Innovation and sustainability: The best of both worlds
Animal producers face a dual challenge: cope with welfare constraints and increasingly demanding consumer needs while making sure they remain competitive and financially efficient. Are there strategies enabling a cost neutral and environmentally sustainable growth?
BY DR CEINWEN EVANS, DUPONT ANIMAL NUTRITION A
s the global population grows and demand for livestock products increases concurrently, pressure mounts on the animal production sector to ex- pand but in a sustainable and ethical way. The
welfare and sustainability concerns unequivocally entered the livestock systems agenda and gave rise to new and far-reaching regulations in a growing number of countries. Nevertheless, to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the animal production industry must work col- lectively to overhaul the livestock sector. In fact, a concerted effort by the animal production sector is ongoing to address their stakeholders’ demand for transparency, accountability, and action on important sustainability issues. Sustainability refers to meeting present needs without com- promising the ability of future generations to meet their own. Limiting GHG emissions, reducing nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, and lowering antibiotic use, for instance, are crucial to achieve SDG’s goals. Ensuring animal wellbeing is also key to sustainable development. This involves improving animals living conditions and providing a balanced diet to sustain op- timal performance. Animal production companies are left facing a dual challenge: cope with welfare constraints and in- creasingly demanding consumer needs while making sure they remain competitive and financially efficient.
Reducing nitrogen and phosphorus pollution Manure is among the major sources of global environmental concerns. Most animal manure pollution involves nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contamination of water through soil erosion and run off. All livestock waste contains N and P, but poultry manure often has a higher nutrient content than other types of manure. Indeed, poultry accounts for
24 ▶ SUSTAINABILITY AND WELFARE | OCTOBER 2020
approximately 50% of animal feed phosphate consumption worldwide with producers adding P with large safety margins to prevent deficiency and this leads to excess mineral excretions. Chickens are also among the most important contributors to ammonia emissions. This is largely influenced by an oversupply of protein and/or amino acids in the diets added to ensure that the bird’s requirements are fully met. The sector has found solutions to control poultry excretion content but as the industry continues to grow the pressure to decrease manure pollution rises. Phytase supplementation can help to tackle this issue. The development of new phosphatase enzymes (i.e. phytase) has improved P and amino acid digestibility, thus reducing con- tamination of soils and water. The ultimate challenge – demonstrating that full elimination of inorganic P supple- mentation could be achieved – was overcome. A highly efficient phytase, Axtra Phy Gold, was able to completely re- place P supplementation while ensuring normal growth char- acteristics and bone strength, and still improving perfor- mance if combined with a xylanase (Figure 1).
Improving gut health without antibiotics For years, antibiotics have been used in animal production to prevent and treat disease outbreaks, and thereby enhance animal growth. However, the looming threat of antibiotic re- sistance and the presence of drug residues in animal products are serious concerns. In most developed nations, livestock alone uses 50-80% of all antibiotics produced with poultry leading the charts. Using antibiotics in animals for clinical reasons is vital for the general wellbeing of animals, and should not be delayed or avoided. But unnecessary use or overuse of antibiotics threatens their effectiveness with im- portant consequences for human medicine. Antibiotics are still used as growth promoters in some countries but some
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PHOTO: MORTEN LARSEN
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