ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE January 2023 37 peutic levels of zinc oxide to support GI health and animal performance. As the industry moves away from this practice, it has become apparent that the microbiome can be positively influenced by feeding effective prebiotic fibres, leading to improvements in nutrient availability and maintenance of the normal physiological status of the GI tract. The prebiotic effects of unique seaweed blends have been demonstrated in trials, confirming positive impacts on the beneficial, butyrate-producing GI microbiota. Butyrate serves a key role in energy provision to the intestinal epithelium, modulating immune response, and affects several key metabolic pathways in the body. The trials reported here, including two under commercial conditions, confirm the ability of seaweed supplementation to improve performance and help replace antibiotic growth promoters in piglet production. About Ian Hutchinson Dr Ian Hutchinson is Technical Director at Ocean Harvest Technology, having previously worked for 9 years in the feed additives and premix industry. In his role as Technical Director, Ian is responsible for developing and driving Ocean Harvest Technology’s research and development agenda as well as customer technical support and product trials.
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