poultry producers

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Importance of gut health in reducing antibiotic use still underestimated by poultry producers

“While antibiotic use in poultry has already been reduced significantly in several markets, a lot of countries are still using them irresponsibly. Much more can and should be done to reduce the need for these therapies and to safeguard their use for protecting animal welfare.”

This is what Barbara Brutsaert, Antibiotic Reduction Programme Lead at Trouw Nutrition, shared with Feedinfo during a recent catch up to discuss, amongst other things, the importance of the poultry industry continuing its efforts to further reduce the therapeutic use of antibiotics in production.

Of equal importance, according to her, is increasing the industry’s awareness of just how critical bird gut integrity can be. “While the industry understands its importance, its role in antibiotic reduction is probably still underestimated”. So, in this Industry Perspectives, Feedinfo sits down with both Ms. Brutsaert and Yvonne van der Horst, Global Product Manager for Gut Health at Trouw

Barbara Nutrition’s feed additive

Brutsaert brand Selko®, to find out how the feed additive solutions provider is helping the industry improve its approach to bird gut health as a means of addressing the antibiotics gap. We also find out how its popular Selko Presan®-FY product, a blend of a phenolic compound, slow release C12, target release butyrates, mediumchain fatty acids (MCFA) and organic acids, remains a valuable tool in supporting gut integrity in poultry 10 years after its market release, contributing to antibiotic reduction strategies.

[Feedinfo] What should farmers be considering when developing an effective antibiotics reduction strategy? [Barbara Brutsaert] First, a good antibiotic use analysis is needed, focusing on what certain antibiotics are used for and what the producer wants to achieve with their use. Second, an assessment of the feed, farm, and health status of the full production chain needs to be done to fully understand the current situation, including understanding the real triggers for antibiotic use, and also the opportunities and challenges. Based on these assessments a customised value-added programme should be designed, which includes nutrition, farm management and health management solutions. It should also consider economics and animal welfare, to increase the chance of long-term success.

[Feedinfo] And when it comes to supporting gut integrity in birds under this strategy, what should be kept in mind?

[Barbara Brutsaert] When people think of antibiotics the first aspect that comes to mind is the microbiota itself. However, several antibiotics also have anti-inflammatory properties. Beyond that, it is important to fully understand the primary triggers (eg. immune suppression by viral infection or mycotoxins) which lead to the health challenges for which antibiotics are used.

Because most of a bird’s immune cells reside in the gut, maintaining a healthy intestinal environment is critical to supporting its health in general, even under challenges that originate outside the gut (e.g., locomotory, respiratory, etc.). By improving gut integrity, you not only improve the absorption of nutrients necessary to fight diseases, but also the immune system and resilience of the animal.

A healthy gut barrier also enables good digestion of feed and, for example, avoids the oversupply of fermentable protein in the hindgut, which can cause harmful microbial overgrowth. This is often a trigger for antibiotic use, making both microbiota management and gut integrity key aspects in the effective reduction of the use of antibiotics.

[Feedinfo] To help producers improve the gut health of their flocks, you are proposing Presan-FY, a product which was launched 10 years ago. Considering how rapidly the landscape surrounding antibiotic reduction in poultry production has changed during this time, how effective a tool can it still be here?

[Yvonne van der Horst] As mentioned before, it’s important to create a holistic programme based on a producers’ individual situation through an assessment of the full value chain. Presan-FY has a broad-spectrum effect; it both balances the microbiota and directly impacts the gut integrity, both of which are crucial to keep a bird’s gut healthy.

It does this through its blend of phenolic compound, slow

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release C12, target release butyrates, medium-chain fatty acids and organic acids with high pKa-value. The importance of this synergy between different classes of feed additives is often underestimated. It has been shown that a broad range of factors, such as morphological changes of the intestines, immunomodulatory effects and altered gut barrier function, can impact animal performance (Granstad 2021). Choosing a broadspectrum and preferably synergistic blend of feed additives with multiple modes of action is most likely to provide the best benefits needed during challenging times in the animal production process.

Presan-FY’s impact on poultry gut health and digestion can also help avoid fermentable protein ending up in the hindgut, which, as mentioned earlier, can contribute to harmful microbial overgrowth.

Continuous R&D and validation work at universities and in the field has proven that the various individual components of PresanFY and the solution as a whole remain among the most effective in improving animal performance and reducing the need for antibiotics.

[Feedinfo] You recently conducted a trial that found Presan-FY can “significantly improve zootechnical performance” in broilers. Can you please take us through how you were able to prove this?

Yvonne van der Horst Photos courtesy of Trouw Nutrition

[Feedinfo] Finally, do you think consumers are being adequately informed of the significant progress made by the poultry industry in the matter of antibiotics reduction?

[Yvonne van der Horst] An extensive scientific study was executed in Norway in which a list of commercially available feed additive blends was compared under uniform testing conditions. Birds were challenged to simulate field conditions and effects on performance b parameters were examined. Presan-FY significantly improved body weight gain of broilers compared to the negative control group, and outperformed all competitors tested with regards to body weight gain (see figure 1).

The cost of inclusion of a feed additive often strongly influences the choice of the solution. For this reason, the zootechnical results of the study were also analysed from a financial point of view. Based on this study, only two out of the seven feed additive solutions showed a positive added value per broiler, including Presan-FY. For the rest of the treatments the added value was negative, indicating that the improvement in performance did not compensate for the cost of inclusion of the feed additive solution. [Feedinfo] So, what lies ahead for Presan-FY and Trouw Nutrition? Are you exploring new applications/advancements/developments for the product? What can you share with us? [Yvonne van der Horst] We are continuously exploring new advancements for our portfolio. One promising new area will be

enabled by the easier, more precise monitoring of gut health, allowing us to optimise product recommendations. Also, we can optimise or extend product applications in specific production phases to further integrate the holistic approach in the production chain. The application of PresanFY in other species is also showing promising results, providing interesting new possibilities. And we will continue to consider and test new ingredients and technologies to improve the current mode of action pillars of the product or extend to new pillars. [Barbara Brutsaert] Unfortunately, the communication to consumers often does not contain the complete picture. For example, what 1,800 2,000 a b a does ‘antibiotic free’ mean? In some 1,600 regions it means 1,400 respecting the legal Body weight gain, g 800 1,000 1,200 Control Presan-FY Competitor #1 Competitor #2 withdrawal time of antibiotics, so there are no antibiotic residues in the meat 600 Competitor #3 (meaning below 400 Competitor #4 Maximum Residue 200 Competitor #5 Levels). In other 0 Phase 1, d 0-14 Phase 2, d 15-28 Overall, d 0-28 Competitor #6 regions it means that no antibiotics were used on the broiler farm, or in the full value chain, which is already a big difference. Also, while in the US ‘NAE’ (no antibiotics ever) means produced without antibiotics and ionophores, in Western Europe retailers don’t usually communicate this as consumers could assume that other meat contains antibiotic residues (which is not the case as the withdrawal times are well respected). Many consumers still believe that broilers in particular are full of antibiotics, without realising what has been achieved in the last 20 years. Moreover, the idea that antibiotic use in animal production contributes more to antibiotic resistance in humans than human use is a continuing myth. Obviously, it is difficult for the consumer to navigate all of this, so it is really up to us in the industry to communicate more proactively and effectively.

a a a a a a

a b a a a a a

a b a b a a a Figure 1: Body weight gain of broilers fed mixed feed additive solutions in each phase. Bars with different superscripts within phases differ (p<0.05).