ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE October 2023 33 IMPACT OF FEED ADDITIVES Clearly, feed additives are an important nutritional tool when it comes to intestinal health. Above is described the importance of organic acids, when it comes to stomach acidification and acid buffering capacity, but their actions are much wider than this. For example, formic acid and propionic acid are very strong in controlling bacterial and fungal contamination of compound feed or raw materials. All organic acids have a pKa value that determines if they are antibacterial or will acidify the environment depending on the pH of the environment. Therefore, the right combination of different organic acids will be able to acidify and reduce the pathogenic load in the stomach of piglets. On top of that ACIDAL® NC is enhanced with a natural extract and a taste enhancer to work synergistically with the organic acids. A weaning piglet trial confirmed the beneficial effect of the organic acid blend. The feed conversion ratio during the pre-starter phase (day 21-35) was improved with 13 points compared to a control diet without organic acids. This implies that the piglet’s stomach functioning was improved, which resulted in an increased protein digestion and conversion into growth. Furthermore, feed intake was not different between both groups indicating that 5 kg/T ACIDAL® NC did not negatively influence the palatability of the diet. Another organic acid, butyric acid, works directly in the intestinal tract. It is a metabolite for the epithelium cells, which is directly converted as an energy source. Hence this molecule promotes digestive enzyme secretion, villus development and gut barrier fortification in the epithelial cells. Moreover, it reduces gut inflammation and could lower the virulence of Salmonella. With these properties, butyric acid is very effective to establish a proper intestinal equilibrium in young animals. Moreover, it works synergistically with short or medium chain fatty acids, essential oils or natural extracts that possess antibacterial properties to achieve a complete intestinal protection. Butyric acid is supplemented in the feed either as a salt form or as a glyceride. The salt forms, sodium butyrate and calcium butyrate, are fat coated to bypass stomach conditions and avoid early liberFigure 1. Piglet's feed conversion ratio during pre-starter phase. (a, b at p<0.05) Figure 2. Broiler’s body weight at the end of the trial (day 39). (a, b at p<0.05) Figure 3. Villi to crypt (V/C) ratio in the duodenum part of the intestine. (a, b at p<0.05)
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