To minimize the carbon footprint of swine production, producers should first focus on improving the technical performance of the animals. The ingredients used to formulate pig feeds varies a lot globally, from maize-soybean diets or wheat-soybean diets to all possible formulations using other ingredients such as barley, rapeseed meal, sunflower meal, and hybrid rye. With an increased focus on more sustainable ingredient sourcing, a diverse range of by-products from the food industry is being used more in certain markets.
OptiPhos® Plus (phytase) - up to 6.8% reduction in carbon footprint
Higher dosages of our OptiPhos® Plus (phytase enzyme) releases more phosphorus (P) from the feed ingredients. This reduces the amount of inorganic P sources (like monocalcium phosphate) that need to be added to the feed and improves the technical performance of the animals.
Hostazym® X (xylanase) - up to 6.8% reduction in carbon footprint
Hostazym® X (xylanase enzyme) helps by breaking down the feed ingredients, making more energy and nutrients available for the pig. This leads to better performance and improved feed efficiency.
Huvezym® neXo (enzymatic complex) - up to 5.8% reduction in carbon footprint
Huvezym® neXo is our new enzymatic complex containing three different key enzyme activities: xylanase, xyloglucanase and betaglucanase for optimised fibre degradation with the most complex fibre structures.
The results of a meta-analysis of trials using our enzymes during the fattening phase (25 kg up to slaughter) are presented in Table 1. The numbers demonstrate the reduction range of the carbon footprint (expressed as kg CO2 eq/kg carcass weight) found in recent trials.
Conclusion
Huvepharma®'s comprehensive enzyme portfolio gives nutritionists the perfect toolbox to safely optimise feed formulations. Enzyme supplementation enables the use of existing and alternative raw materials or higher amounts of an otherwise capped raw material while maintaining high animal performance and health standards, which all help to reduce the carbon footprint of pig production.
* Calculations were made using Opteinics® software and average farm configurations. More information is available on request.
