ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE November 2022 57 these are key when linking physiological processes (e.g., digestion and fermentation) with health and welfare. Modulating the functions of the microbiome by adding nutrients or feed additives brings new opportunities to harness the full potential of the microbiome. MODULATING THE MICROBIOME WITH PRECISION BIOTICS Precision Biotics (PB), a new category of nutritional feed additives, are being developed to leverage the recent advances in microbiome sciences and to cope with challenges faced by the poultry industry. The mechanism of action employed by PBs is different from that of prebiotics or other conventional gut-health products. Precision biotics are carbohydrates with glycosidic linkages and size distributions selected specifically for their ability to modulate intestinal microbiome pathways. In other words, it is a very precise conductor of the microbiome that brings overall harmony to the gut. For instance, our specifically selected PB (SymphiomeTM, DSM Nutritional Products) increases the number of genes associated with protein and amino acid metabolism and short-chain fatty acid production, which reduces intestinal ammonia production. In studies, the result was an improvement in observed in litter quality and welfare indicators, such as foot pad dermatitis. A publication from Walsh et al. (2021) reported that our PB modulated the functions of the cecal microbiome related to propionic acid production and nitrogen metabolism. A publication by Jacquier et al. (2022), comprising two studies of broiler chicken studies raised in floor pens to evaluate the effect of our PB, showed that PB supplementation improved litter score, ammonia output and gait score. As a consequence of improved welfare and gas emission indicators, the PB improved body weight gain (BWG) by 44g on day 35 and feed conversion ratio (FCR) by 11.4 points. In the second study, BWG was improved by 112 g, and FCR by 4.7 points. MECHANISM OF ACTION OF PRECISION BIOTICS Precision biotics are microbiome metabolic modulators that conduct bacterial functions, encouraging the production of substances that promote beneficial outcomes to the animal. The high-quality research conducted to understand the exact mechanism of action of PBs has demonstrated that it increases metabolic functions intrinsic to the microbiome that are able to detoxify unabsorbed amino acids and leaked host protein, independent of the microbiota composition. This leads to higher resilience to enteric stress, better nutrient utilization, improved welfare and reduced emissions.
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