Pathway Intermediates Shares More on its Absorption Accelerator’s Impact on Monogastric & Ruminant Performance – INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES

In order to achieve optimal performance and maintain health, it is important to ensure that production animals are able to adequately absorb vital nutrients from their feed. Improving absorption, therefore, can not only help with maximising performance and health, but can also play a role in reducing feed costs and promoting environmental sustainability in animal production operations.

Pathway Intermediates’ flagship absorption accelerator range, Lipidol®, uses functional lysophospholipids to increase the absorption of nutrients by acting on the biological process of absorption through the intestinal wall as well as increasing the digestibility of the ration. In this Industry Perspectives, the company’s Marketing Team Lead, Dr. Jake Jeong talks us through the science behind “the world’s first absorption accelerator” and details some of the research that has been conducted to test its effectiveness. We also touch on the potential cost savings that could be unlocked through its synergistic effects with enzyme products and take a closer look at Lipidol®'s impact on reducing environmental emissions.

Dr. Jeong also shares Lipidol®’s potential application in ruminant animals and how it can impact milk production in lactating cows and also body weight in beef cattle. Finally, he’ll give us a sneak peek at what delegates can expect to learn about Lipidol®'s usefulness in aquaculture at the upcoming Aquatic Asia 2023 seminar.

[Feedinfo] Can you briefly remind us how the technology works? How does Lipidol®’s combination of functional lysophospholipids (LPLs) go about improving nutrient absorption?

[Feedinfo] How did you go about measuring the effectiveness of Lipidol®? What are some of the key studies and findings that you can share with us on its impact on animal performance?

[Dr. Jake Jeong] In research trials, the beneficial effects of Lipidol® were evaluated by various biological responses including, but not limited to, growth performance and digestibility of nutrients. Other species-specific responses were also measured, such as egg production for layers or milk production for lactating cows. One of the key studies is the article by Boontiam et al. (2019) published in Poultry Science. In this study, broiler chickens were fed either positive control diets or negative control diets containing reduced ME by 150 kcal/kg. As a result, feeding negative control diets with increasing concentrations of Lipidol® improved body weight, body weight gain, and FCR of birds. In addition, increased growth performance parameters were comparable to those observed in birds fed the positive control diets. Therefore, this study demonstrated that feeding Lipidol® increased the absorption of energy, thereby increasing the ME of diets as well as the growth performance of broiler chickens.

[Feedinfo] You’ve stated that the synergistic effects between Lipidol® and enzyme products could unlock additional cost savings in feed formulation. Can you share more on how you were able to prove this and how much savings are we talking about here?

[Dr. Jake Jeong] Enzymes can degrade large molecules (polysaccharides, protein, fat) into small molecules (sugar, amino acid, lipid) as well as degrade anti-nutritional factors like NSP. Using Lipidol® with enzymes makes more nutrients available compared to using enzymes alone by promoting the absorption of nutrients that are degraded into absorbable sizes. That's why we say Lipidol® has synergistic effects with enzymes. This synergistic effect increases the energy utilisation of feed and ultimately unlocks additional cost savings.

[Feedinfo] We’ve talked about LPLs and nutrient absorption. But nutrient loss, especially into the environment, is a key concern for the industry too. Have you measured Lipidol®’s effect on reducing emissions, like nitrogen? What research can you share with us?

[Dr. Jake Jeong] Environmental issues and sustainability are topics that must always be considered in the livestock industry. When Lipidol® is fed to broilers or pigs, the results of increasing DM digestibility or CP digestibility have been repeatedly demonstrated through numerous studies. In addition, it can be said that enabling energy-reduced feed production, it can contribute to sustainable agriculture by contributing to reducing not only nitrogen but also carbon dioxide. The use of Lipidol® in poultry feed reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 2.5 to 4.4%, and when applied to swine feed, it reduced carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 6.5%.

[Feedinfo] We’ve talked quite a bit about Lipidol®’s impact on monogastric animals, but not too much about ruminants. Earlier you briefly mentioned a study involving lactating cows. Could you expand a bit more on the application of the solution in ruminants?

[Dr. Jake Jeong] We have studied the application of Lipidol® in both dairy and beef cattle, and it was very successful in terms of improvements in overall production. A research trial conducted at The Ohio State University (Lee et al., 2019; Journal of Dairy Science) showed that milk yield, fat-corrected milk yield, and energy-corrected milk yield linearly increased as the dietary Lipidol® level increased. In addition, a recent beef cattle study conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champain (Oliveira Junior et al., 2022; Journal of Animal Science) also revealed that final body weight, average daily gain, and hot carcass weight linearly increased when beef steers were fed increasing levels of Lipidol® for 210 days. Both studies demonstrated that Lipidol® works on the digestive tract of ruminants and improves nutrient utilisation, leading to increased productivity.

[Feedinfo] I was also wondering if you could update us on the intestinal health and microbiome studies you mentioned running in our last chat, which were aimed at understanding the positive effects of Lipidol® and expanding on the tight junction work you completed in 2016 in conjunction with the University of Georgia. Can you give us a sneak peek at some of your findings?

[Dr. Jake Jeong] According to a study with the University of Georgia, claudin-3 expression was significantly increased when Lipidol® was added to a low-energy diet. Claudin-3 is a key component of tight junctions and forms seals that regulate resistance to bacterial invasion and regulate paracellular transport. High expression of claudin-3 is beneficial for maintaining a tight seal of the epithelial barrier to generate a high concentration gradient of sodium ions across the epithelium required for the active transport of nutrients such as glucose and amino acids. These results clearly demonstrated that Lipidol® supplementation improved intestinal integrity by enhancing tight junction proteins.

[Feedinfo] Finally, you will be talking more about Lipidol® and its usefulness in aquaculture at Aquatic Asia 2023. What can delegates look forward to at this seminar?

[Dr. Jake Jeong] Delegates will learn that lysophospholipids have been proven to be a cost-effective solution to improve fat digestion and nutrient absorption in aquaculture.  It will also be a good opportunity to discuss the possibility of replacing lecithin with Lipidol®. Together with this, they will also walk away with more information and a better understanding of the benefits of Lipidol® in all production animal species.

 Published in association with Pathway Intermediates