PARTNER FEATURE ▶▶▶
Wood lignans are bioactive substances
The ban on antibiotic growth promoters creates a market for natural alternatives and wood lignans are promising candidates.
BY DR NINA NEUFELD T NC
Virginiamycin agromed® ROI
Feed intake d 1-42, g End weight d 42, g FCR d 1-42 Carcass, % Breast, % Thigh, %
E. coli, log10 CFU/g
Clostridium, log10 CFU/g Lactobacillus, log10 CFU/g
12
negative control --- ---
4,348d 2,626c 1.71d 67.8d 31.7c 31.9 6.58a 8.57a 4.29c
he subtherapeutic use of antibiotics as growth pro- moters (AGP) has been practiced for decades to im- prove performance and to reduce the incidence of certain diseases. Due to the problem of increasing
resistance, which massively impairs the effectiveness of ther- apeutic antibiotics in humans and animals, many countries have banned antibiotic performance enhancers. Restrictions in the use of AGPs have led to an increased incidence of dis- eases which are associated with considerable economic loss- es, e.g. necrotic enteritis (NE) in broilers. So the global trend is to find alternatives; several substances such as phytogenics, essential oils, enzymes, organic acids, and pre- and probiotics are being explored for this purpose. This article presents wood lignans as an interesting natural alternative to AGPs. Wood lignans − a new class of active substances for feed purposes − have delivered remarkably positive effects on the performance of broilers and weaning pigs in various
Table 1 – Trial design, performance data and faecal bacterial counts .
PC
positive control
16.5 ppm ---
4,328c 2,627c 1.68c 68.6c 31.1d 31.9
5.21bc 7.74a 6.98b
NC + wood
lignans ---
400 ppm 4,511b 3,132a 1.46a 68.9b 33.5a 32.0 4.74c 6.47bc 7.94a
▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 28, No. 8, 2020
PC + wood
lignans
16.5 ppm 400 ppm 4,621a 3,076b 1.52b 69.6a 32.5b 31.7
4.96bc 6.53c 7,31ab
experiments (product agromed® ROI, Agromed Austria GmbH). Wood lignans are bioactive substances with strong antioxidative, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial proper- ties. In scientific studies supplementation of lignans modu- lates inflammatory events in the small intestine of animals with endotoxin (LPS)-induced inflammation. Various factors such as NE or weaning lead to subclinical inflammation in the gut. These symptoms are associated with energy consump- tion and protein loss at the expense of the animal’s perfor- mance. The consequence is unsatisfactory weight gain and feed conversion.
Wood lignans for broilers Current trial results focus on these relationships. A trial with total 416 male broilers (Cobb 500) compared the effects of a wood lignan product (agromed ROI) either to a negative con- trol (NC) or a positive control (PC) with the commonly used AGP Virginiamycin in a corn/soybean diet. The wood lignans had a significant positive influence on performance data in terms of weight gain, feed conversion, carcass and breast muscle percentage.Positive effects were also recorded for some parameters of intestinal health. Villus height in the ileum increased significantly in the lignan groups and con- sequently also the mucosal surface available for nutrient
Figure 1 - Curves of weight developments for the AGP supplemented group (PC) and the wood lignan supplemented group (NC + wood performance development.
3000 3500
500 1000 1500 2000 2500
45 0 0 510 45 PC NC + ROI
3177 2672
2464 1968 1003 660 224
225 15
20 25 day of trial 30 35 40 45
body weight, g
PHOTO: AGROMED
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