1 February 2021 – The existence of beta-mannans, anti-nutritional fibers present in many poultry feed ingredients such as soybean and other leguminous seeds, is associated with negative effects on nutrient digestibility and high intestinal viscosity that adversely affects innate immunity and microbial proliferation in the gut. Beta-mannans are also resistant to common feed processing procedures, like pelleting and extrusion.
It is understood that the only option to degrade beta-mannans is to use a beta-mannanase, which can hydrolyse beta-mannans, boost the population of intestinal beneficial bacteria, enhance immunity, suppresses the growth of harmful intestinal bacteria while increasing the digestibility of mannans, enhance the digestion and absorption of nutrients in intestinal tracts and reduce the environmental pollution due to poultry excreta.
Recognised as the industry’s only ‘energy-sparing’ feed enzyme, Hemicell® - a feed enzyme technology Elanco Animal Health acquired in 2012 – is, according to company calculations, supplemented to over 20 million broilers per week in the EU. However, the industry is not fully accustomed to deal with energy sparing feed enzymes and Elanco has embarked on a journey to continue to explain and demonstrate the value of this concept.
Feedinfo discussed some of the main aspects of beta-mannanase use with Karl Poulsen (Regional Nutritional Advisor, EMEA, Elanco Animal Health) and Alberto Morillo (an independent nutritionist at Tests and Trials, in Spain).
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Karl Poulsen
Alberto Morillo |
[Feedinfo] What would you say are the main animal health or animal performance issues if beta-mannans are not eliminated? [Karl Poulsen] Most of the negative effects from beta-mannans are a result of their ability to trigger defense mechanisms of the innate immune system that cause intestinal inflammation, which can reduce both production efficiency and health of swine and poultry. Beta-mannans are found in most vegetable feed ingredients, and in common diets they typically cause a loss of about 3% of dietary energy, reduces flock or herd uniformity, and may even increase the susceptibility to infections and need for antibiotic treatment. [Alberto Morillo] Other adverse effects include increased viscosity of digesta, reduced passage rate through the small intestine and increased total tract retention time, increase of the immune activity, increase the acute phase proteins, decrease post prandial plasma insulin, glucose and gastric inhibitory polypeptide in pigs and reduce the glucose absorption, decrease total energy and crude protein digestibility, increase the n-butyric acid in cecal contents in weaned piglets and reduce the adhesion of pathogenic bacteria to intestine epithelial cells in vivo. |
[Feedinfo] Have you estimated the financial losses that can potentially be associated with beta-mannans and pig performance?
[Alberto Morillo] These evaluations are complicated to assess in commercial studies due to the different variables that affect the production performance, but in a field study conducted in Spain in 2019 with weaned piglets the feed cost was reduced by 0.60€ per pig achieving the same or even better performance. In this trial, Hemicell® was used in diets with reduced levels of expensive proteins and a 63 kcal/kg net energy reduction, which reduced the feed cost by 20.16€/tonne in phase 1 and 23.35€/tonne in phase 2. A similar reduction in the feed cost per pig was observed in a nursery trial in Belgium. In another field study conducted in Spain in 2019 with growing/finishing pigs the cost of the diet was 1.81€ per tonne of feed cheaper when beta-mannanase was formulated into the diet with a reduction of 63 kcal per kg with similar performance. This translated into a reduction of the feed cost per pig by 0.71€ per pig compared to the same diet without Hemicell®.
[Feedinfo] In the past 7-8 months, what new discoveries has Elanco made with regard to beta-mannanase, this time applied to pig nutrition?
[Karl Poulsen] In addition to the meta-analysis on the field performance of Hemicell® in broilers, we also prepared a new meta-analysis about its effect on intestinal integrity in broilers. The analysis, that was based on necropsy results from 44 trials, demonstrated that degrading beta-mannans with Hemicell® improved multiple conditions associated with intestinal integrity. Our main activity has focused around demonstrating the value of using Hemicell® to degrade beta-mannans with individual swine producers, and the field trials from Spain and Belgium, that Alberto mentioned are good examples of them. Last and certainly not least we have a small team that is developing a non-invasive test to measure intestinal integrity in pigs. The tool is currently being validated and the early results are very promising. I hope the tool will be ready within a few months.
[Feedinfo] To demonstrate the use of Hemicell® in poultry, Elanco completed a large meta-analysis of field trials involving 120 million birds between November 2013 to January 2019. Will you be allocating similar resources/timespan for a pig study?
[Karl Poulsen] Meta-analysis is a very powerful tool to evaluate large volumes of field data, and we will definitely repeat the exercise for pigs when enough field data of sufficient quality is available. The meta-analysis in broilers confirmed that it is possible to reduce the energy content of the feed by 87 kcal/kg without loss of performance, basically the same as our general recommendation of reducing the energy content by up to 90 kcal/kg. The introduction of Hemicell® in pigs has just started in Europe, and when enough field trials have been completed, I expect that a new meta-analysis also will confirm our recommendations for use in pigs.
[Feedinfo] Phytases and xylanases were both on the market for many years before their use became standard. Why can’t the same be said about beta-mannanase? What’s blocking?
[Alberto Morillo] The main hurdle is clearly a lack of knowledge about beta-mannans and their potential effects on animal performance. Beta-mannanase is likely the third most common enzyme activity in monogastric feeds, and its use remains far behind phytase and xylanase. As more beta-mannanase producers enters the market, more and more studies about the benefits beta-mannanase offers in different production situations and in combination with other feed enzymes and additives will be published. So, the use of beta-mannanase will undoubtedly also become standard. Finally, if the frequent increases in the cost of important feed raw materials continue to increase the production cost, the search for tools to better control the costs of production will intensify, and the use of beta-mannanase would clearly benefit from this as well.
Published in association with Elanco Animal Health
