The International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE) is billed as, “the world’s largest annual poultry, meat and feed industry event of its kind.”A bold claim, yet one that is well lived up to, with the 2017 conference attracting more than 31,000 visitors from key industry institutes such as the North American Meat Assoc., the US Poultry and Egg Assoc., and the American Feed Industry Assoc., as well as some of the most influential commercial enterprises.
In addition to the sales and marketing side of the event, it is interesting to note the importance of R&D in the expo’s proceedings, as it includes the International Poultry Scientific Forum. A collection of experts in the field of poultry health, egg and meat production science, and animal feed innovations, who get to share new ideas and discuss the challenges facing the livestock industry.
A key part of this is the publication of the Abstracts from the forum. This year’s edition was notable for the discussions held on the reduction, and where possible replacement, of antibiotics in animal feed. As the keynote speaker, Charles Hofacre, from the Dept. of Avian Medicine at the University of Georgia, notes, “There are many reasons broiler companies may choose to no longer routinely feed antibiotics in their broiler diets. There are also the new FDA regulations that remove the label claim for many antibiotics for performance enhancement, however, the labels allow for use in disease prevention. All of these changes may result in less routine use of in feed antibiotics.”
However, it is also interesting to see the large amount of research being conducted in the field of phosphate and zinc oxide feed additives. Especially given global concerns over uncertain phosphate supply chains, and increasing demands for sustainable livestock feed. Together these problems are making animal rearing efficiency a key challenge for the feed industry as a whole.
With this in mind, here are some of the main discoveries presented at the expo for poultry feed phosphate and zinc oxide additives.
1. The effects of dietary bee venom on growth performance, meat quality, immune response and gut health in broiler chicks.
This exciting piece of research was carried out by a team from Konkuk University in Seoul, the Korean Rural Development Administration, and the Eagle Vet Tech. Co., with aims to study the effect of bee venom as a feed additive for broiler hens. From a total of 700 male broiler hens, the experiments were carried out over 35 days, with four variations. As the study’s authors note, “A corn-soybean meal base diet was used as the control diet, and the experimental diets were formulated by adding honey bee venom (BV) into the basal diet to reach 10, 50, and 100μg BV per kg of diet.”
Interestingly, while the bee venom did not effect, “ileal sIgA concentration, intestinal morphology and cecal short-chain fatty acids,” it did have an impact on other key areas. As the authors note, “feed conversion ratio and weight gain were improved linearly at 1-21 days and at 1-35 days as the BV level in diet increased. Relative breast meat yields also increased linearly at 21 days with the increasing BV levels in diets.”
This led them to conclude that, “Taken together, dietary BV increased growth performance, and breast meat yields in broiler chicks.”
2. The importance of the source of zinc oxide in broiler hens.
“The objective of the study was to evaluate Zn bioavailability in three sources of zinc oxide (ZnO): two sources available on the European (ZnE) and the American (ZnA) market and a novel source (ZnHZ, HiZox®), using ZnSO4 monohydrate (ZnS) as a reference. A low-Zn basal diet was formulated in which plant feedstuffs were the only source of Zn (22 ppm). Twelve other diets were then prepared by adding to the basal diet 7, 14 or 21 ppm of Zn for each source.”
The results indicated that there is a significant link between how zinc is processed and the amounts of zinc that are absorbed by hens. But perhaps even more surprisingly, is that the researchers also found a link to where zinc as a dietary additive is sourced, and the amount of zinc the birds ingested. Clearly there are significant differences between American and European sourced zinc, and that has a real impact on bird health.
Additionally, similar research by Xi Wang, Timothy John from the University of Minnesota, and Wei Zhai from Mississippi State University, concluded that, “… extra zinc supplementation may inhibit the growth of Clostridium pathogens in broilers.”
3. The importance of sourcing organic or inorganic feed supplements for zinc, copper and manganese.
A study by a team from Zinpro, a supplier of performance minerals, aimed to find the importance of organic or inorganic feed supplements in broiler hens. By testing out a variety of combinations of organic and inorganic feed supplements, and comparing it to bird health, the researchers discovered that, “The feed conversion ratio was affected by diet and broilers fed with only organic minerals exhibited the worse production efficiency factor.”
4. Effect of potassium and available phosphorus in broiler breeder diets on fecal and egg characteristics at the onset of lay.
A study conducted by Dinabandhu Joardar, Coltin Caraway, and John Brake, all of North Carolina State University, analysed the problem of wet feces in chickens. This may affect egg laying ability as, “Hydrogen (H) ions, produced during egg shell calcification that are not buffered by the phosphate system in the kidney, are excreted in the form of water utilizing the bicarbonate buffer system.”
By adjusting the amount of available potassium and phosphate in the diets of broiler hens at the age of 22 weeks, the researchers were able to lower the moisture content in the faeces. However, raising the level of available phosphate had a negative effect on the birds.
As the report states, “A 0.3% Available Phosphate grower diet increased the weights of the second egg and its albumen.” Before adding that, “These findings could be beneficial in controlling excess litter moisture during onset of lay in broiler breeders.”
The Impact of Poultry Feed Additive Research.
While the impact of each of these individual pieces of research may be small, it is interesting to note the depth of analysis to which the animal feed additive industry is going to optimise both animal health and profitability. Continuing study on typical feed additives, such as zinc oxide and phosphate, is still making discoveries, and showing us how much more we need to learn to perfect feed mixtures. Analysis of new feed additives, such as bee venom, show us how complex the animal feed industry can be.
But if any of this research is to have an impact then cooperation between animal feed suppliers and livestock farmers will be vital. Forming closer ties between users and suppliers will ensure that animal feed additives are applied timely, and with the correct quantities, allowing the industry to maximise its potential. This will prevent wasting product as well as improving animal welfare.
Discoveries like these, show how much the industry cares about minimising waste, and therefore costs, and how much it cares about maximising animal welfare, and therefore profit. But which of these four studies on broiler hen feed additives will have the biggest impact?