ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE October 2024 61 Modern dairy production is facing a series of unprecedented challenges. Postbiotics are an emerging technology that offers a stable, quick and focused solution to help manage intestinal health in ruminants, improve performance and health and contribute to reducing their environmental footprint. Modern livestock production is facing unprecedented challenges including disease outbreaks, restrictions on antibiotic usage, environmental volatility, economic pressure and increasing scrutiny for sustainability and environmental footprint. Ruminants themselves are methane producers, a gas which has a 28 times greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide, so balancing rumen health to help manage the environmental footprint is of increasing concern. Given the multitude of factors that can affect livestock production, maintaining a healthy digestive system and good gut health is essential for ruminants to both perform efficiently and minimize their environmental impact. RUMINANT DIGESTIVE SYSTEM Unlike monogastric animals, the ruminant digestive system is designed to ferment feedstuffs via its four-chambered stomach and generate energy precursors for use. However, in the young animal (pre-ruminant) the digestive system is simpler, and the rumen, reticulum and omasum are undeveloped until the switch from milk to solid feed. This typically creates a different focus for the management of intestinal health based on life stage. In the pre-ruminant the targets include improved early immune resilience, establishing a healthy lower gut microbiota and preparation of the developing stomach for fermentation. In the older animal, the focus tends to be maintenance of intestinal health and rumen function for efficient nutrient use and health status. The management of ruminant intestinal health requires a multi-factorial approach using a range of tools including management, breeding, biosecurity, vaccination, nutrition and feed additives. Feed additives is a broad category and in the last few years, postbiotics have gained momentum as an additive of choice. POSTBIOTICS – PRACTICALITY AND EFFICACY Postbiotics are defined as ‘a preparation of inanimate micro-organisms and/or their components that confers a health benefit on the target host’ (Swanson et al., 2020). The preparation can be metabolites alone or include the dead microorganisms or cellular fractions and can be based on eukaryotic, prokaryotic organisms, or both. Typical candidate microorganisms for the production of post biotics include yeast such as Saccharomyces, Bifidobacteria, lactic acid bacteria and fungi. Better gut health for better returns: ENHANCING DAIRY PRODUCTION WITH POSTBIOTICS Dr. David Harrington Director of Product Management nu.ance Biotechnology
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUxNjkxNQ==