by Frederic Ferber and Dr Bernhard Eckel, Vice President, Dr Eckel Animal Nutrition GmbH & Co. KG, Germany
The world seems to have been turned upside down. Like a wave, the SARS-CoV 2 pandemic has been sweeping over the globe and affected farmers, feed and food producers practically everywhere. A lot has been talked, written and said about how to fortify businesses against the effects of the crisis. But what will really work out in the end once we can truly and universally say 'it is over'? It is the solution that has been known and been right before, though not generally acknowledged yet, let alone accepted: sustainability.
All Member States of the United Nations (UN) adopted the Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) about four years ago: 17 goals were developed to transform the world into a better one by 2030. It's a historic commitment to reducing poverty and hunger. Food and agriculture are key to achieving all the SDGs. Agriculture also plays a major role in combating climate change. And the SDGs are not only intended for developing countries.
Three goals are critical to our industry: Goal 2, Zero Hunger; Goal 3, Good Health and Well-Being; and Goal 12, Responsible Consumption and Production. We all agree with Goal 2: Zero Hunger. This is what we work towards in feed production every day. Goals 3 and 12 are really ambitious for all of us and need our full attention.
Goal 3: Good health and well-being
SDG 3 addresses both humans and animals. Therefore, it also includes animal health. Healthy animals are the foundation for healthy people. And healthy people are the basis for a stable and productive society, not only during or shortly after a pandemic like the one we have been witnessing. But how can feed additives contribute to this discussion? Last year in Asia, in what feels like a different time when travelling was not restricted, I came across an advertisement for detoxifying the (human) body that stated:
'By removing and eliminating toxin [sic], then feeding the body with healthy nutrients, detoxifying can help protect you from disease and strengthen your ability to maintain optimal health.'
If we were to apply this to animal nutrition, we would amend it as follows: 'By removing and eliminating toxins, then feeding animals with healthy nutrients, detoxifying can help protect them from disease and strengthen their ability to maintain optimal health, well-being and performance.'
And that's what we're all about. Let me illustrate our contribution to SDG 3 with two examples.
When developing a feed additive based on plant extracts (hops, liquorice and gum arabic), researchers found that litter quality (in various broiler species), dry matter content of faeces (in quail) and footpad lesions (assessed at the slaughterhouse) improved. These constitute huge improvements in terms of animal health and well-being as well as farmers' profitability. Better litter quality is also beneficial to farmers; the better air on the farm also affects the farmer.
Another interesting approach was that used by pharmacists and veterinarians when developing a product to reduce respiratory disorders in animal production, which accounts for up to 80 percent of calf morbidity and up to 15 percent of pig mortality. A formulation based on saponin, terpene, essential oil, glycyrrhizic acid and other secondary plant ingredients was developed. A Dutch pig farmer applied this product, primarily to reduce medication (used drugs included colistin, amoxicillin, tylosin and doxycycline) and improve overall health. In his historical comparison, he demonstrated that medication consumption and costs were significantly reduced as a consequence. A significant approach to better well-being and health, for both animals and humans.
The growing demand for animal protein has led to intensive breeding and increased stocking densities of pigs, poultry and fish. Antibiotic growth promotors (AGPs) are still in use in many regions. These countries are susceptible to a high percentage of infectious diseases due to a lack of health education, which has in turn led to the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. This is a danger to the current health status of societies as well as to their future and we must not tolerate this any longer.
Phytogenic additives are the hidden champions of animal nutrition. They stimulate the animal's immune system, making it more resistant to disease and external environmental factors, while also affecting barn hygiene and climate. The right feed additives prepare the animal to deal with infection. Hence, we are preventing rather than treating. Our goal is to reduce medication use, especially that of antibiotics, to a minimum to prevent the formation of uncontrollable resistance. This promotes both human and animal well-being and health, while remaining profitable for farmers, since these options do not negate their efforts. They are also beneficial to the entire food value chain, because improved animal welfare increases livestock efficiency, thus saving resources, increasing margins and profits, and enabling the development of new markets and access to new customers.
Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
With the global population expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, rising incomes in many regions, broader economic and climate-related issues affecting food consumption and production, more people will have to be fed with less resources (water, farmland and/or rural labour) in the future. This is reflected in an increased demand for natural resources. Global meat consumption has risen sharply, especially among the younger urban generation: consumption per capita has nearly doubled in the last 50 years, from around 23kg in 1961 to 43kg in 2014. However, cultivated areas for feed have not increased proportionately. The feed industry has developed new technologies to ensure that resources and raw materials are used effectively and that the demand for animal protein can be met. Supplements also help reduce emissions, thus improving nutrient management in regions with intensive animal production. But one third of the food produced will be thrown away or unavailable for consumption, while almost two billion people go hungry. This situation must change dramatically to ensure a better global future.
We all can contribute to reducing food loss and waste in order to save food and resources: we have to ensure that less food is thrown away and understand the (high) value of food. Responsible consumption and awareness of what we eat will also help us achieve zero hunger. Another major problem we must acknowledge is the huge amount of food and feed that is no longer available for consumption, mostly due to loss in storage, mistakes in animal production, food contamination and poor food quality. All can be remedied with optimised feeding: feed additives in particular can actively reduce loss in storage due to mycotoxins or humidity, and help ensure good food quality, which implies safe food and improved animal welfare.
Safe food and food quality have become unavoidable issues nowadays. Food crises like mad cow disease (BSE), bird flu and the horsemeat scandal have raised awareness of the health risks related to food production and consumption. These issues and the debates around animal welfare, the environmental impact of meat production and the health effects of meat consumption have led to higher expectations for food.
Food safety and quality can also be affected by stress, bad feed and other issues. Feed additives can reduce stress-related behavioural disorders such as tail biting and feather pecking, which are actually among the greatest challenges in animal production, adversely affecting animal welfare due to injury, necrosis and rejection, as well as public opinion of the agricultural and meat industries. Phytogenic additives are a case in point: they can help reduce stress and combat its symptoms, ultimately benefiting meat quality, because only vital and healthy animals are happy and show the best performance. These stress-reducing effects are well known in human medicine. We too frequently experience stress at work and try to reduce it in a number of ways. We sometimes employ traditional remedies, such as essential oils. Tea is also thought to help, as is the occasional glass of wine or beer. We can also use the positive effects of their plant constituents in livestock production.
Other food such as dairy products can also be positively influenced by feed additives. Somatic cell count, a major indicator of milk quality, is the most important benchmark for udder health. When the number of somatic cells in milk increases, the prevalence of mastitis—inflammation of the udder tissue and mammary glands due to bacterial infection—rises too. This is a highly painful condition, leading to a loss in milk production for human consumption. It is also the most common and costly disease affecting dairy cows. An impressive trial in Germany showed that cows fed a phytogenic feed additive had a significantly reduced somatic cell count compared to the control group. Even when the feeding groups were rotated, the somatic cell counts consistently decreased with the feed additive and increased with its removal.
Let us imagine that we could use this feed additive and reduce the somatic cell count of all dairy cows. We would increase milk production while keeping the number of cows constant. This would take efficiency to the next level. Milk production is a major source of methane and requires enormous amounts of fresh water. By increasing efficiency, we can save resources and help combat climate change. Achieving more with less should be everyone's concern. This is what responsible consumption is all about. Animal feed is the first link in the food chain and thus the right starting point for measures that ensure responsible production and consumption.
There have been major changes in the types of meat consumed in many regions: more chicken is being consumed. Almost half the worldwide feed production is for poultry. A total of 304.6 million metric tons of compound broiler feed was produced[1] in 2018. Therefore, chicken is the fastest growing production species in agriculture worldwide.
Chicken protein plays a crucial role in world nutrition: it is the only meat accepted by all creeds and denominations. Even Bill Gates is aware of the importance of chicken—the Bill Gates Foundation wanted to donate chickens to countries in need in an attempt to tackle extreme poverty. The reasoning behind this was that chickens are cheap and easy to care for, and families that keep chickens can either use the birds for their meat (to consume themselves or sell) or as currency. An initial donation of 100,000 chickens was envisaged.
Chickens have an outstanding feed conversion rate, converting 1.8kg of feed into 1kg of meat. In contrast, a pig has to eat 3kg and a cow 7kg of feed to produce 1kg of meat. That makes chicken a champion of efficiency. With the help of phytogenic feed additives, it is possible to decrease the feed conversion rate by up to four percent.
Efficiency is key to achieving responsible production while reducing our ecological footprint. Simply changing the production method results in saving a huge amount of resources.
As previously mentioned, 304.6 million tonnes of chicken feed were produced in 2018. Oilseed meals, such as those made from soya, account for 20–30 percent of the poultry diet. Soya is the second largest agricultural driver of deforestation worldwide. In the Brazilian Amazon, the forest is being ploughed to make room for more soya production. The loss of these native habitats will accelerate climate change. Phytogenic feed additives could help reduce deforestation. If all farmers were to use such additives, feed conversion rates would improve by four percent (as demonstrated in Figure 5), saving 12.2 million tonnes of feed and 3.6 million tons of soya.
Sustainability and success: Let's go for it
We will never achieve the SDGs without adequate and sustained investment in good nutrition. But we have the tools at our hands. Optimised feeding can actively impact all three Goals. Feed additives help improve performance by increasing animal growth, consequently producing more protein to combat hunger. We can have a positive impact on food safety and security by reducing the use of medication. And we can reduce our ecological footprint by improving efficiency. Feed additives help avoid loss of food and feed in storage.
By this, we play a vital part in securing the health and stability of our societies, nations and industries. There will always be new challenges and new crises. The best we can—and must—do is to strengthen people and businesses against their impacts. Agriculture is the key industry to achieving the sustainable development goals and finding solutions to secure the future for our world. And feed additives with their contribution to safe feed, sustainable production and healthy food are a substantial part of this solution.
