CCPA is keen to contribute to the competitiveness and sustainability of the animal feed industry and has just carried out its first LCA on one of its flagship products: Turboviv’. This study, carried out with the help of an independent consultancy firm, provides an objective estimation of the potential for reducing the environmental footprint of certain phytogenic additives such as Turboviv’ for milk production.
Product Manager for Feed Solution
CCPA Group
Today, the economic performance of nutritional supplements incorporated into feed is no longer enough. Environmental performance is becoming essential and Life Cycle Assessment provides an objective view of this.
Thanks to their impact on feed manufacturing and digestion, some nutritional supplements can have a positive environmental impact. This is the case with Turboviv’, a natural additive derived from CCPA’s know-how in phyto-expertise and the first product from the CCPA group to benefit from a life cycle analysis.
2 values are calculated, each with its own interest:
• The impact of producing one kilo of Turboviv’ in bag (including inputs, logistics, packaging, manufacturing): This value is useful for all manufacturers who want to embark on an LCA process in which they have to integrate their supplies. The value of the Turboviv’ product is low compared with additives, which can be explained by the choice of ingredients and their production processes.
• The impact of Turboviv’ per kilo of milk produced: The environmental footprint has been calculated by integrating the complete cycle of the product, i.e. its production, its impact on the feeding of dairy cows, its influence on ruminal metabolism and the production benefit. The beneficial effect of integrating Turboviv’ on the composition of the ration and on methane production means that it has a largely positive environmental footprint.
1st lesson: The environmental impact of producing a bag of Turboviv’ is limited
WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE?
The value found is 694 T CO2eq/t of Turboviv’ packaged. This places the additive among the low-impact additives, as illustrated by the graph below, comparing it with a few examples of other feed components.
2nd lesson: The environmental impact of Turboviv’ is positive when compared to the production of 1 kilo of milk.
As well as considering the manufacture of Turboviv’, the LCA will include the impact of the additive in the manufacture of the feed and once ingested by the animal, its effect on metabolism and milk production. We carry out an overall assessment to bring back each litre of milk produced with and without Turboviv’ to measure the impact of the solution on the environmental footprint.
For the purposes of the LCA, a complete feed type was formulated with and without Turboviv’, a dairy cow breeding model from the west of France was used as a reference, maintaining the same basic ration in terms of fodder and the same mineralisation. The effect of Turboviv’ on zootechnical parameters is derived from various trials and publications validated by an independent consultancy firm.
At the end, the environmental footprint is improved by around 6% by using Turboviv’ in the ration of dairy cows, for almost all the parameters measured (see table below).
The impacts on the use of water and land are linked to the better use of certain raw materials thanks to Turboviv’, in particular local raw materials and fodder from the farm to the detriment of imported raw materials such as soya meal.
For a farm producing 800,000 litres of milk in western France (the one chosen for calculating the LCA), this represents an annual reduction of: 61T of GHG emissions in C02eq/year and 2100 m3less water consumption.
This study, carried out with the help of an independent consultancy firm to guarantee the reliability of the results, provides an objective estimation of the potential for reducing the environmental footprint of certain phytogenic additives such as Turboviv’ for milk production. This environmental impact is coupled with an economic impact (gain of €0.2 to €0.3/cow/day) to boost the competitiveness of the dairy industry.
