Novus webinar highlights: Approaches to diverse diet formulations

Increasing corn and soybean meal prices requires the industry to plan for the future, which includes alternative raw materials

For the animal production industry globally, high raw material prices, especially for corn and soybean meal, is an ongoing challenge. With deep understanding, Professor Ravi Ravindran, Emeritus Professor from Massey University in New Zealand, shared his thoughts on the opportunities and challenges of alternative raw material usage during the Novus Knowledge Webinar - “Maximizing Feed Cost Savings through Efficient usage of Alternative Raw Materials”, which took place on 14 July 2022.

“With the interruptions in the raw material supply chain as well as higher shipping costs, weather conditions and current geopolitics, the animal production industry has to start planning to make diet formulation more diverse from traditional corn and soybean meal diets,” he said. “This can be achieved by investing in better feed evaluation, quality control and understanding ideal inclusion levels while formulating based on digestible amino acids.”

Professor Ravindran highlighted that it is most important to consider the nutritional constraints like poor palatability, high fiber content, presence of anti-nutritional factors and lower amino acid digestibility in each alternative raw material. He also mentioned that when using low digestible alternative ingredients, feed formulation on the basis of digestible amino acids is mandatory and the rationale behind the use of feed enzymes is to promote the digestion of undigested substrates.

During the webinar Dr. Mercedes Vázquez-Añón, Novus International’s senior director of strategic initiatives & accounts collaboration presented on the application of protease enzyme for feed cost saving. Dr. Mercedes highlighted the use of protease feed enzymes to support bird performance and shared trial results showing how CIBENZA® enzyme feed additive – a protease from Novus - allowed producers to improve protein and amino acid digestibility even in a range of feed ingredients.

“The use of CIBENZA® protease compliments phytase and NSPase,” she said. “It is a tool that helps reduce feed cost and increase formulation flexibility with alternative ingredients. It also assists in managing ingredient variability, which is an issue with alternative ingredients, as well as can reduce anti-nutritional factors in the ingredients.”

Novus organized the free webinar to provide partners and customers with highly informative, innovative, and applicable insights from leading key opinion leaders as well as share the results of Novus scientific studies. Over 200 attendees joined the webinar with high engagement from the participants as they learned the possibilities and considerations for incorporation of alternative raw materials and a combination of enzymes.