Improving nutrient digestibility, gut health in swine

The study, “Efficacy of protease on growth, gut health and nutrient digestibility in nursery pigs fed diets with different levels of soybean meal”, was conducted in collaboration with Dr Inkyung Park, Ph.D. and Dr Sung Woo Kim, Ph.D. of North Carolina State University. Results of the trial showed that BRI’s Versazyme, a broad spectrum protease feed enzyme, improved both feed efficiency and gut health, and increased growth performance of newly weaned pigs fed diets with different levels of soybean meal (SBM).

These findings add to the growing body of evidence that protease can be an effective feed enzyme to improve swine nutrition. The study demonstrated that Versazyme protease facilitated the use of higher levels of soybean meal by mitigating the detrimental effects of anti-nutritional factors present in SBM, thus improving gain to feed ratios and supporting better gut health. The results from this trial suggest that pork producers can add more protein in their swine diets and improve feed efficiency by using Versazyme, while reducing the risk of poor gut health associated with higher levels of SBM.

“We look forward to further research to help the industry optimise the use of enzyme feed additives to improve pork production economically, safely and sustainably.” said Giles Shih, CEO, BRI.