Antibiotics were removed from feedstuffs after EU prohibited them in 2006. This put a lot of pressure on livestock producers to find alternatives to antibiotics. As a result, current feedstuff production relies on the addition of bioactive substances, which should reduce the need for antibiotics and other medications while also improving animal health and welfare. Medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) are one such supplement that can be employed in broiler and piglet nutrition.
Reports and Data
Replacement of antibiotics in animal feedstuffs with biologically active compounds has become a hot topic in recent years. Antibiotics, coccidiostats, and other medicinal growth promoters have been banned from animal feedstuffs due to concerns that these substances contribute to the spread of bacterial resistance. Antibiotics were removed from feedstuffs after the European Union (EU) prohibited them in 2006. This put a lot of pressure on livestock producers to find alternatives to antibiotics. As a result, current feedstuff production relies on the addition of bioactive substances, which should reduce the need for antibiotics and other medications while also improving animal health and welfare. These substances help minimise the unfavourable impact of environmental stress factors on animal immune systems and production metrics in intensive breeding systems. As a result, competitive exclusion, probiotics, prebiotics, antimicrobial peptides, yeasts, and other additions are receiving increased attention in animal nutrition. Medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) are another supplement that can be employed in broiler and piglet nutrition. There are already a number of commercial MCFA products on the market.
Monogastric animals’ fat tissue (pigs, poultry) has a structure that is extremely similar to the fat structure of the feedstuffs they eat. This indicates that the kind and supply of fat in an animal’s diet can have a significant impact on the composition of fatty tissue and deposits in the carcasses. Currently, the EU’s food modification policy is shifting away from large-scale, low-cost production and toward higher-cost, but hopefully safer, end food items. Clearly, current animal feed additives are vitally important for the health and well-being of human consumers of the meats produced as a result. According to Reports and Data, the global fatty acid market is expected to register a CAGR of 4.80% growing from USD 34.68 billion in 2020 to USD 50.64 billion in 2028.
FATTY ACIDS IN HUMAN AND ANIMAL DIETS
The term fats and oils refers to lipids that are employed in human and animal nutrition, regardless of whether they come from animals or plants. They stimulate greater resorption of liposoluble vitamins, slow food transit through the colon, and therefore permit better exploitation of the meal, in addition to their function in body energy systems (they are both a source and a store means of energy). They also improve the efficiency of energy use as well as the food’s acceptability. The energy value of fats and oils in food and feed is determined by a number of factors, including the carbon chain length, the specific organisation of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in the glycerol molecule, the structure of free fatty acids, the structure of the food/feed, the amounts and types of triglycerides added to food/feed, intestinal flora, species, sex, and age of the human/animal.
Piglets are weaned and begin eating feed between the ages of 15 and 28 days in modern pig production. The digestive tracts of such young piglets are not yet matured, therefore they cannot use all of the nourishment available from feed, according to feed consumption statistics. This low intake results in poor calorie intake, which has a negative impact on the piglets’ growth and development. Because of inadequate pancreas and intestinal lipase activity, which causes insufficient fat absorption from the digestive system, long chain fatty acids (LCFA) digestibility is reduced by 65 to 80 percent in these young piglets compared to older animals. Piglets cannot manufacture enough carnitine during this stage of development, which has a significant negative impact on the transport of LCFAs into mitochondria for energy production. Furthermore, free radicals can break unsaturated bonds in LCFAs, resulting in cascade damage to endogenous lipids and the development of peroxide. MFCA, on the other hand, is an excellent supplement for weaned piglets. Because MCFAs have an unpleasant odour on their own, their triacylglycerols (medium chain triacylglycerols; MCTs) are commonly added to animal feed. MCTs, or MCFAs, or mixes of two or all four key MCFAs as supplements for growing piglets have different effects depending on the amount given. Piglet growth is also influenced by the life period at which they are fed MCFA.
Because of their low levels of produced bile salt and lipase, broilers have restricted fat absorption and digestive capability in their early days. Fat digestibility is 6% lower in young birds than in adults, but the young animals have a far higher ability to absorb polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). In chicken, MCFAs have a unique nutritional value as well as metabolic and antimicrobial properties. The use of MCFA in egg production resulted in improved results, including tougher shells, higher egg protein quality, higher calcium content, and lower numbers of Escherichia coli bacteria.
MCFA AND MICROBIOTA OF ANIMAL DIGESTIVE TRACT
The significance of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and medium chain fatty acids in infection management and digestive tract health and integrity has been studied in broilers and other animals. Fatty acids are generally inhibitory to microbes, although depending on the type of fatty acid, the kind of bacterium, and the pH of the environment, various fatty acids have varied minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC).
Adding short chain fatty acids and medium chain fatty acids to feed has a number of good impacts on animal health, which can be seen when the animals’ health is threatened, particularly when the digestive tract integrity is impaired. Tests have shown that combining organic acids and MCFA reduced clinical signs of illnesses in broiler artificial necrotic enteritis. In broilers afflicted with viral malabsorption syndrome (MAS), it was found that combining SCFA and MCFA in feed boosted broiler growth and resulted in larger broiler weight at the conclusion of the production cycle. Although it is unknown how this directly affects viruses, it is thought that SCFA and MCFA have a synergistic effect on bacteria, in which MCFA destroys microorganisms’ cell walls, allowing SCFA to enter the bacterial cytoplasm and have an antibiotic effect. When MCFA is combined with certain organic acids, fat, protein, and crude fibre digestibility can be improved. The use of MCFA and plant extracts (thymol, cinnamon oil, and eucalyptus oil) in turkey nutrition increased bird weight after 15 weeks of fattening, had no effect on total feed intake, but improved feed conversion. MCFA can be used in conjunction with probiotics in animal feed.
Source:
https://www.reportsanddata.com/report-detail/fatty-acids-market
About Paroma Bhattacharya
Paroma Bhattacharya is a passionate content creator and has been a professional content writer for over half a decade. She is currently working for Reports and Data and possesses extensive knowledge in subjects related to healthcare, technology, banking, and a wide range of other industry verticals. Her articles focus primarily on balancing relevant data with engaging storytelling. She believes in providing objective facts to help people make important business decisions.
