Safe and innovative ingredients without zinc oxide

In practice, it means that in EU countries the use of this compound will be prohibited as a veterinary treatment or as a growth promoter, and therefore the loss of one of the traditional tools for managing post-weaning diarrhea in piglets.

Zinc is one of the most important trace elements for good animal nutrition. Its presence in their diet is necessary to maintain various metabolic functions. Its effects are known to be antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory, and it promotes intestinal villi development, it has the ability to make the intestine impermeable, and it has antioxidant activity.

A lack or deficit of zinc oxide has been related a decrease in some productive parameters such as weight gain, lower food intake or declining feed conversion rate.

During these transition years, various nutritional strategies have been researched to mitigate the absence of zinc oxide in piglet diets. These strategies mainly involve converting early age feeds into effective tools against post-weaning diarrhea in piglets.

Some of these most important practices and tools are related to improving piglet intestinal health. To this end, there are four key elements that early-stage feeds must contain:

1. Highly palatable ingredients such as free amino acids, salt and lactose are important to stimulate feed intake, as well as avoiding some plant-based nutrients that contain anti-nutritional factors with a very bitter taste.
2. Feed digestibility and in particular the digestibility of the protein fraction is another key factor in reducing the incidence of intestinal problems. In these stages it is very important to accurately formulate the content of the protein fraction (quantity, digestibility and amino acid profile) in order to reduce protein fermentation in the intestinal system, which causes a proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms and the onset of diarrhea.
3. Another key factor that helps to overcome the weaning phase of piglets is using ingredients that favor acidification of stomach contents and avoid the presence of ingredients that have a strong buffering effect. Piglets have difficulty lowering stomach pH because they naturally secrete little acid.
4. Working with functional ingredients. These types of ingredients can positively influence the intestinal health and immunity of the piglet, helping maintain a correct balance of the intestinal flora, promoting and strengthening the integrity of intestinal cell junctions, reducing inflammatory processes and increasing antioxidant activity to eliminate free radicals from the intestinal environment.

Bioiberica has been working for over 20 years with high quality nutritional and functional solutions to improve the nutrition and health of piglets in the post-weaning period. 

Palbio 50 RD

Hydrolyzed porcine intestinal mucosa proteins, Palbio, have proven to be a reliable, stable, safe and high-quality source for helping weaned piglets have a good start in life.

The properties of Palbio products have been known for a long time, but now, thanks to their main characteristics, they have acquired new value with their zinc oxide-free formulations:

• High palatability: Palbio has proven to be one of the most palatable sources of protein, especially for piglets, who prefer it to the vast majority of available protein sources.
• Maximum digestibility: thanks to the enzymatic hydrolysis process, Palbio is one of the most digestible protein sources on the market. With over 97% total protein digestibility, it ensures a more efficient and faster absorption of the protein fraction, improves the total digestibility of the diet and allows for a more accurate feed formulation. The latter is key in avoiding an excess of crude protein in the diet, which could cause bacterial fermentation in the intestine, resulting in the colonization of pathogenic bacteria, diarrhea, intestinal inflammation, and death.
• Bioactive peptides: recent researches have confirmed the presence of bioactive peptides in Palbio, small protein fractions that originate during the enzymatic hydrolysis process. These peptides, in addition to their nutritional properties, have distinct biological activities and interact with enterocytes to promote their development and proliferation, suggesting that they may play a key role in intestinal maturation. It has also been shown how they can influence the expression of certain genes of enterocytes related to intestinal cell junctions and impermeability, transport and digestion of nutrients, antioxidant activity, and the immune system.

Nucleoforce

Another family of products that can play a key role in the management of zinc oxide removal is Nucleoforce.

Based on free nucleotides, Nucleoforce has proven over the last 15 years to be a unique and advanced additive to promote the development of intestinal structures and the rapid and optimal maturation of the immune system.

Nucleotides base their mechanism of action on promoting the replication of genetic material (DNA and RNA), which is directly related to increased cell proliferation activity and protein synthesis. The use of nucleotides impacts two systems in particular, the intestinal and immune systems, which have the highest rate of cell growth and development.

Supporting rapid maturation of the immune system and the gut is extremely important, and even more so in a productive system with no zinc oxide:

• The use of Nucleoforce has been shown to increase the enterocyte absorption area and villi height during the first weeks after weaning, and has also increased the rate at which intestinal cells reproduce and renew. At the productive level, this translates into greater nutrient absorption, greater capacity to recover and regenerate damage caused in the intestine, and an improved feed conversion rate.

Without the effects of zinc oxide, nucleotides can help maintain healthy, efficient, and functional intestinal structures.

• In the case of the immune system, the improvements are thanks to the immunomodulatory power of nucleotides. Newly weaned piglets acquire immunity through colostrum and sow milk during lactation. The use of nucleotides accelerates the maturation and activation of their own immunity, allowing for stronger defenses from the beginning, and a more efficient response to post-weaning stress.

In fact, nucleotides are generally known as natural anti-stress compounds, and in our studies we have seen how we can reduce cortisol, ameliorate disease-related damage and promote lymphocyte proliferation in these newly weaned piglets, demonstrating superior activation of immunity.

At Bioiberica, we are committed to the sector by offering safe, functional and innovative ingredients that contribute to the maintenance of animal health and improve productive performance in a Zinc Oxide free working environment.

If you want to know more, visit AnimalNutrition.