Navigating poultry production in VUCA world

Direct and indirect factors

Housing environment, animal performance, health status, husbandry, nutrients and additives are the direct factors. “These are controllable,” Dr Seksom underlined.

He recalled that when he was a college student, it took about eight weeks to reach a harvest weight of 2kg for broilers. Now, to reach the same weight, it takes only 30 days. For layers, the birds can produce more than 500 eggs at 100 weeks now.

“So, poultry genetics are changing every year. Unfortunately, many producers just do their routine works without changes and improvement,” Dr Seksom revealed.

Because poultry genetics continue to change, “each direct factor I mentioned must be improved. We must understand the bird strain we raise to adjust and improve the nutrition and health programs,” he said.

Indirect factors, meanwhile, include global and local economies, crude oil price, hedge funds, disease outbreaks, global disasters, consumer preferences, and government policies.

“We can’t control these indirect factors. However, we must keep learning to understand it,” said Dr Seksom.

Above all, he stressed that a holistic management is required to manage the direct and indirect factors and be sustainable. “And there is no single absolute solution,” he said.

Dr Seksom suggested poultry producers to focus on practical science that leads to pragmatic solutions. Practical science is multi-disciplinary science where problems are handled sensibly and realistically. And its fundamental principle is, he said, “Return man to the farm.”

Nutrition

To meet modern poultry genetics requirements, poultry producers should understand the roles of nutrition.

Dr Seksom explained that the dimension of nutrition is divided into two. First, qualitative nutrition which includes nutrition specifications, raw materials and feed mixing, happens in the feed mill. Second, quantitative nutrition, such as feed intake, feeding program and feed budgets, happens in the farm.

“In many cases, people in the feed mill and people in the farm work in a silo. They should work together to improve the feed and feeding management,” he said.

As many countries in Asia have banned the use of antibiotic growth promoters in feed, poultry producers now have feed additives to optimize gut health of their birds. The alternatives include herbs, essential oils, bile acids, organic acids, enzymes, probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics, among others.

Of the alternatives, Dr Seksom said bile acids can reduce gut inflammation. “Secondary bile acids, such as deoxycholic acid and lithocholic acid) can activate receptors, such as Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and Takeda G-protein-coupled bile acid receptor 5 (TGR5) and subsequently reduce NF-kB activity and down regulate pro-inflammatory cytokines,” he explained.

Also, bile acids have an antimicrobial activity. “Bile acids disrupt bacterial cell membranes, acting as natural detergents – control the bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine,” said Dr Seksom.

How to survive in VUCA world?

Beside understanding the direct and indirect factors of VUCA, poultry producers must be creative and flexible and have speed, real-time management and corporate culture, to survive and grow in a VUCA world, Dr Seksom concluded.

Bile acids and liver health

For her turn, Tracy Cui, Poultry Technician at Lachance Group, presented about bile acids and the importance of liver health.

Ms Cui said bile acid is the main active component of bile. It is a series of sterols produced in the process of cholesterol metabolism in animals.

“Bile acid is a substance present in the body of animals, so it is safe and effective. It is also an active ingredient necessary for the digestion and absorption of fat in the body of animals,” she added.

Two main functions of bile acids are promoting liver health and promoting the digestion and absorption of lipid and fat-soluble nutrients.

“The liver is the largest solid organ in an animal’s body and an important site for the transformation and resynthesis of nutrients. It performs over 500 physiological functions. So, liver health is the foundation of the health of an animal’s body,” Ms Cui explained.

Tracy Cui, Poultry Technician at Lachance Group, presented about bile acids and the importance of liver health.

Runeon and its benefits

As a feed bile acids pioneer, Lachance Group offers Runeon bile acids. Based on research in broilers performed in Egypt and China, Runeon reduced feed cost by replacing 30 Kcal ME and improved growth and slaughter performances.

Research in layers in China showed Runeon improved egg production performance for old laying hens and improved liver index, abdominal fat percentage and FLHS score in high-fat diet.

Meanwhile in breeders, Runeon reduced mortality and improved qualified rate of hatching eggs.

Finally, Ms Cui revealed that not all feed bile acids are the same. The production of Runeon employs ultra-high temperature and pressure saponification to kill pathogens and eliminate biological contamination.

“Solid-liquid separation is achieved through plate and frame filtration combined with flash drying to ensure the purity of the components. Liquid undergoes double-effect concentration then spray drying to yield active ingredients,” she explained.

On product safety and efficacy, Lachance Group employs a full-chain detection system which includes raw material test, process monitoring and test of all the final products.