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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?

Photo credit: CountrysideDaily

An ambitious new project is underway at Stanford University, as a team of scientists are hoping to replace the Haber-Bosch process for the manufacture of fertilizer.

With the energy consumed in the Haber-Bosch process contributing to climate change, if the research is successful then they may help solve two of mankind’s most pressing problems:
• How to feed a growing population
• How to use less fossil fuels

The team is based at the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, a partnership between researchers from Stanford Engineering and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Where the team, “… is developing a fertilizer production process that can feed the world in an environmentally sustainable way,” says chemical engineer and SUNCAT director, Jens Norskov.

The SUNCAT project is being funded by a $7 million grant from the Villum Foundation, an international scientific and environmental philanthropy, which is focused on sustainable industrial chemicals, including a sustainable nitrogen-based fertilizer.

“One common thread across these projects is the need to identify catalysts that can promote chemical processes powered by sunlight, instead of relying on the fossil fuels now commonly used as energy sources and, often, as feedstock for reactions,” says Norskov. “We know of no manmade catalysts that can do what we require, [so] we will have to design them.”

Tom Jaramillo, deputy director of the SUNCAT Center and a member of the nitrogen synthesis project, put annual fertilizer production into perspective when he said, “Each year we produce more than 20 kilograms of ammonia per person for every person on the planet, and most of that ammonia is used for fertilizer.”

“We literally feed the world on fertilizers derived from the Haber-Bosch process,” adds Norskov. But the process is far from efficient, with the online scientific journal Phys.org, even stating that, “Due to the heat and pressure required by the Haber-Bosch process, ammonia catalysis accounts for approximately 1% of all global energy use. On top of that, between 3% and 5% of the world’s natural gas is used as a feedstock to provide the hydrogen for ammonia synthesis.”

Typically this process is carried out in large chemical plants, which adds cost to the fertilizer when fuel for transportation to the farm is factored in. To avoid this, the team is taking a different approach.

“We will harness solar energy in the presence of properly designed catalysts to create ammonia right in the agricultural fields. Think of it as a drip irrigation method of synthesizing ammonia, where it percolates into the roots of the crops.”

The theory behind the research is almost utopian; removing the need for fossil fuels as both a fertilizer feedstock and as an energy source, and with all processes working in the field, transportation costs will be miniscule.

As Norskovs explains, “You won’t need tremendous quantities of fossil fuels as an ammonia feedstock, or to drive the trucks that deliver the fertilizers or the tractors that apply it. And you won’t have a problem with excess application and fertilizer runoff, because virtually all the fertilizer that is produced will be consumed completely by the crops.”

Reporting on the SUNCAT team, the Phys.org report adds that, “The researchers aim to provide the benefits of fertilization without any of these [fossil fuel, transportation, application, feedstock] costs. The idea is to replace the centralized, fossil-fuel based Haber-Bosch process with a distributed network of ammonia-on-demand production modules run off renewable energy. These modules would use solar power to pull nitrogen from the atmosphere and also to catalyze the splitting of water molecules to get hydrogen and oxygen. The catalytic processes would then unite one nitrogen atom to three hydrogen atoms to produce ammonia, with oxygen as a waste product.”

However, finding the catalyst that can perform the function required will be far from easy. A point highlighted by Stacey Bent, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford and a key member of the SUNCAT team, when she said, “While the catalyst must bind strongly enough to the target molecule to do the work required, it also has to release the end product.”

Jaramillo agrees, highlighting the complex chemical process that will need to be engineered. He said, “We have to design a series of reactions to cleave the nitrogen molecule from air, separate the hydrogen from water and combine them to form ammonia, with the only input energy coming from solar power.”

At the same time, there are other factors to consider in finding a catalyst, as the research team is aware that their end product must have a practical application. As Bent notes, “We have to design catalysts that can make and break bonds with atomic precision, and we have to ensure these materials can be mass produced at the necessary scales and price points, and are durable and simple to use in the fields.”

The challenge is clearly immense, but then so is the prize.

“Sustainable nitrogen production will only become possible with the cross-disciplinary collaboration of people working in fields such as materials science, chemical engineering and computer science,” Bent says. “It could literally change the world.”

And it seems that the researchers have the tools to make the dream a reality. “We are part of a very strong team, attacking some of the biggest challenges in chemistry, chemical engineering and sustainability,” says Jaramillo. Before adding, “We’re really just at the beginning.”

As they say, every journey begins with a single step, so being at the start of something holds no shame. How much scepticism Haber and Bosch received on beginning their journey is not known, but they must both have held large amounts of self-belief to achieve their goals; something that is clearly not missing from the SUNCAT team.

“Essentially we are attempting to restore the balance in the Earth’s carbon and nitrogen cycles that has been lost through the exponential increase in the demand for food and fossil fuels,” says Norskov. “The time to act is now.”

Like all great plans, it has strength in its simplicity. The challenge will come in working out the details, and in finding the exact catalysts that will work in harmony to provide solar-powered, in-field manufactured fertilizer. Whether they can complete their task and find a much needed replacement for the Haber-Bosch process, only time will tell.

Credit: iStock/yupiyan

In general, there is plenty of cooperation between livestock farmers and animal feed manufacturers; both aiming for healthier animals. But there are also many secrets between agribusiness traders and feed manufacturers.

Much of this confidentiality revolves around raw materials, with many animal feed producers looking for competitive advantage from secret ingredients. As an industry which has seen a move from guano (as a source of phosphate) to mining rock phosphate, knows a thing or two about the power of information when it comes to sourcing raw materials.

The development of monocalcium phosphate as an animal feed additive, or the use of insect meal as a more sustainable protein source than fishmeal have all been (or likely will be) feed industry game-changers.
With this in mind, it is worthwhile for animal feed suppliers to stay up-to-date with the raw material research. Here therefore, are two of the latest ideas being trialled and tested in the (sometimes) crazy word of animal feed R&D.

Hemp as an Animal Feed Additive

While America’s legislators are busy removing prohibitions on the smoking of cannabis, some are also trialling the use of hemp as a raw material for animal feed.

At least this is the case in Colorado, where Governor John Hickenlooper recently signed a law to allow for a feasibility study for the use of hemp in feed products. At present, while hemp can be used as a raw material for human food, the US FDA prohibits its use in animal feed, seeing it as an ‘adulterating substance’.

As the industry journal WattAgNet reports, “The group that will lead the feasibility study will include a hemp producer, a hemp processor, a legal expert, a person from an institution of higher education who has studied hemp policy, a veterinarian and a livestock producer. The group is expected to reach its conclusions and make its recommendations by the end of 2017.”

In an interview, Hollis Glenn, technical services section chief for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, explained how, “The hemp industry understands the complexities of putting hemp into the food chain,” adding that, “[The study will] provide a resource to industry and consumers to understand the complexity of this issue.”

While agreeably the issue is complex, there are many who see the natural benefits of using a plant as a feed additive. Many ‘free the weed’ campaigners fought for the decriminalisation of cannabis based on numerous advantages, but not many would have suspected at the time that it would also lower animal feed prices.

Skittles as an Animal Feed Additive

The next secret ingredient for animal feed could be the fruity, coloured sweet Skittles; a registered trademark of Wrigley. Whilst the nutritional value of the sugary snack is uncertain, it seems that some farmers have already been feeding them to their livestock.

As the Independent newspaper reports, “The discovery was made public after a truck deposited hundreds of thousands of Skittles onto a rural road. All of them were in one colour and without the trademark ‘S’ on them.”
Following an investigation, the police found out that farmers had been feeding the Skittles to their livestock to avoid high corn prices.

As the report states, “Unknown to many, the practice has been going on for years, according to experts. Not only are Skittles cheaper than corn – especially when bought for a lower price because they are defective – they could even provide other benefits over traditional feed.”

While there was some outrage online at the unusual practice, feed experts have since come forward in defence of the feed raw material.

Joseph Watson, owner of United Livestock Commodities, told LiveScience in 2012 that feeding cows sweets “actually has a higher ratio of fat [than] actually feeding them straight corn”, and that it has “all the right nutrition”.
Similarly, John Waller, a professor of animal nutrition at the University of Tennessee, told the site that it was likely to be more environmentally friendly because it keeps “fat material” from simply going into landfill.

The practice of buying in defective or unneeded food to feed to animals goes back for decades. But it is thought to have picked up around 2012, when corn prices rocketed up and farmers needed a cheaper way of feeding their animals. But whether or not the practice will continue, when corn prices return to normal, remains to be seen.

Photo credit: the bull
Photo credit: Modern Farmer