The Poultry day, an initiative by the Colombian poultry sector
Several years ago, the city of Medellín welcomed the poultry farmers in the region who arrived with the expectation of listening to the strategies outlined for the promotion of poultry farming in the region. FENAVI, as a representative entity of the Colombian poultry sector, exercised a trade union representation of the Poultry Farmers proposing the impulse for the development of the Poultry Industry, protecting and defending the interests of the Poultry Farmers.
Over the years, the Poultry Day has gained strength and has established itself as one of the main sources of knowledge to establish business strategies in the Antioquia region. The 18th Poultry Day was no exception. Wisium was the main sponsor, and managers, producers, special guests, students, teachers, media, technicians and suppliers of the main companies and institutions of the environment participated.
The main topics discussed at the event, emphasized the new nutritional strategies to optimize the performance and health of the birds, demedication as the path we must follow to meet the demands of the local and world market, as well as sustainability as the axis of the new models of business.
National and international experts were in charge of lecturing on the mentioned topics. Wisium Colombia, in one of its first official event appearances in Colombia, presented as guest of the day Raquel Coutinho de Andrade, zootechnician of the University of Sao Paulo.
Demedication: a tricky issue
With a master’s degree in animal nutrition, Raquel worked for approximately 16 years in these areas, including premix and amino acid companies, and is currently in charge of the Poultry line in Wisium Brazil. In her presentation on demedication in birds, Raquel presented the approach to prevention that should have demedication, and as the nutritional formulation, water quality, food management, health, among others, are essential in being able to make its implementation.
To extend a bit, Raquel explained how infectious agents reduce the performance of farm animals and how to control them. In this case, it has been shown that the administration of antibiotics is effective.
Antibiotics can be administered to control the spread of a disease on a farm, either as a low-dose, sub-therapeutic growth promoter, or permanently to treat an animal with a disease diagnosed at therapeutic doses and for a certain time.
However, the continued use of these products can lead the microorganisms developing what is known as antimicrobial resistance: “Antimicrobial resistance is the bacteria ability to resist the effects of an antibiotic. This means that the bacterias are not eliminated by the antibiotic and can continue to grow and generate diseases”, which ultimately becomes a major public health problem.
For this reason, many countries forbid or control the use of antibiotics as growth promoters by enforcing laws, regulation programs, restrictions or prohibitions of certain molecules; thus creating the need to develop alternative products that are efficient, profitable and preserve animal and human health.
Raquel emphasized that some of the strategies to face the prohibition and/or control of using antibiotics focused on prevention, are good management practices and promote hygiene and biosafety, prophylaxis, adequate vaccination plans, accurate diagnoses to seek to optimize the functioning of the digestive system.
All these improved the animal performance and decreased the need to provide antibiotics. It is important to note that through adequate and functional and nutritional recommendations, with a proper management of non-digestible nutrients, validation of additives (R&D tests), raw material profile and quality control, and early feeding (pre- Initiator: Special care must be taken in the feeding of the first days), we can establish a functional immune response.
From the point of view of food, demedication focuses on the quality of raw materials; through proper processing and classification, use of bromatological, microbiological and other rapid tests; to finally develop alternative solutions to antibiotics used as growth promoters among these products such as enzymes, phytochemicals, acidifiers, probiotics, prebiotics, immune modulators, vaccines, bacteriophages, peptides, zeolite + copper among others.
One of these proposed alternatives was B-SAFE, a 100% innovative product with more than 10 years of use in the field. It consists of copper molecules (like CuCo4) activated and patented in a specific clay, which acts by modulating the intestinal flora, and has a positive action on villi, intestinal morphology and microbiota.
Its goal is to improve the quality of bed, thus reducing the incidence of pododermatitis, which translates into better health status, lower use of antibiotics, and finally more sustainability. In addition to this, it has other benefits such as the favoring of the commensal flora, the control of the pathogenic flora, the assurance of the balance of the intestinal microflora, among others.
Some of the main impacts of the free production of Growth Promoter Antibiotics (AGP) are the zootechnical results, the quality of the shells, the welfare of the animals and the workforce. Therefore, points such as the following should be considered:
Talking about the presentation and food management, the physical quality of these often has a much more significant impact on poultry performance than nutrient density, so the particle size improves the digestion of nutrients, and improves the quality of the litters.
The main points in the management of the farm are addressed to hygiene and biosafety, health protection, care of environmental parameters: temperature, humidity, air exchange, light program, litter management, equipment (water, food).
Nowadays, poultry farming focuses on aspects such as reducing the bacterial load in the bird, promoting the development of intestinal health, improving the digestibility of food to reduce the supply of nutrients, and lower the populations of intestinal bacteria, the strategic use of additives and coccidiostats and biosecurity on farms.
The use of non-antibiotic mineral alternatives in improving the performance of poultry production should be considered due to the systematic growth of the consuming population which leads to the sustainable development of the production and the improvement of the environment.
These alternatives, among others, were presented during the Poultry Day to promote the development of the sector in the region and boosts commercial relations between the different actors that participate in it. Wisium will come with a complete new offer in the upcoming months to innovate and focus in demedication in the poultry market.
