NEWS ▶▶▶ Iran’s feed industry strong despite geopolitical concerns
The Iranian government has managed to avoid serious turbulence on the domestic feed mar- ket on the back of US sanctions and the volatil- ity of the national currency, Dr Majid Movafegh Ghadirly, Chairman of the Iran Feed Industry Association said: “the government of Iran is now allocating funds in order to ensure sus- tainable import of feedstuff on which Iran is highly dependent.” In addition, the market prices foraw materials are regulated by gov- ernment agencies. “We have government pric- ing in Iran, so prices have not fluctuated sharp- ly,” Dr Ghadirly said. “Another reason why we didn’t have significant price fluctuation is due to the use of strategic stocks at a time when the market is in short supply.” The government distributes its reserve stocks at a guaranteed low price to ensure that the feed mills in the country are not short of feedstuff.
Government pricing
“The government prices in the market haven’t changed significantly over the past year, but naturally in some seasons we are likely to have
Dr Ghadirly
some slight price fluctuations due to domestic crops [harvest], with volatility limited to 7%,” Dr Ghadirly said. Government policy is be- lieved to be a very important factor to main- tain the stability of the national feed industry.
US sanctions on Iran Iran imports 80% of its feedstuffs, including corn and barley, and, as the exchange rate of the Iran’s national currency, the Rial, slumped nearly threefold to 120,000 to the US dollar, in the six months following the introduction of US sanctions in 2018, import supplies have be-
Citrus extract improves gut health of piglets
A study evaluated the efficacy of citrus extract as a substitute for antibiotics in piglet diets. The results indicate that citrus extract in- creased the concentrations of plasma-essential amino acids, thus improving intestinal mor- phology and digestive enzymes activity. Pig- lets can experience stress during weaning, which changes their physiology and can lead to intestinal dysfunction, thereby negatively impacting growth performance. Antibiotics are commonly used to treat these conditions, to prevent diarrhoea, promote growth, and im- prove intestinal digestion and absorption. Finding an alternative to antibiotics that re- duces both antibiotic use and nitrogen emis- sions, improves animal growth, benefits farms economically, and reduces environmental pol- lution, would be of great benefit. Citrus flavo- noids are reported to be extremely biologically active compounds. Citrus extract has various biological functions, including anti-cancer, an- ti-bacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects. Its strong antioxidant and anti-inflam-
matory effects are very valuable in improving animal health.
The piglet experiment The experiment, which was published in an MDPI open-access journal, was performed on 144 weaned piglets (Duroc×Landrace×Large White), which were divided into three groups. 1. The control group was fed a basic diet 2. The antibiotic group was fed a basic diet sup- plemented with 75 g/t of chlortetracycline
3. For the citrus extract group a basic diet was supplemented with 300 mL/t of citrus extract.
The albumin content of the citrus extract group was significantly higher than in the con- trol group. Compared with the control and an- tibiotic groups, the concentrations of plas- ma-total essential amino acids and threonine in the citrus extract group had increased. Com- pared with the control group, citrus extract in- creased the α-aminoadipic acid concentration, while compared with the antibiotic group, it
increased the 3-methylhistidine concentration. Compared with the control group, the crypt depth of duodenum, jejunum and ileum de- creased, and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth of ileum increased in the antibiotic and citrus extract groups. Citrus extract increased the activity of alkaline phosphatase and lipase in duodenum, and the activity of alkaline phosphatase and trypsin in jejunum.
come much more expensive. In the year end- ing March 2019, production amounted to 10.5 million tonnes, 6.3 million tonnes of which was feed for ruminants and, 4.2 million tonnes was feed for poultry. “However, the [actual] con- sumption of animal feed in Iran is 20 million tonnes, with about 9.5 million tons being pro- duced on animal breeding farms,” Dr Ghadirly said. So feed production has not shrunk in 2019, despite sanctions. The Iranian government earlier ruled out that livestock companies should phase out feed production gradually until 2023. This means that from that time, only feed mills will be au- thorised to manufacture feed. The US has re-imposed penalties on all Iranian individuals and organisations that benefitted from the lifting of sanctions following the 2015 nuclear deal, under which Tehran accepted strict curbs on its nuclear programme. A range of restrictions were introduced against a broad range of different companies and banks, indi- rectly affecting almost all segments of the national economy.
Citrus extract increased concentrations of plasma essential amino acids.
▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 28, No. 1, 2020 25
PHOTO: IRAN FEED INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION.
PHOTO: HENK RISWICK
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