EMPOWERING THE GLOBAL FEED
AND FOOD MARKET

The use of straw as a feed ingredient for ruminants is limited due to its low nutritional value caused by a high concentration of indigestible lignin. Wouter Hendriks and colleagues discovered a pioneering method to break down the lignin and increase the nutritive value of straw. The results: more milk and meat.

The VICTAM Foundation financially supports this project.

For more information, please visit: http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/Benefactors/Areas-to-support/Global-Food-Challenges/Producing-more-more-sustainably/Show/More-meat-and-milk-from-straw.htm

Prediction of the protein nutritional value for men and animal
What chemical property of proteins may give a good prediction of its feeding value? And does a technological treatment of proteins has an effect on that? For example, we do know that a thermal treatment of protein-rich feeding stuffs may damage its amino acids. That may be the reason why these amino acids are not fully digestible or cannot be utilized in the metabolic processes of men and animal.

Technology: changes and risks
In this project we examine which indicators are available to predict the protein nutritional value of routinely used feeding stuffs and of new protein0rich feeding stuffs: for both livestock and pet animals and for humans. Protein digestibility and utilization of amino acids in metabolic processes as well as the effect of technological treatments on protein properties will be extensively examined. Treatments may damage proteins but may also enhance oits feeding value.

The VICTAM Foundation financially supports this project which is projected to be finished on July 1st, 2016.

For more information, please visit: http://www.wageningenur.nl/nl/show/Effecten-van-processing-op-voedingswaarde-van-eiwitrijke-grondstoffen.htm

Students of Wageningen University studying towards a degree in Animal Sciences can specialise in feed technology. The University maintains an infrastructure enabling students to obtain hands-on experience with various feed processing technologies and allow students (MSc and PhD) to conduct research using the University’s feed processing equipment. Much of the research is focused on the development of effective processes for improving feed efficiency for production animals and the influence of processing on the nutritional quality of pet foods.

The CARUS process hall contains grinding and mixing equipment, different extruders, drying equipment as well as specialized devices such as an infrared heater and air classifier. The twin-screw extruder (MPF50, Baker Perkins, UK) is one of the most used pieces of equipment in this process hall. Previously used for food production, this extruder is, because of its relatively low capacity (~80 kg/hour), a favourite for students to use in research projects. Extrusion technology is used in MSc education in relation to the production of fish feeds, piglet feeds and pet foods as well as research projects of PhD students.

The twin-screw extruder is in dire need of a revision as the cooling elements are malfunctioning and the last sections of the extruder directly before the die are not functioning properly, thereby not allowing the process temperatures to be tightly controlled.

The VICTAM Foundation is providing funds for the revision of the cooling and heating features of the Baker Perkins extruder so that future MSc and PhD students can conduct their research projects using this extruder.

Fibres are a very diverse family of dietary compounds that have different functions in digestion. Determining fibre types in all their diversity provides highly interesting scientific insights, but implies an amount of labour and cost that cannot be afforded under practical conditions. Yet, the present analytical methods for fibre such as TDF seem insufficient to grasp their main actions in the gut. One of the reasons is that it does not include fibrous matter from animal origin. Therefore, a new Fibrous Matter (FM) method should overcome these issues. In particular in pet food, the animal-derived fibre has been overlooked, whereas this fibre fraction – being protein – is likely sensitive to feed processing conditions. Many proteins are prone to cross-linking and Maillard reaction, depending on the applied processing conditions, and will thus become insensitive to the host’s digestive enzymes, therefore losing their function as protein source, but starting to act as fibres. In contrast, some proteins that are initially resistant to digestive enzymes, become more digestible after processing, hence losing their fibrous character. It is well-documented that these animal fibre fractions are capable of modulating the intestinal microbiome and its fermentative profile. To allow a better estimation of the fibrous behaviour of pet foods, a regression formula will be built that provides a prediction of the real final fibre concentration of a product based on simple, easily available characteristics such as nutrient concentrations (crude protein, FM fractions) and processing conditions (temperature, pressure).

If successful, this prediction formula will allow feed/food producers to monitor and, therefore, target the final fibre content of end products, and in the meantime have a better estimation of the diet’s protein availability.

For this project the financing for the execution of the “hardware” was already fixed.  The hardware in this respect means the weighing scale, dosing augers etc. with the erection for integration in the production plant of of the Aeres Training Centre.

However, it was necessary to connect this installation with the existing control system of the feed mill  and with the plant visualisation. For this connection an order was submitted to a contractor, which is specialised in process automation; sum € 12.560,- excl. VAT.

VICTAM has financed this investment as support to the continuation of the feed mill of the Aeres Training Centre in order to maintain the courses and training programs. The students are often operators and nutritionists.

On the drawing the new dosing weigher is showed, complete with dosing augers. The weigher is covered by a transparent housing in order to give the opportunity to look at the system during operation.

The foods need to contain all the necessary nutrients, have an excellent palatability as well as being safe and easy to use. Currently, pet foods are evaluated with the assistance of ‘kennel’ dogs and cats. The latter is of increasing ethical concern in our society and one can question in how far they represent our active, modern day dogs and cats who live with their owners.

This 4-year research project aims to develop ‘in-house’ tests in which owners and their pets evaluate pet foods together with researchers. The new test protocols will be evaluated for scientific rigour and made available world-wide to enable development of quality pet food products in collaboration with willing owners and their pets. Companies interested in supporting the development of these science-based and ethically acceptable protocols are welcome to contact the researcher team of Wageningen University and Utrecht University.

SRUC’s Monogastric Science Research Centre (led by Prof. Jos Houdijk) is a focus for the College’s work on pigs and poultry, in particular bringing together vital research on nutrition.

The most appropriate way of assessing the nutritional value of feedstuffs, or interventions affecting the nutritional value, is by feeding either known quantities of feed or digestibility-marker enriched feed to birds or growing pigs.

The gold standard equipment used for such assessment of nutritional value is the raised-floor cage, where samples can be collected in the absence of interference from bedding intake.

Traditional raised-floor cages no longer meet UK Home Office requirements. Therefore, SRUC set out to refurbish this facility accordingly, which resulted in a mobile, modular system that is EU directive compliant for birds. SRUC is grateful to VICTAM Foundation for sponsoring this activity, through which we will continue to serve UK, EU and world-wide feed industry with robust and much needed up-to-date feedstuff nutritional value data.

Due to rising population and incomes, demand for milk and dairy products in developing countries is growing rapidly. For economic and environmental reasons, it is undesirable to expand the dairy herd. Raising milk yield per cow is a far better solution. Currently, dairy cows in the tropics often produce well below their genetic potential, especially where exotic dairy breeds or crossbreds have been introduced. Rapid gains in milk yield and in efficiency of conversion of feed into milk can be attained by improving their diet.

Diet formulation

Diet formulation can be a very effective means of identifying and correcting imbalances in supply and demand of nutrients such as energy, protein, fibre, starch and minerals. Software applications can make this tedious task much faster and easier. An example of very user friendly application is Rumen8 (www.rumen8.com.au) that was developed for use in Australia.

With a grant from the Victam Foundation, Rumen8 was adapted for use in East Africa and other developing countries in the tropics. In most tropical countries, the digestibility of feeds, in particular roughages such as stover, straw and hay of mature grasses is much lower than in temperate areas. The high fibre content of such feeds limits feed intake of the cows, so it is important to introduce more digestible feeds such as maize silage and well-managed fodder crops such as Brachiaria and young Napier grass.

Field testing

The ‘tropicalised’ Rumen8 diet formulation package was piloted in about 25 medium (20 -100 cows) and 5 large scale (100-500 cows) dairy farms in Kenya by the Kenya Market-led Dairy Programme (KMDP). KMDP is implemented by SNV-Netherlands Development Organisation and is funded by the Netherlands Embassy in Nairobi (www.cowsoko.com/KMDP).  KMDP’s mission is to enhance the professionalism and competitiveness of the Kenyan dairy sector. The project works with smallholders as well as medium and large scale farmers. Users of Rumen8 are dairy cattle extension workers/advisors and nutritionists. For diet formulation software to benefit dairy farmers, it was found that the user needs to have a sound knowledge of dairy cow nutrition. The dairy advisors receive training in dairy cow nutrition and diet formulation from experts from PUM (Netherlands Senior Experts) and ProDairy EA Ltd based in Nairobi, as well as support from the Australian Rumen8 developers. This is facilitated and coordinated by KMDP.
 

Feed library

The Rumen8 software can be downloaded free of charge from www.rumen8.com.au. It comes with a feed library of about 250 Australian fodders and feeds that can be modified or added to. However, feed ingredients and especially roughages in the tropics have lower nutritive values for metabolisable energy and crude protein, and higher levels of fibre. Therefore, users in the tropics have to either analyse their own feeds, which is preferred, or look up relevant feed data in publicly accessible feeding tables or scientific publications. In the absence of feed analysis, and reliable local feed testing laboratories, it is advisable to consult several feed databases and calculate mean values. In Kenya, this is how the team of dairy advisors works. As a starting point they use their own Sub-Saharan Africa Feed Library which contains average nutritive values that were calculated from about ten published sources. Depending on visual assessment on farm, the nutritionist adjusts the values below or above those in the feed library to better match the local feeds.
 

Margin above feed costs

The Kenyan team has found the Rumen8 software is very helpful in diagnosing and correcting shortcomings in the dairy cow diets used by their clients. The dairy advisors insist on using it during farm visits and prior to any calculation they inspect the herd’s health, body condition and milk yield. Moreover, they visually evaluate all feeds available on the farm, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Then they enter into Rumen8 the current milk price and the price of all available feeds as well as any feeds that can be bought in sufficient quantities to be useful. Finally, Rumen8 calculates the optimum diet that gives the highest Margin Above Feed Costs. The bottom line, therefore, is how much money a farmer receives after subtracting all feed costs from the milk revenue. From this margin the farmer pays other costs such as labour, veterinary costs, depreciation and utilities. What is left over is profit.

Roll out

Rumen8 enables formulation of balanced diets that lower the cost-price of milk and improve productivity and farm profitability.  It is also an excellent teaching aid for training students in dairy cow nutrition. SNV plan to roll out this approach to using Rumen8 , together with other agencies, to projects in Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia. Deployment in South-east Asian countries is also being investigated. Considerable training is needed before new users are conversant with Rumen8  as formulating safe diets requires a good working knowledge of dairy cow nutrition.

CVB evaluates feedstuffs and establishes energy and nutrient requirements for farm animals. CVB feed evaluation systems are science-based and transparent. Main activities of CVB are:

• Data collection on chemical composition of feedstuffs and feed materials
• Collection of data on digestibility of feedstuffs for different farm animal categories
• Development and updating of feed evaluation systems for farm animals, and of energy and nutrient requirements

The main deliverable of the CVB activity is the CVB feed table. This table includes information on the chemical composition of feedstuffs (compound feedstuffs, high moisture industrial co-products, roughages and some minerals). Variation in chemical composition is indicated, as well as the digestibility of nutrients. Moreover, feed evaluation systems for ruminants, pigs, poultry, rabbits and horses are described. Energy and nutrient requirements for farm animals are given in additional booklets per animal category. A more detailed background information on different aspects of feed evaluation systems and nutrient requirements is given in documentation reports.

The CVB feed table, as well as the other CVB publications can be downloaded at www.cvbdiervoeding.nl. Publications and tools available at the CVB website are available for free, and can be used as a reference and benchmark by different user groups (such as feed producing companies, consultants, farmers, education and research institutes). Wageningen University & Research (the Netherlands) and ILVO (Belgium) are executing the program, supported by a technical committee with animal nutrition experts from different stakeholders.

As a result of particle size reduction of dietary ingredients in the animal feed industry, it has been established that analysing the size of particles is not sufficient to explain differences in the digestibility or growth performance of animals. A better understanding the breaking behaviour of various feed ingredient and the ability to describe this behaviour via mathematical models is, therefore, of paramount importance to improve animal performance. Such model relating animal in vivo parameters to breaking behaviour of feed ingredients can then be used in the optimization of the milling process.

 

This research into breaking behaviour of ingredients and the equivalent particle size is very innovative and of great value for the international animal feed industry. Moreover, the suppliers of feed mills and devices for particle size reduction of feed materials will benefit from the results of these studies. By understanding the relationship between the equivalent particle size with ileal digestibility data in pigs and poultry for dry matter, crude protein, crude fat and carbohydrates, the formulation of complete diets can be more precise in the future.

Finally, the suppliers of equipment for the grinding of feed ingredients and pelleting of diets will be able to fine tune their processes to the desired feed quality physical requirements. In addition to the process of pelleting, this also applies for the extrusion processes in fish and pet feed manufacturing.

In a forthcoming PhD project, a literature review will be written and published to obtain a clear picture of the relationships between nutrient digestibility and particle size in diet ingredients for pigs and/or poultry.

A number of technological experiments will be conducted to establish the effect of grinding conditions on the particle size distribution and equivalent particle sizes of the resulting ground materials. A precise analysis of the breaking behavior will be executed and data analysis will analyze the size and further derivative physical quantities. A new mathematical model will be established that better describes breaking behaviour as related to physiological effects in vivo.

Finally, a better predictability of nutrient digestibility from the physical data of ground ingredients will be examined in pigs and/or poultry.