ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE May 2022 37 ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL TRIAL WITH BROILERS Another promising result has been observed when our seaweed blend was fed in a large field trial at a Dutch broiler farmer. After a 6 week trial with 34,000 broilers consuming daily the seaweed additive at 0.4%, there was no need for receiving antibiotics and the veterinarian visual inspections led to positive insights. The broilers faeces looked more natural, their feathers seemed thicker and the broilers showed lower stress levels. The veterinarian already suspected a better health & wellbeing of the seaweed-fed chickens with the avoidance of antibiotics being a major indication of stronger resilience of the animals. Eventually the significantly better 6-week IKB score (3.18 vs 7.19 control) confirmed and strengthened the already positive quantitative results. Both the collected trial figures on health & wellbeing improvements and the improved performance (FCR, lower meat rejection) complemented with the visual observations of the farmer’s veterinarian gave the farmer sufficient insights and to develop continued interest to using the seaweed supplement. HOW TO JUSTIFY ADDING ADDITIONAL COSTS IN THIS ALREADY TIGHT MARKET? Adding seaweed in the animal premix, is indeed adding costs to the final formula. However, as the offered solution contains a lot of natural containing ingredients like minerals and vitamins, some ingredients in the existing formula can be replaced which is beneficial from a cost perspective. In addition, one should not only look at the costs of the seaweed solution itself. Lower FCR, no antibiotics/medicine and better-quality meat will make the use of seaweed-based products commercially viable. GOING FORWARD Having started with an initial focus on poultry, swine and ruminant applications, the team is now also testing seaweed blends and applications for aquaculture (e.g. salmon, shrimp), equine, calves and pets. All with the positive impact benefits in mind and adhering to the principles of a reliable, sustainable and high-quality value chain: sustainably cultivated, (hand) harvested, (sun)dried and fully traceable. Embracing seaweeds in animal feed means contributing to positive impact on animal health and regeneration of our planet. Looking at global growth and food production, sustainable animal production is likely to only further increase. And with global bacterial resistance and a ban on using infeed antibiotics, seaweed has a promising role to play in various animal industries. In short, seaweeds promote positive immune response and gut health, improvement of digestive processes and result in better animal health and production yields. For livestock farmers this means healthier animals with higher value and reduced cost to grow, combined with a step towards more sustainable farming. Applications with seaweeds have lots of benefits to offer, many of them fully in line with principles of the EU Green Deal to make big steps towards more sustainable agriculture. It is envisaged that seaweed extracts will form an inherent part of the feeding strategy in farmed animals in the future. This is amongst others laid out in the EU Organic Action Plan (March ’21) where is stated that an EU algae industry will be strongly supported to ensure the supply of algae as alternative feed material for organic animal farming. References • S. Kraan, 2022. Seaweeds and Their Products for the Health of Livestock. In book: Sustainable Global Resources Of Seaweeds Volume 1 (pp.331-356) • Hidden champion of the ocean - Seaweed as a growth engine for a sustainable European future; Seaweed for Europe, 2020 • Seaweed global demand: Component of interest and short-and medium-term trends. World Bank Group, 2020 • Seaweeds for livestock diets: A review. Makkar et al, 2016 About Ingrid Jonker Ingrid has more than 10 years of Business Development experience in the Food & Nutrition space and gained extensive knowledge on seaweed and the value added solutions it can bring .
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