ISSUE FOCUS 66 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE May 2024 tive of age. Heat stress constitutes one such challenge, which may be increasingly problematic with climate change. High ambient temperatures can impact an animal’s ability to maintain energetic, thermal, hormonal and mineral balance. In turn, temperatures above the thermal neutral zone can be detrimental to lactation, growth and reproduction across all agriculturally important livestock species, including aquaculture. Consequently, taking care of the feed composition with selected raw materials and feed additives according to the animal physiologic stage, its environment, management practices, genetics and objective of production is essential to successfully address the challenge. GUT MICROBIOTA MODULATION The complex microbial community (microbiota) of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) plays a crucial role in animal health and can be considered as an important metabolic “organ”. Composition of the intestinal microbiota is dynamic with spatial shifts along each GIT region in relation to environmental changes (Hooper et al., 2002). The entire GIT of chicken is estimated to house 640 species of bacteria from 140 different genera (Waite et al., 2015), where about 90% of the species are yet to be described. Thus, when talking about the importance and influence of gut microflora, the number of bacterial cells in the host is 10 times the eukaryote cell number in poultry body or their genes number is 50 to 100 times higher than the total number of genes constituting the host. Those bacteria have several roles: • Metabolic and nutritional (digestion) • Maturation of immune system - Barrier effect to protect the organism of ‘stranger attack’ - Participation to the set-up of a mature mucosa - Production of Immunoglobulin A and activation of pro inflammatory signals • Global health because dysbiosis can be the first step of an infection, which decreases the tolerance of animals to fight against other agents and consequently, can lead to a more global disease. In the dynamic world of livestock production, the increase of antimicrobial resistance and consumer demand for high-quality food has raised the interest for sustainable and ‘natural’ alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) to meet growth performance and feed efficiency expectations. To support growth and maintain a well-balanced and secure microflora during the whole life of the animals, a lot of solutions are available on the market. Among them, a unique non-viable whole-cell Pichia guilliermondii yeast can positively impact gut microbiota populations in poultry, swine and ruminants. Studies also demonstrated that an innovative combination of copper at very low level associated with a synthetic zeolite have capabilities to modulate the intestinal microbiota thanks to the well-known antimicrobial properties of copper (Meyer et al. 2015). ENHANCEMENT OF FEED DIGESTIBILITY An optimal zootechnical performance can be achieved from different angles. Genetic selection allowed to have the highest performance ‘athletes’ in the livestock industry, but even with the best genetic breeds, to achieve top-level performance it is necessary to maintain health, maximize feed utilization and have the best farm management practices. Different and innovative tools are available to potentiate the best response from the animals from the feed digestibility perspective: • Enzymes are especially important for monogastric animals as they allow greater formulation flexibility to utilize opportunity ingredients containing higher amounts of NSPs (non-starch polysaccharides), expanding the portfolio of cost-saving ingredients that can be utilized in diets. NSPs multi-enzyme complex enables swine and poultry to better utilize the fibrous components of feedstuffs, such as hulls, middlings, and dried distillers grains (DDGS), by improving their digestibility and availability and getting more energy available from those ingredients. Phytases enable swine and poultry to better utilize phytate-bound phosphorus present in plant-based ingredients. • Organic acids and their salts help to decrease the buffer capacity of feed, supporting the reduction
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