ARTICLE 54 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE January 2023 MEASURING PALATABILITY WITH PANELS OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS While palatability can be of great interest for feed producers, it is difficult to predict the future response of animals. The perception will vary, depending on the species, the environment and the application. Not all animals have the same taste or smell receptors (Karo, 1966), and thus, not all animals will have the same sensibility, or show the same preference. To take into account this variability, different strategies have been investigated, based on chemical analyses, sensorial analyses or field evaluations. At the end of the day, the different approaches are useful to build a comprehensive understanding and propose the best option to secure optimal consumption for the animals in every case. Olfactory cues play an important role in influencing acceptance of the product from the animal and the farmer. Since food-evoked emotions (these last years) have been found to play an important role in consumer acceptability and purchasing-related behavior the feed industry should also consider farmer’s emotional responses to feed. In a recent test (See figure 1), a team of panelists evaluated samples of flavours from different suppliers through a blind ranking test. Each flavour was diluted in a carrier and dosed to have an equivalent cost per ton of feed. Later, the same flavours were evaluated in pelletized feed, still based on the same dose. All flavors had a red fruits profile. The different tests have shown differences of intensity when products were applied in feed at different conditions: All products have pleasant fruity smell with different additional notes but product A showed the highest intensity, products B, D, H showed the lowest one, especially after pelletization. The comparison based on cost per ton of feed and flavour intensity showed substantial differences between products, in term of return on investment. Nevertheless, evaluation of flavors with human panelists might not be enough to measure differences. Due to an innate survival mechanism for avoiding the over-consumption of toxic plants, horses are naturally sensitive and described as “fussy eaters” (Provenza, 1988). Thus, a panel of horses can be helpful to evaluate feed palatability. In a recent trial (See figures 2), a panel of horses was used to evaluate the palatability of different ingredients. The objective was to determine the impact of each ingredient to improve or damage the palatability of feed. In that test, animals were exposed to regular feed (Negative
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