Feed & Additive Magazine Issue 4 May 2021

SPECIAL STORY 36 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE May 2021 REPLACING ZINC IN PIG PRODUCTION There is not one single product that can replace the current use of Zinc Oxide. A ZnO free pig production requires improvements in many fields that include farm management, biosecurity, genetics, the health status of the pig and diet composition. Fiber can become a vital part of ZnO free piglet diets. E ven though the ban on pharmaceutical use of Zinc Oxide has so far only been announced in the European Union, there is an increasing interest for fiber all over the world. Producers are targeting a reduction in medication in young animal nutrition, driven by government regulations and consumer preferences. That results in increased demand for highly digestible ingredi- ents. These trends will not only generate an interest in fiber products but will also increase the demand for quality protein as Zinc Oxide free diets will re- quire highly digestible ingredients that are low in an- ti-nutritional factors (ANF). Eliminating Zinc Oxide from the diet can easily be done by lowering the protein content in the formu- lation. The challenge however is to maintain the cur- rent level of high performance, in terms of growth, feed conversion and uniformity, whilst eliminating the Zinc Oxide without the increased use of other medication. This is where highly digestible proteins are increasingly relevant. THE FUTURE LIES IN FIBER Ever since the European Union announced the up- coming ban on ZnO in June 2017, the R&D team at Hamlet Protein has been working to develop a product that could be introduced alongside our pro- tein portfolio. Different concepts and formulations have been researched and tested, leading to new fiber solutions. Hamlet Protein introduced HP FiberStart in 2019 and will launch HP FiberBoost in Europe in August 2021. The introduction of fiber as a functional in- gredient to stimulate the gut and ease the transition at weaning forms part of Hamlet Protein’s strategy to help pig producers to transition to Zinc Oxide free diets. Trial work on piglet performance day 0-14 post-weaning show that HP FiberBoost resulted in 7% higher growth and a 6% improvement on FCR when compared to a diet without functional fibers. Analyses of the effect of HP FiberBoost on the production of butyric acid and protein fermentation products in the colon of piglets showed that HP Fi- berBoost increased the concentration of butyric acid in the colon by 23% and decreased the concentration of branched-chain fatty acids, an indicator of protein Erik Visser CEO Hamlet Protein