Feed & Additive Magazine Issue 3 April 2021

ARTICLE FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE April 2021 77 of more balanced protein nutrition. Orffa also offers solutions to reduce the use of antibiotics in feed and drinking water, and develops products which secure the safety and welfare of the animals as well as the safety of workers in the factory. FIRST LCA OF A NUTRITIONAL EMULSIFIER DEMONSTRATES ITS CONTRIBUTION TO SUSTAINABILITY The effect of Orffa’s nutritional emulsifier (Excen- tial Energy Plus) on the environmental footprint of broiler production was measured on the basis of a se- ries of scientific trials (University of Lavras, Brazil). Blonk Consultants, a leading firm in the application of LCA systematics related to agriculture, performed the assessment. LCA is a technique to evaluate the environmental impact associated with the life of a product or service from cradle to grave. Product En- vironmental Footprint (PEF) guidelines of the Eu- ropean Union were applied as methodology for the calculations. The objective of this study was to assess the foot- print of broilers fed energy-re- duced diets with and without the nutritional emulsifier, in view of several environment impact cate- gories: carbon footprint, eutrophi- cation, acidification and land use. The main results obtained were: - The energy reductions applied (-40/-75 kcal/kg feed) resulted in feed cost savings between 3 to 6 USD/Ton. The application of the nutritional emulsifier resulted in similar performance compared to the standard diet (non-reduced) and a return on investment of 4:1 was obtained. - In terms of total effect on the carbon footprint of broilers, the effect was significant. The use of the nutritional emulsifier allowed to reduce the carbon footprint of broiler production with 0.12 kg of CO 2 eq./kg live weight (Figure 1). - The application of the nutritional emulsifier in the broiler diet allowed to reduce acidification and eutrophication by 2.3 and 1.8%, respectively, and the land use with 1.9%. These positive effects are due to lower ammonia emissions and a shift in raw material composition of the diet. - Applying this calculation in practice allows a broiler company, producing about 100 million broilers per year (weighing about 2 kg at slaughter), to reduce its car- bon footprint in terms of broiler production with about 20,000 metric ton or 0.02 megaton of CO 2 eq. per year! To put things into perspective, the Paris Climate Agreement as adopted in the Netherlands is sched- uled to lead to a reduction in CO 2 eq., exclusively by animal husbandry, of 1.20 megaton per year by 2030. If all broilers produced in the Netherlands would be fed with a nutritional emulsifier, this would allow to account for about 10% of this objective (Figure 2). TURNING SUSTAINABILITY INTO AN ECONOMIC BENEFIT A nutritional emulsifier is spe- cifically designed to be active in the gastro-intestinal tract and efficiently improve energy and nutrient digestibility. The ad- ditive enables feed formulators to reformulate and produce en- ergy-reduced diets without im- pacting performance. This not only results in a more sustainable feed production, but also a more economically interesting one. Making animal production more sustainable does not necessari- ly mean an economic burden to feed producers and farm owners. Including a nutritional emulsifier in feed shows that there are gains on both sides. Figure 1: A sustainable nutritional emulsifier and its effect on CO 2 footprint in energy reduced diets Figure 2: Improved emulsification contributes to climate action