Due to the extreme volatility of the actual market situation, and also due to the ongoing reduction in the market supply of feed phosphates, it is necessary to improve the product design in order to obtain phosphates with maximum efficiency and better sustainability for the future of animal production.
Technical Manager
GlobalFeed
The typical phosphates market establishes a different category of products commonly referred to as Monocalcium phosphates and Dicalcium phosphates (anhydrous or dihydrate). However, commercial phosphates are not comprised of a pure chemical entity. Depending on the production process and the ingredients used, the final product can be any of an array of phosphate species, some of which are the result of undesired reactions, such as dicalcium anhydrous.
As shown in Figure 1, European regulations have established classification intervals for phosphates based on the Ca/P rate (Regulation EC 1017/2017). At a higher Ca/P rate, the incorporation of dicalcium phosphate increases in the mineral composition of phosphate, until reaching tricalcium phosphate at its highest rate.
This classification system has given rise to the coexistence of commercial phosphates that have similar Ca/P rates and which fall into the same category, but which have different chemical compositions and wide variances in parameters such as water solubility, citric acid solubility, pH and the presence of other minerals. These differences in chemical composition generate wide variations in phosphorus bioavailability and digestibility in animals.
Most of the existing research on digestibility in monogastric species demonstrates that dicalcium phosphate is less digestible than monocalcium phosphate, and anhydrous is less digestible than hydrated. Therefore, an increase in the amounts of monocalcium and hydrated forms of phosphates would lead to an increase in digestibility. Along the same line, monosubstituted phosphates, such as monocalcium and monosodium phosphates, are the most water-soluble phosphates, which suggests that increased water solubility should be associated with increased availability and digestibility.
GlobalFeed has developed a methodology based on different analytical parameters to quantify and qualify the chemical balance and total composition of phosphates. The results were evaluated to estimate digestibility values using the literature, nutritional studies and finally internal in vivo trials. Together, these parameters allow us to assign digestibility values to the phosphates produced by GlobalFeed.
Due to the extreme volatility of the actual market situation, and also due to the ongoing reduction in the market supply of feed phosphates, it is necessary to improve the product design in order to obtain phosphates with maximum efficiency and better sustainability for the future of animal production.
The design of Socalphos+ allows us to combine calcium phosphate with monosodium phosphate, the latter of which replaces the dicalcium fraction, which has been shown to lower calcium levels. This monosodium level has several advantages in terms of mineral nutrition, the most evident being an increase in phosphorus solubility in water and digestibility, followed by the inclusion of a sodium source that helps to improve the electrolytical balance and reduce the acid binding capacity of the feed. This sodium level replaces the inclusion of salt, thereby reducing the level of chloride, which is known to have a negative impact on the electrolytical balance (Na+K-Cl). Additionally, this could eliminate sodium bicarbonate, which has a high buffering effect in the gut.
In 2021, a trial was conducted by the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain to evaluate the monosubstituted sodium and calcium phosphates in SOCALPHOS+ vs. conventional MCP and pure MCP on the productive performance and digestibility of broilers.
To measure the phosphorus digestibility of phosphates, 64 male chicks were housed in pairs in 32 digestibility cages at 15 days of age. After an adaptation period of one week, the trial was started at 21 days of age. The experimental design was divided into 4 treatments with 8 replicates per treatment, one of which did not include a mineral phosphorus source in order to evaluate the digestibility of the phosphorus form contained in the feed ingredients.
The feed diet consisted of a Negative Control diet without the addition of mineral phosphate (0.33% Ca and 0.2% P) which was used as the basal diet for the inclusion of the different mineral phosphates that were tested: pure MCP with 22% P, 15% Ca, 0.68 Ca/P rate and 99% water solubility; a commercial MCP with 22.4% P, 18% Ca, 0.80 Ca/P rate and 81% water solubility and SOCALPHOS+ with 22% P, 11% Ca, 8% Na, 0.50 Ca/P rate and 84% water solubility; to reach 0.48% Ca and 0.38% P levels in all experimental diets.
Crop pH was acidified (pH 5.9) with SOCALPHOS+
To evaluate the acid-binding capacity of the feed, the amount of HCL necessary to reduce the initial pH at 3 (ABC-3) was evaluated. The diet with Socalphos + showed a lower ABC3 value than the monocalcium forms (186 vs 281 and 279 mEqHCl/kg), which is in line with a lower feed pH (5.9 vs 6.2 and 6.1). As shown by the crop pH value results in Figure 2, there was a significant (P<0.05) reduction in the inclusion of sodium and calcium mineral phosphates in the animals fed with Socalphos+ (pH 5.92). The improved acidification seen with SCP+ will have positive effects on feed digestibility in general, and on phosphorus digestibility in particular.
Results obtained by measuring the ileal and faecal digestibility of phosphorus from the mineral phosphates are shown in Figure 3.
The best result was obtained for MCP pure and the lowest digestibility was for MCP commercial, while Socalphos+ showed intermediate values in terms of ileal and faecal digestibility. The results of Socalphos+ digestibility suggest a better phosphorus nutrition response than that of commercial MCP in broiler diets. Both ileal and faecal phosphorus digestibility was 10% higher with SOCALPHOS+ than in commercial MCP sources.
Phosphorus digestibility was 10% higher with SOCALPHOS+ than with commercial MCP. Better optimization of phosphorus. Reduces the need for phosphates and improves environmental sustainability for the future.
GlobalFeed is a world leader in mineral phosphorus nutrition for animal feed that has dedicated more than 20 years to developing efficient solutions for feed markets around the world.
The GlobalFeed team has been working for several years on new and modern techniques defined as GlobalPhos® technology in order to improve and optimize the manufacturing process as well as the quality and efficiency of its products.
The primary goals of GlobalPhos® technology are to focus on improving phosphorus digestibility, to help optimize efficiency in the animal, to reduce feed costs and to act as a champion for global environmental sustainability.
GlobalPhos® technology produces results, including:
– More soluble and digestible calcium phosphates:
MCPdige / DCPdige
– Combined sodium and calcium phosphates at different levels to provide digestible phosphorus / electrolytical balance / low buffering capacity / acidification for monogastric species:
SCP range: SCP+ / SCPabc / SCPdige
– A unique phosphate designed for aquafeed, with: optimum balance P – Ca – Na%/ HIGH SOLUBILITY in water and digestibility at a wide range of pH levels: AQphos+
– Synergic combinations of phosphorus and NNP for ruminants: Rumenphos
