It has long been recognised, both inside and outside the industry, that animal feeding programmes are sizeable contributors to the total environmental impact of animal production. In fact, according to a review by Elanco, around 70% of the environmental footprint of poultry and pork production is associated with feed.
In today’s Industry Perspectives the company is looking to highlight the importance of novel feeding strategies in mitigating the environmental impacts of pig and poultry production by sharing the findings of a study it conducted showing how the use of beta-mannanase supplementation not only potentially improves growth performance and nutrient digestibility in pigs and broilers, but that the enzyme can also save resources and increase energy-use efficiency.
Below Marcos Kipper da Silva, the company’s Senior Technical Consultant for Nutritional Health takes us through what this study entailed and how the application of the company’s beta-mannanase solution, Hemicell, impacted the three main environmental footprint indicators that were looked at in the study, namely climate change, eutrophication, and acidification.
He also gives us a sneak peek at what is next for the company in terms of beta-mannanase supplementation research and the potential applications in animal farming.
[Feedinfo] This is not the first study that has investigated beta-mannanase as a potential eco-friendly feed strategy for pig and poultry farming. So, what sets this one apart? What inspired Elanco to support it?
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Marcos Kipper da Silva |
[Marcos Kipper] Elanco is committed to the development of information and products that support sustainable livestock production and this study falls within this mission. It quantifies the environmental impact of Hemicell, our beta-mannanase solution, so that our customers understand what sustainability claims they may make when using it. What differentiates this study from others is that, in addition to running it in one of the world’s key major livestock producing regions, we also wanted to quantify the impact of enzyme production. With all this information we may replicate and model the impact of Hemicell under other conditions, such as Europe using agreed European methodologies for assessing sustainability impacts in feed. Interestingly, the results of this study are very similar to others that showed good consistency in the benefits in the use of beta-mannanase. |
[Feedinfo] Let’s look closer at this study. How did you go about investigating the effects of beta-mannanase supplementation on pig and poultry feeding systems?
[Marcos Kipper] The impact of using beta-mannanase is related to how we position the enzyme in the context of feed formulation. The greater the energy value attributed to its effect, the greater its impact on reducing the environmental footprint. This is because the use of beta-mannanase can reduce the concentration of oil sources (energy) needed in formulations without impacting animal performance. Our theory was that by using this characteristic we were able to reduce the environmental footprint of poultry and pork feed. To prove this, we formulated different diets in virtually all productive stages of poultry and swine with and without our beta-mannanase. What we noticed was that when we add the enzyme the diet is modified in such a way that climate change and eutrophication are reduced. Basically, this happened due to the reduction in the use of soybean oil.
[Feedinfo] Can you provide more details on the life-cycle assessment standards used to assess environmental impact?
[Marcos Kipper] Briefly, the first thing we needed to define when we started the study was to determine what the area of scope would be. In this study, we defined the production of grains and feed ingredients as the cradle (or starting point), and the finished feed as the gate (or end point). So, we considered all processes in between these two points, including the use of fertilizers, transportation, grain drying, milling, and more. When all the cradle-to-gate processes were listed - which we referred to as inventories - we began populating each inventory with environmental footprint information (which was provided by recognised agencies or scientific articles). To compare the footprint of each diet more evenly, we settled on 1kg of feed as a functional unit.
[Feedinfo] And what were some of the key findings that emerged from your research? Any surprising results that you encountered?
[Marcos Kipper] In a previous study we published 2 years ago, we identified the main environmental footprint indicators explored in the area and, therefore, we focused the present study on them: climate change (Kg CO2 equivalent), eutrophication (Kg PO2 equivalent), and acidification (Kg SO2 equivalent). Using equivalents of CO2, PO2 and, SO2 is a strategy to simplify the comparisons because we place various ingredients and manufacturing processes on the same level. Regardless of how the beta-mannanase energy matrix is applied, we observed a reduction in climate change and eutrophication. Climate change was the most impacted with a decrease noted, ranging from 3.8 to 16.2% depending on stages of growth (starter, grower, and finisher phases).
We also identified a small, non-significant increase in acidification, which piqued my interested the most. When we work with multiple environmental footprint indicators, we cannot improve all of them at the same time. Whenever we push to reduce one the others can increase. Therefore, it is necessary to find a balance that is not necessarily the same in different regions of the world. In other words, the strategy for one region may not be considered ideal for another region. In the case of our study, it was possible to considerably reduce climate change and reasonably reduce eutrophication, but we had a minimal increase in acidification. This happened because with the removal of soybean oil from the diet, we increased the inclusion of corn and soybean meal which tend to have a greater acidification footprint.
[Feedinfo] Now, zooming in, how exactly does beta-mannanase supplementation improve the energy-use efficiency of pig and poultry production systems? Please share your findings.
[Marcos Kipper] In poultry and swine feed there is a type of vegetable fibre generically called beta-mannan or beta-galactomannan. These vegetable fibres are part of a group of substances that the animal's immune system identifies as a possible biological threat, also known as Pathogen-Associated Molecular Pattern (PAMP). Whenever the immune system identifies a PAMP, it activates a cascade of reactions that ends with local inflammation that, depending on the extent, can cause systemic consequences. When the immune system mounts a response against dietary beta-mannans, we essentially have a useless immune response occurring. This will cost the animal nutrients and energy to defend itself against a threat that does not exist and losing resources that could be used for growth. Beta-mannanase enters this context by breaking down beta-mannans and preventing the animal from mounting this useless inflammatory response, redirecting nutrients towards growth. In the studies that I have done, both under commercial and experimental conditions, I have observed a reduction in the expression of biomarkers of intestinal inflammation like calprotectin and neopterin. This shows us that this unneeded inflammation is reduced when Hemicell is used in both poultry and swine.
[Feedinfo] Returning to the environmental impacts investigated in the study. Why just look at climate change, eutrophication and acidification? Did you consider any other environmental impact categories?
[Marcos Kipper] We ended up focusing on these three indicators because they are the most explored by the scientific literature in poultry and pork production. We recently carried out a systematic review on the subject and found that around 70% of the environmental footprint of poultry and pork production is associated with feed. That's why we ended up not advancing to the animal production stage, also because production systems vary greatly from place to place. Of course, we can explore other indicators such as water and land use or other emission indicators. But according to our systematic review, these three indicators are the ones that are most influenced by animal production.
[Feedinfo] Were there any differences in the environmental impacts of beta-mannanase supplementation between the pig and broiler feeds that you formulated?
[Marcos Kipper] In our study, we defined feed production as the final point of study. Therefore, we found no difference between species. Of course, the effect can be bigger or smaller depending on the ingredients used, but the relationship between beta-mannanase energy and environmental footprint is the same for both species. I believe if we consider the animal phase we can find some differences, that is, if we consider 1kg or 1 ton of meat produced as a functional unit the results would be different. I would suggest this since poultry is more efficient in using energy in the form of oil than pigs. Basically, what we changed in the diets with our enzyme was the oil inclusion.
[Feedinfo] Have you investigated the potential economic benefits of using beta-mannanase as a feed supplement in pigs and poultry feeding systems? If so, what can you share with us?
[Marcos Kipper] The main objective of an additive is to make the production system more profitable, and it is not different with beta-mannanase. Soybean oil is a relatively expensive source of energy for feed. Whenever we manage to reduce the oil in the diet, we manage to reduce costs. The idea of beta-mannanase is to reduce costs while maintaining constant performance, that is, to produce the same amount at a lower cost. For pigs, we still have another interesting position in the pig nursery phase: to replace expensive sources of protein with a cheaper source, which is soybean meal. Thus, we managed to considerably reduce the cost of the diet and beta-mannanase helps to control the negative effects of beta-mannans present in soybean meal.
[Feedinfo] What are some of the next steps that you plan to take in your research on beta-mannanase supplementation and its potential applications in animal farming?
[Marcos Kipper] As beta-mannanase indirectly reduces intestinal inflammation, I believe that it can also be seen as improving animal welfare. We already have data in laying hens showing that when they consumed these enzymes, they exhibit behaviours that are considered good at increasing levels like consuming their feed more calmly and for a longer period, spending more time exploring the environment and less time sitting. Our plan is to now investigate this for broilers and pigs too, with the belief being that this could potentially be of great use in increasing the welfare of gestating and lactating sows especially.
Published in association with Elanco