Enzymes’ Role as ‘Drivers of Digestion’ Grows in Volatile Markets, but Stability and Ability to Combine Enzymes is Key, says BASF - INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES

A challenging environment of volatile feed prices and supply puts pressure on all players along the value chain to increasingly build on products and technologies to unlock production efficiencies.

Improving nutrient utilisation and converting feed into food more effectively is a key lever for reducing costs and improving return on investment (ROI) in livestock farming. Enzymes are often seen as one of the key options to do this; BASF regards them as ‘drivers of digestion’.

Today’s Industry Perspectives we are joined by BASF’s Dr. Sven K. Weber, Vice President of Feed Enzymes and Feed Performance Ingredients, and his colleague Dr. Anna Fickler, Global Technical Product Manager New Feed Additives.

With its work on enzymes encompassing identification and engineering, to production and formulation, our discussion covers a wide range of topics including key practical issues such as product stability and the ability to combine enzymes for best return on investment.

[Feedinfo] BASF has a long history in feed enzymes. Can you give us a brief overview of this, and where you are today? How do they fit with your current business strategy, and why do they remain important?

We constantly strive to enhance the efficiency of our feed enzymes, and we are dedicated to fostering continuous innovation in this area.

Feed enzymes remain as key pillar in our strategy. We aim to achieve profitable growth while simultaneously creating value for society and the environment. We are committed to provide high-quality ingredients to support our customers in maximizing the nutritional value of feed.

Furthermore, we invest significantly in our production assets. We have, for instance, significantly increased the capacity of our enzyme production platform. The larger production capacity enables us to meet the growing global demand from customers for a reliable, high-quality supply of our feed enzymes, Natuphos^® E (phytase), Natugrain^® TS (xylanase and glucanase) and the recently launched Natupulse^® TS (mannanase).

In addition to the new product launches, we continuously improve our existing feed enzymes portfolio. This includes enhancement in thermostability and offer of combi-products with phytase, xylanase and glucanase with guaranteed enzyme activities. Our broad enzyme portfolio offers the right product formulations for nearly every application.

[Feedinfo] All producers seek the ability to produce more animal protein with less feed – how do enzymes help to achieve this?

These ANF can have a negative impact on feed utilisation and animal health. Our enzymes help to reduce these negative effects by hydrolysing the ANF. In doing so, animal performance is improved by enhancing energy and nutrient utilisation. An improvement in feed conversion means that more animal protein can be produced from less feed, enabling a more sustainable animal protein production.

And there is another positive side effect: any reduction in feed inputs for animal protein production goes a long way towards conserving resources and reducing carbon emissions.

[Feedinfo] Some of your research work has focussed on enzyme stability. Why is this important, and what impact does this have at farm level?

[Dr. Anna Fickler] The stability of an enzyme is a critical factor that can be affected by various conditions such as humid and hot climate conditions during storage of pure product or as ingredient of a vitamin-mineral premix, as well as high temperature during feed processing.

If an enzyme cannot withstand challenging conditions, it is not possible to ensure that animals receive the intended enzyme dose with their feed. A loss of enzyme activity can be detrimental for animal performance, for example, phytase is incorporated into the feed to provide phosphorus. If this enzyme is not delivered with the required activity, the nutritional requirements of phosphorus might not be met.

At BASF, we are aware of the influence of all these factors. With more than 35 years of experience in the feed enzyme business, we consider these factors for the development of molecules but also in formulation of the enzyme products. By doing so, we guarantee that our customers receive high quality products that maintain their activity throughout storage and feed processing.

[Feedinfo] One of your key recommendations is that the enzymes mannanase, phytase and xylanase should be combined and used together. Why is this, and what benefits does this give?

 [Dr. Anna Fickler] The action of an enzyme is relatively substrate-specific. This means that phytase acts on phytate, whereas a mannanase works on the ß-mannan in the diet. We know that commercial monogastric diets contain a mixture of varying levels of ANF like phytate, arabinoxylans, ß-glucans and ß-mannans, which cannot be broken down by the animal due to the lack of the necessary enzymes. Thus, all our enzymes are needed to hydrolyse the ANF in commercial diets. Each of these enzymes generates an additional benefit because it can reduce the potential negative effect of the respective ANF and improves the nutrient utilisation of the animal.

Based on our findings in research trials, we speculate that, for example, the combination of Natugrain TS with Natupulse TS could improve the accessibility of the enzymes to their respective substrate compared to the single enzyme application. As a consequence, we have seen synergistic effects on nutrient utilisation and performance, and on parameters which can support gut health when our enzymes were combined.

[Feedinfo] You state that almost 30% of feed cannot be used by broilers, and that excreted ‘energy’ is worth up to USD$30bn a year. What potential impact would your recommendations for combined use of enzymes use have on these figures?

 [Dr. Anna Fickler] Energy is the most significant cost factor in monogastric diets. It is  determined by the level of nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, and fats in the diet. Thus, the ‘excreted’ energy is basically the sum of nutrients which are not utilised by the animal.

Through our collaborative research with universities and research institutes, we have proven that our enzymes work synergistically to enhance the energy utilisation of the feed. This improvement translates into greater energy release, allowing nutritionists to adjust the diet's energy levels and potentially reduce feed costs. The unique effect of combining all our enzymes, including Natuphos^® E (phytase), Natugrain^® TS (xylanase, glucanase), and Natupulse^® TS (mannanase) on energy release can be attributed to the boosting effects that mannanase and xylanase have on their specific substrates. Consequently, the strategic use of these enzymes can lead to more efficient feed formulations and substantial cost savings in animal nutrition.

[Feedinfo] Does the ongoing volatility in grains, oilseeds and feed prices drive broiler producers to change ration formulation and suppliers more frequently, and would adding a combination of enzymes to the ration help maintain consistent production levels through frequent changes?

[Dr. Sven K. Weber] This challenging environment puts pressure on all players along the value chain to increasingly build on products and technologies to unlock production efficiencies.

Broiler producers as well as all other animal producers basically have two possible options to act in such cases: The first is to retain the nutritive value of the feed. This might directly lead to an increase in feed costs because the same quality and quantity of raw materials will be used, but potentially to a higher price. In this case, the ROI of feed enzymes becomes even greater. As mentioned above, enzymes improve the feed conversion ratio, thus, more feed can be utilised by the animals and so less feed is ‘wasted’. So, the portion of nutrients and energy made available by the enzymes has a higher value in expensive diets, relative to the overall feed costs, which means that the ROI increases.

The second option would be to decrease the nutritive value of feed to keep feed costs constant. For example, the inclusion level of cheaper ingredients in the diet formulation is increased. However, lower quality raw materials often contain more ANF. In this case, feed enzymes can be an effective tool to counteract potential negative effects of ANF on animal performance and balance out the variability of raw material quality to help maintain the consistency of production.

With our broad BASF enzyme portfolio, we can provide products for both scenarios, offering our customers improved flexibility in feed formulation, particularly in this challenging environment.

Overall, we are committed to constantly bringing beneficial products to the market, while also ensuring that our customers can successfully utilize them to generate value.