With the pressure of elevated feed prices, the search is
on to remain profitable in the animal production industry. This all has to do
with being more efficient, and thus getting more out of feed. This can be
achieved via different routes. We can look at the animal itself, and focus on
animals that are able to get more animal protein out of feed, have a higher feed
intake, can better digest the feed etc.
We can also look at the feed itself and
make the ingredients more efficient and work better in the animal. The latter
often has to do with adding more enzymes or other additives for example, that
increase the bioavailability of the ingredients.
Challenges for aquaculture
This topic can
especially be applied for aquaculture. I’ve just come back from Victam in
Bangkok and was overwhelmed by the information on shrimps, tilapia, krill and
other aquatic creatures and at the same time noticed that this type of farming
can be a lot more efficient, especially in Asia.
Boosting the
efficiency of currently used fish feed can be done by using more
enzymes for example. Enzymes can increase the digestibility of nutrients,
leading to greater efficiency in the production of animal products. The enzyme
phytase, for example, is increasingly used in aquaculture production systems.
Other
efficiency boosters may include the use of more functional ingredients such as
plant extracts and probiotics that have a positive effect on the digestive
system and hence increase the nutrient uptake by the animals. In addition, more
digestibility enhancers are used in feed formulations these days.
Upgrade raw materials
With
regards to other animal species, the use of byproducts from the bio energy
business, such as Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) is rapidly
growing. However, the quality of these 'new' products still varies a lot. This
automatically means that feeding these products is not always efficient. An old
technique called Solid State Fermentation (SSF) is now used to upgrade the
nutrient value of these byproducts.
SSF involves the careful selection of
specific strains of naturally occurring fungi. These fungi are mixed with the
product and breaks down fibrous and non-fibrous portions of the substrate. This
process increases the nutrient profile of the products and enables the use of
certain (fibrous) ingredients for animal feed. This enables nutritionists to be
more flexible in choosing their ingredient and to get more out of
them!
Feed formulation
software
We
also asked our website visitors at AllAboutFeed.net what they think should be
done to increase the efficiency of animal feed. The majority of the people named
"better diet formulation tools" as the most probable and effective solution. I
thought that most diet formulation programmes were already pretty advanced.
I personally don't have experience with feed
formulation software, so I am not fully aware of the pros and cons of the
current software programmes used.
I am curious what you think should be done to
increase the efficiency of our feed! Don't by shy, leave a scrap below. I am looking
forward to hearing from you!
Author: Emmy Koeleman
