ISSUE FOCUS 32 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE November 2025 “Organic acids fulfill multiple roles in weaning diets for piglets. As acidifiers, they must be used in conjunction with a good knowledge of the intrinsic properties (ABC-4) of the other feed ingredients. Some of these have a limited effect on the buffering capacity of the final diet and have very similar batch-to-batch ABC-4 values; whereas others may have a significant impact even at low inclusion.” Nutritionists know that digestion starts in the stomach, but do they formulate accordingly? In the past, diets for young piglets, that are known to have an immature digestive system that produces only low levels of endogenous gastric acid (HCl) until 6-8 weeks of age, were traditionally supplemented with an (often arbitrary) amount of organic acids. The use of organic acids was common practice to anticipate gut health challenges like post-weaning diarrhea due to maldigestion and the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria. However, arbitrary inclusion of organic acids in diets may lead to undesired effects, such as reduced feed intake and unnecessary increases in feed cost. The arbitrary use of high amounts of organic acids originates from times when piglets were fed high protein diets supplemented with high pharmacological amounts of zinc oxide (ZnO) to prevent post-weaning diarrhea. These diets were known to have a strong buffering effect in the stomach, and piglet nutritionists anticipated this effect by adding high amounts of organic acids to the diet. Over the years, protein levels in piglet diets have decreased and the pharmacological use of ZnO has been banned in several parts of the world. Even though the buffering capacity of diets has consequently decreased accordingly, piglet nutritionists often continue to use organic acids as acidifiers. In-depth knowledge of, and awareness about, the Acid Binding Capacity (ABC) of raw materials enable a well-reasoned use of organic acids and a more cost-effective feed formulation, as applied by Agrifirm nutritionists in daily practice. ABC: THE START OF SMART FORMULATION Acid Binding Capacity (ABC) is a well-known characteristic of raw materials or complete feed. The higher this value, the higher the capacity to neutralize acids – which is of particular importance when formulating diets for young piglets. A higher ABC value of the feed not only means that a higher quantity of gastric HCl is required to keep the stomach’s pH sufficiently low. It also means that, after feed intake, it will take longer for the stomach’s pH to return to a value sufficiently low to inhibit pathogens. This “increased pH” time interval ocIT IS NOT JUST ABOUT ORGANIC ACIDS Sammy Vanden Driessche Raw Material & Application Specialist Agrifirm
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