New issue All About Feed now available online

Microflora of the gut: Key to healthy animals

That genetics play an important role for growth and survival traits is nothing new. But the genetic make-up of the microbiome and its impact on these traits have merely been viewed as an area of theory and research. Its impact might be underestimated and undervalued. Until recently, it was very hard to get detailed information from the microbiome. But since the prices of genome sequencing have dropped, there is more and more attention paid to the genetics of the microflora of the gut. Will that enable us to reveal the secrets of the microbiome? Read the full article on page 6 of the digital magazine.

Test farm for De Heus in Vietnam

In the article on page 30 of this issue, we spoke with Dutch feed company De Heus. Last June, this company started the construction of a demonstration farm for 400 sows and 800 fattening pigs in Vietnam. The aim is to populate the stable by the end of the year. The farm works with pigs bred by themselves, from the core breeding farm to the F1 sows. The demonstration farm enables De Heus to give pig farmers, local consultants of the animal feed company, governments and chain partners the experience of how a modern farm is organised.

Photo: Jan Zandee

Masked mycotoxins often have same toxicity

All About Feed also caught up with Franz Berthiller to talk about the threat of masked mycotoxins. In the interview he states: “A huge boost to understanding this was generated by the introduction of LC-MS testing, which gave us a tool to actually detect these masked mycotoxins. This has made a big difference. Since then, a lot of research efforts have been done regarding determining how toxic these masked mycotoxins are. And in fact, with some animal trials we did, we can say that masked mycotoxins often have the same toxicity level as the actual (parent) mycotoxin). Read the full article on page 12 of the digital magazine.

Photo: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna

Also in the September issue:

• Is yield the only way to value crops?

• Profitable and sustainable dairy farming: It starts with feed

• Pet food column: Going to macronutrient extremes with dog food

• Emulsifier saves energy and feed costs

• Two key points to fresh cow profits

• Reducing Salmonella with isoquinoline alkaloids

To read all the articles in this issue, go to the magazine overview page and sign up with your current website login.