Published by: SPESFEED cc, PO Box 48, Rivonia, 2128. Tel: (011) 803-2050, Fax: (011) 803-8201

General News

This newsletter comes to you amongst a flurry of activity. I have attended the AFMA symposium at Sun City while Walter was a speaker in the Kanhym/PIC pig road show. In addition Peter Chrystal from NuTec, and I were invited to attend the Alltech Biotechnology symposium in Kentucky, in the USA, as well as to visit Akey Inc., NuTec’s sister company in the US. There is some report back on each of these activities in this edition of the newsletter.

Well-known British consultant John Portsmouth has responded to the article in the last issue regarding the oP system. We carry summaries of his letters and comments in this issue. We would welcome other contributions to the newsletter in this vein.

We have asked Dr Herman Bosman, a consultant veterinarian from the Eastern Cape to contribute to the newsletter on an ongoing basis. His first article appears in this issue.

We would like to welcome Bianca Losper to the SPESFEED ranks. She will be our receptionist as well as being involved with general office administration.

Thank you to all those of you who filled in the readership survey. We have received 41 replies, which is about a 20% return. I am told that this is quite good for a survey of this nature. We have already made a donation to the Avril Elizabeth Home.

The reason for asking you to help with the survey is so that we can fully appreciate our readers needs. I will give you and overview of some of our findings.

The vast majority of people who filled in the questionnaire (possibly those who did not have another opinion) look forward to receiving this newsletter and indeed read most of it. More than 90% of the respondents have been able to implement some of the ideas and proposals put forward in the newsletter, and indeed even refer back to old issues.

Most people do receive each issue but there have been suggestions that we use email for distribution. We have started doing this for recipients outside South Africa but feel that a hard copy is still the easiest way in which to read a document of this nature.

Less than 20% of our readers have ever visited our web site. This is much as I had suspected and it makes me wonder about the power of internet marketing.

In broad terms our respondents found that the appearance and length of both the newsletter itself and the articles contained in the publication were of about the right length. People also felt that the document was easy to read, used simple language and was not too scientific.

The issues that were of the most importance to us at SPESFEED were should the publication be in colour and if so should we use advertisers to help cover our increased costs. Only 10% of respondents felt that a colour publication was important, while 25% felt that we should not carry any advertising. Some people felt very strongly that we should remain independent at all costs.

Most people felt that the information contained in the document was relevant, up to date and accurate. In broad terms the content would appear to suite most of our readers.

There was a feeling that we should perhaps include more information on feed ingredients, feed additives and marketing. We will endeavour to do so in future, although it may be difficult to include more information on proprietary products.

Whilst we would be happy to carry technical information on feed ingredients, carrying pricing information in a quarterly publication is unrealistic as it will be out of date before it gets there.

The acid test for a publication such as this is always, "would I be prepared to pay for this with my own money?. It is not our intention to ever charge for the newsletter but 65% of respondents felt that they would part with their own money in order to continue to receive the publication. All respondents want to continue to receive the newsletter.

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We have just completed our most successful poultry course to date. We had so many delegates that we had to change venues to accommodate them all. The irony of this move is that the hotel that we changed to went into liquidation the day before the course began and we had to take our meals in the local Thai restaurant.

We still have the following courses scheduled for this year:

We plan to run the dairy course with the help of Dr Lourens Erasmus this year, as he is up to date on all of the latest information regarding the newly published NRC recommendations for Dairy Cattle.

Please let Christél know if you are interested in attending either course.

We have recently developed a set of Growth curves for pigs on behalf of PIC and Kanhym estates. These curves are fairly unique as they represent targets that can be expected to be achieved under commercial, rather than experimental conditions. A table containing weekly production information (feed intake and FCR) compliments the curves.

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BASF is the first company to decipher the genetic information of the bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum and has applied for comprehensive patent protection. This was achieved in co-operation with the biotechnology company Integrated Genomics, Inc., Chicago. The partners have also determined that the entire metabolism of the bacterium. Corynebacterium glutamicum is of high economic interest as a research object, because it is used by the chemical industry for the biotechnological production of the amino acid lysine, among other things. The substance is employed as a source of protein in animal nutrition. BASF wants to use the new findings on the genetic information and metabolic pathways of the bacterium to make its biotechnological production of lysine even more efficient.

Lysine is one of the essential amino acids in animal nutrition. Lysine produced using biotechnology is added to feed concentrates as a source of protein, and is an alternative to soybeans or meat and bonemeal. In 2000, more than 450,000 metric tons of lysine were sold world-wide, representing a value of about € 660 million. The Fine Chemicals division produces lysine at its Kunsan, Korea, site and is one of the world's biggest three producers.

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The AFMA Congress at Sun City

February saw the holding of the 4^th AFMA congress at Sun City. As we have come to expect, the event was well organised and the quality of the speakers was high. A wide range of topics was covered some, of which I will deal with in this short report.

The first session that I attended had to do with the global trends in the feed and raw material markets. Mr David Bossman, the President of the American Feed Industry Association in the USA pointed out that, in future, feed safety and consumer demands would become major forces in the feed industry. Not only will we need to improve our standards, but we will also need to improve the way in which these changes are communicated to the consumer.

Mr Jeanne-Francois Lanclume of André & Cie, Switzerland gave an excellent overview of the international grain industry. He was able to show that despite improvements in yield in South Africa, trends in South America and the US were far greater. He also pointed out that China and the US between them controlled more than half of the world grain market. Erhard Briedenhann from Epol gave an excellent overview of the situation in South Africa for the forthcoming season. In short, maize will be at import parity this season, Soya oilcake prices are softening but this price will largely be determined by the exchange rate, we will have a larger than normal fish catch but prices will stay firm and despite a normal sunflower crop prices will be higher than last season.

During the second session, Dr Wim Verbeke from Belgium discussed how consumerism would impact on livestock products and eventually on the feed industry. These aspects would include food safety issues as well as livestock production methods. Areas of concern are GMP, chain management, traceability transparency and communication.

Dr Kyle Newman from Kentucky in the USA discussed the mechanisms of enzymes in poultry production. These enzymes have been widely used for the last 10 years and future development will likely focus on thermo-tolerant enzyme preparations. He also pointed out that it was imperative that researchers use a standardised method of measuring enzyme activity to improve our understanding of efficacy. Dr Wiernusz of Cobb showed how heat stress impacted on broilers and also discussed the fact that the ME system had it limitations and that we would need to start using some form of NE system in the near future. Dr Tony Marangos of Hy-Line International emphasised that each flock of birds should be treated as an individual and should be catered for accordingly. He was also able to show how important egg size is in the UK in terms of profits, and was amazed to see just how little impact it had in South Africa.

Dr Colin Whitehead of the Roslin Institute gave an update on the vitamin and trace mineral requirements of poultry. Most interesting to me was the very high Vit D requirement of young birds and the fact that some of the Vitamin D metabolites (1,25-D & 25-D) were able to lower the incidence of Tibial Discondroplasia in broilers. In a private meeting we discussed the use of organic selenium in breeder birds and he believes that it is appropriate to use these products in our feeds. He was most emphatic about NOT removing the premix during the withdrawal phase as this reduced the bird’s ability to cope with the stress of catching and shipping. It also reduces the Vitamin levels in the meat.

Dr’s Keith Behnke and Joe Hancock, both of Kansas

Dr Kay Earle of Friskies showed how the emphasis in pet nutrition had moved from simply satisfying the animal nutrient requirements towards a desire to provide optimal nutrition for a variety of life styles and life stages. This will satisfy the owners’ desire to see visibly more healthy pets.

Dr Mike Varley of SC Nutrition (part of the NuTec group), in an excellent presentation on the genetics of lean tissue growth in the pig, was able to show that despite a significant overall improvement in the lean content of pigs over the last 30 years (figures below) there are major breed or strain differences of which the nutritionist must be aware (table).

State University both discussed how feed processing had a direct bearing on animal performance. Dr Behnke started by showing us what factors had an impact on pellet quality (figure).

As can be seen formulation (ingredients) have a major impact. Fine grinding will greatly improve pellet quality as will adequate conditioning (at least 30 seconds are required). A thick die improves pellet quality but decreases pallet throughput. He emphasised the fact that it is impossible to measure and improve pellet quality without some form of accurate measurement, such as the tumbling can method. Dr Hancock showed that good pellet quality improved broiler ADG by 6% and FCR by 6 to 7%. When the fine percentage of the diet reaches 50% then it is no better than feeding a meal.

We are all aware that grind has a dramatic impact on growing pigs (see earlier editions of SPESFEED News) but Dr Hancock was able to show just how important this aspect is in sows as well.

Effect of particle size on nutrient metabolism in second parity sows during lactation (After Wondra et al, 1995).

The finer grind led to significant improvement in litter weight.

For full details of the AFMA Forum please contact Hansie Bekker at the AFMA offices at 011 803 3128.

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John Portsmouth on Available Phosphorus

John Portsmouth has written us three letters in which he makes "further contribution" to Walter’s article in the last newsletter regarding the oP (uptake Phosphorus system).

Breeders:

Hopkinson (1991) established the relationship between potassium and phosphorus in causing Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), also known as Feed Shock in broiler breeders. Diets low in either or both of these ingredients cause SDS.

John Portsmouth investigated some 50 cases of SDS in breeders, mainly Cobb and Ross under a wide range of climatic, management and environmental conditions. He found that diets needed to meet the specifications as laid out in the table to avoid SDS from occurring.

He has expressed serious doubts that the CVB recommendations, as quoted by Walter, are adequate for the Ross or Cobb and has serious doubts about their adequacy for any strain of bird. He believes that "changes in the way we recommend feeding broiler breeders, i.e. by avoiding too much breast meat development ahead of egg production – certainly reduces the need for very high K and Av.P levels. But even my personal recommendations would not suggest less than 0.40% AV P (or oP) and not less than 0.6% K."

Broilers :

With regards the broiler figures Johns writes as follows. "Whilst the ratio of Ca:oP is in line with most commercial diets i.e. 2.25:1 – 2.3:1. I have great reservations about using such low levels of either mineral but particularly oP. Firstly, whilst "low" levels of calcium can give good growth rate and feed efficiency, caused by better fat utilisation, birds fed such diets develop leg abnormalities particularly under stress conditions which hinder calcium absorption and utilisation.

Diets low in calcium (<0.80%) are one of the causes of Tibial Dischondroplasia and rickets (Riddell & Pass, 1987). Low levels of both Ca and oP can induce rickets due to a reduction in bone ash percentage. The oP requirement will also vary according to the particle size of the calcium supplement, with both fine (100 – 200 mesh) and coarse (12 – 20 mesh) grades reducing both bone ash percentage and weight gain. Both iron and aluminium interfere with phosphorus utilisation. Sooncharenying and Edwards (1990), indicated that practical diets in the USA contained enough iron and aluminium to interfere with phosphorus uptake. The effect of this interaction would be more serious at the low oP levels being recommended by the CVB.

The CVB achieves the primary aim of reducing the amount of P excreted in the litter, but it can put at risk the health of the fast growing meat chicken reared under stressful commercial conditions.

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Antimicrobial and Promicrobial Pig Feed Additives

Antimicrobial agents suppress or inhibit the growth of micro-organisms (Cromwell, 2000). This class of compounds includes the antibiotics (naturally occurring substances produced by yeasts, moulds, and other micro-organisms) and the chemotherapeutics (chemically synthesised substances). Currently the FDA has approved 17 antimicrobial agents (12 antibiotics, 5 chemotherapeutics) for use in pig feeds. During 1988 2325tons of antibiotics and chemotherapeutics were used as feed additives in the USA and at present approximately 80 to 90% of the pig starting feeds, 70 to 80% of growing feeds, 50 to 60% of finishing feeds and 40 to 50% of sow feeds contain antimicrobial agents (Cromwell, 2000). These components are well known to increase gains and improve feed efficiency (Kjeldsen, 1997). The benefits result mainly from a reduction in microbial loading in the digestive tract, leading to more nutrient availability for the animal and less substrate for the bacterial organisms to use for their own growth. They furthermore reduce the gut wall thickness thereby increasing nutrient absorption (Hendericks et al. 1981). In the table below the data from 1194 experiments conducted in the USA are summarised to highlight the efficacy of antibiotics (Cromwell, 2000):

Copper: Using high level of added copper in feed (200 to 250 ppm) results in similar benefits to antibiotics. The table below shows the benefits of feeding high Copper in 23 experiments (starter phase) and 18 experiments (grower/finishing phase) (Cromwell, 2000).