INNOVATIVE FARMING ▶▶▶
Precision feeding for improved performance
New monitoring and modelling tools have enabled precision feeding systems for poultry to be developed that aim to feed birds individually according to measured body weight, on the one hand, and target weight, on the other. Together with novel feed additives, such as algae, this is improving the feed efficiency of broilers to meet best environmental practices.
BY MARIE GALLISSOT, OLMIX T
Parameters Study 1 Animals Pens
Treatments
Standard diet Corn-soybean Feeding phases
he digitalisation of agriculture has exploded in the past 20 years, adding new perspectives to what is called ‘precision agriculture’. It is now possible to monitor an incredible number of parameters, most
of them in real-time, in terms of the inputs (raw materials), an- imals, atmosphere and effluents, etc. These innovations place different constraints upon producers, including the growing pressure to reduce the environmental impact of animal farm- ing. This therefore raises the question: how can all the innova- tive solutions stemming from new technologies be used to benefit agricultural efficiency in all its various facets, including economically and from an environmental perspective?
Reducing environmental impact In 2017, in the context of its Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU), the EU published the Best Available Techniques
(BAT) Reference Document for the Intensive Rearing of Poultry or Pigs, providing guidelines for large producers (> 40,000 birds) to reduce the environmental impact of their production. It includes limits for nitrogen, phosphorous and ammonia ex- cretions, as well as guidelines to reduce energy and water wastage. The document provides techniques to prevent or re- duce the environmental impact of operating installations. It further covers the potential environmental improvements per technique, associated monitoring and costs, as well as possible interactions between techniques. These BATs cover multiple as- pects of poultry farming: feeding, housing, storage, manure spreading, etc. In France the work conducted by RMT Elevages et Environnement (a network of institutions that between 2008 and 2019 worked together on sustainable farming ) led to the development of ‘Good Environmental Practices for Farming’ (GEPF) which gathered a wide range of practical tools (docu- ments, software, applications and databases) to support farm- ers in reducing environmental impact. Both the EU BATs and the French GEPF made feeding their central focus with a clear objective: to limit the amount of undigested feed to reduce wastage and ammonia emissions. In this context, the EU Direc- tive considered two physiological processes essential: the en- zymatic digestion of feed in the gastrointestinal tract and the absorption of nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract. Based on this approach, several techniques are described with a view to reducing the environmental impact of animal feed: multi- phase feeding, the use of synthetic amino acids, the use of highly digestible phosphorous and phytase, and the use of additives to help reduce nitrogen excretion.
Table 1 – Experimental design of the different studies evaluating the effect of the ACC on broilers performance.
Study 2 Cobb 500 male chicks 10 pens of 22 broilers/treatment 10 pens of 20 broilers/treatments
Control group: standard diet/Test group: standard diet+0,1% ACC in all feeding phases Corn-soybean+phytase
Starter (D1-22) 3050 kcal/kg ME/1,31% SID Lys
Starter (D10-D21) 3050 kcal/kg/ME/1.26% SID Lys Grower (D22-25) 3150 kcal/kg ME/1.12% SID Lys Finisher (D33-D42) 3200 kcal/kg/ME/1.01% SID Lys
40 ▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 8, 2020 10 pens of 20 broilers/treatments Corn-soybean + phytase+ NSP enzymes Prestarter (D1-D10) 2975 kcal/kg/ME/1.31% SID Lys Grower (D21-D33) 3150 kcal/kg/ME/1.12% SID Lys Study 3
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