients in his presentation on "How to Get Raw Materials to Work Harder in Pig Production." Feed enzymes not only improved digestion and nutrient release but also improved feed intake (rate of digestion). Organic acids not only maintain gastric pH to improve digestion but also stabilize the gut microflora and promote gut health and integrity. Nevertheless, current nutrient extraction and feed conversion is still well short of the biological potential of the pig according to Tony Edwards.

On "Clean Pork Production," Rolando Valientes explained the crucial role of eubiotics in replacing antibiotics and their important role in producing safe and clean pork. He elaborated how eubiotics like organic acids (VevoVitall), essential oil compounds (CRINA), probiotics (Cylactin) and nucleotides (Rovimax NX) could be used as tools to reduce antibiotic usage and enhance clean pork production.

An exclusive look into global pork trading was presented by Rupert Claxton in his talk on "Pork Walk" at the Thailand seminar. In general, pig production remains positive.  This is primarily attributed to further growth in herd and productivity in China. However, pig production in other regions grows rather slowly due to environment, welfare, feed and social factors. Global pork consumption will increase and this is largely due to the support from China and other Asian countries. Pork trade flow volume is likely to increase in the long term. Established global pork producers will become increasingly focused on exports. Furthermore, developing world pork producers must move away from backyard system to modern industrial system.

The tour seminars were attended by major pig industry stakeholders, including feed nutritionists, feed formulators, veterinarians, R&D personnel and purchasers in addition to professors from academic institutions.