Pectinase for piglets makes the difference
AveMix® 02 CS : The only EU-registered pectinase containing enzyme combination for piglet feed that makes the difference
Prestarter and starter phases are critical periods in pig production. During these periods, piglets face drastic changes in their feed composition. Going from exclusive sow milk to very complex and highly digestible prestarter feed to a lower digestible starter diet after 5 or 6 weeks of age. Starter diets generally contain a bunch of raw materials more complex to digest due to their extra amount of fibers. Piglets at this stage do not have a fully developed digestive tract which hampers correct digestion of this kind of diet. It is the critical moment to support piglets digestion with a strong enzyme concept able to break down a wide range of non starch polysaccharides. Piglets’ health and performance status during this period will affect the total efficiency of the pig until slaughter.
The right combination: a matter of substrate
Compared to prestarter feed, starter feeds are generally characterized by higher amounts of vegetable ingredients rich in protein such as soybean meal, sunflower meal, rapeseed meal and other by-products as sources of nutrients or energy. These by-products contain higher levels of fibers compared to highly digestible ingredients used in prestarter diets.
Xylan, glucan and pectin: predominant fibers structure in piglets feed
AVEVE Biochem, in collaboration with a Belgian university, has analysed the fibers fraction of more than 50 ingredients used in animal nutrition. In this research, the monomers (building block of the fibers) obtained by the complete hydrolysis of the fiber fraction have been analysed by gas chromatography.
The results, the amounts of each monomer give an indication on the most relevant types of fiber in each raw material (figure 1 at the bottom).
Arabinoxylan (detected by the presence a.o. of arabinose and xylose in blue), glucan (indicated by the presence of glucose in yellow) and pectin (indicated by the presence a.o. of galactose and uronic acid in green) are predominant in the fibers fraction of almost all feed ingredients. This study also shows that pectin is present in large quantities in protein-rich vegetable ingredients such as soybean meal, rapeseed meal or sunflower meal. To tackle this extra amount of specific fibers, AveMix® 02 CS has been formulated taking the feed NSP fibers profile into consideration. AveMix® 02 CS is characterized by high contents of glucanase and xylanase and is the only EU-registered enzyme product which guarantees an extra pectinase activity.
A return on investment well above 10 with AveMix® 02 CS
The more efficient use of ingredients, improved performance and flexible feed formulation lead to improved return on investment (ROI). Economic analysis of 11 trials revealed an average ROI well above 10 when applying AveMix® 02 CS at 200 ppm to the piglet feed. Return on investment of these trials have been estimated based on the performance improvement and feed and piglets prices in Belgium of this year. Data available on request.
Customers feedback: the most reliable source of validation
Feed additive market inside and outside Europe is very competitive and many enzyme concepts are available. Among all the possibilities, it can be complex for users to make a choice between all of them. To deal with that, it is common practice for users to test different enzyme concepts in animal trials. AVEVE Biochem often gets feedback from customers challenging different enzyme concepts in order to evaluate which enzyme concept fits the best in their piglets diet. Here below are the results of three recent trials performed against competitor EU products.
CONCLUSION
All trials demonstrate an important fact: not all enzymes concepts available on the market do allow the same piglet performance response due to their enzyme activity composition but also to the level of each of these activities in the concept. AVEVE Biochem believes that extra and consistent effect on performance can be achieved when using the right NSPases combination and more importantly the right amount of each enzyme in the feed. This is why AveMix® 02 CS with its unique high content in pectinase, glucanase and xylanase performs so well in piglets. First, because it targets the right substrates: xylan, glucan but also pectin present in protein rich by-products that represent the most prevalent non-starch polysaccharides in common piglet feed (see figure 1); but also because the level of each activity in the product has been fine tuned to have enough action on the fibers to allow a better opening the fibre matrix and release a maximum of energy and nutrients.
