The Forum provides a common platform for the team of leading agri-business and industry specialists to communicate and interact with the local stakeholders.

Sustainability: Defining the Basics, Addressing the Essentials; Introducing NutriEconomics® was the theme of this year’s Biomin Asia Nutrition Forum. A panel of renowned industry experts commenced the tour in Cebu, Philippines, on 11 October, and then visited cities in Thailand, India and China before concluding the tour in Tokyo, Japan, on 21 October. More than 1,100 top industry professionals attended the forum.

Presentations dealt with hot topics that have a significant impact on the current and future of the industry and aimed to anticipate future challenges, predict global industry trends and unveil innovations that will shape the industry scene.

Defining the basics

"NutriEconomics® is a programme designed by BIOMIN to increase efficiency in animal nutrition, which is guided by the three pillars - Nutrition, Economics and Environment, and measured by specific indicators. By optimising feed use and improving animal performance, it is possible to reduce CO₂ emissions from livestock productions. For example, usage of Biomin® P.E.P. MGE 150, a phytogenics product for broiler production has been proven to reduce CO₂ emissions," said Dr Jan Vanbrabant, CEO of Biomin Asia.

"Biomin is pleased to play an active role in contributing to environmental sustainability and we will continue to do our part in conserving the ecological system. Recently, Biomin was awarded with the internationally recognised ISO 14040 certificate for our success and commitment to ecological sustainability."

Feeding the world

Professor David Farrell of the University of Queensland, Australia, is a world-leading poultry expert with a special interest in the complex issue of the "future of food". In his talk, he proposed measures to control the world population growth and pointed out that the livestock industry needs to start looking at alternative feed ingredients for production. Livestock production should not be increased at the expense of providing adequate food supply for humans.

"Reducing carbon emissions, food and feed wastage; conservation of depleting water supply and arable land, will all help to lessen the burden of mother earth and contribute to the improvement in its bio-capacity to provide for mankind," said Professor Farrell. The industry should manage and adapt to these changes in order to ensure that our future generation will continue to have food on their table.

Feeding our livestock in 50 years?

Dr Robert Van Barneveld from Barneveld Nutrition is a consultant and research scientist, well-known for his contributions and expertise in monogastric nutrition and research. He suggested using alternative nutrient sources to feed the livestock in order to cope with the increasing demand for meat

"Livestock production makes a valuable contribution to human food supply if we feed only non-competitive nutrient sources to livestock. We need to start assessing the alternative nutrient sources. Controlled use of waste-streams, co-products from livestock and self-generated algae and bacteria may return the net food source derived from livestock production," Dr Barneveld proposed.

Implications of commodity trade on the animal production industry

President of John C. Baize and Associates, John Baize, is one of the leading global specialists in this area. He presented an overview of the global commodity markets and explained the factors affecting global demand for feed ingredients. He also provided a detailed analysis on the export, import and consumption trends of corn and soybean of the major importing and exporting countries like US, Brazil, Argentina, China and India.

John Baize predicted that China will increase its corn imports by 6 million metric tons in 2011/12 and it will be looking at other major exporters, Argentina and Brazil for supply, to lessen its dependence on the US.

Review of AGP ban in Europe – trends and expectations in Asia

Professor Maximillian Schuh, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria, reviewed the EU situation after the ban and highlighted the strategies that EU producers have taken to ensure viability and sustainability of their businesses in a post-AGP era. His lecture focused on the key issues associated with effective on-farm management, biosecurity enforcement and nutritional strategies that have to be in place in order to improve animal health in the absence of AGPs.

"There is a global tendency to reduce the use of AGPs in animal diets. Natural alternatives to AGPs like probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids and phytogenics have proven their efficacy in decreasing or improving some swine and poultry diseases," commented Professor Schuh. "These natural ingredients have proven to be effective in decreasing the risk of transferring possible pathogens that harbor in the gastrointestinal system of livestock to the food chain."

Using natural alternatives to improve poultry gut health

Adding to what Professor Schuh mentioned in his talk, Professor Farrell elaborated on the use of probiotic and prebiotic applications as alternatives to AGPs in poultry production. He explained their role in improving gastro-intestinal microflora balance in poultry and the practical aspects to consider in application.

"In many Asian countries, there is evidence to show that poultry performance is at a suboptimal level. Probiotics are more likely to give a significant response under unfavourable conditions," commented David Farrell.

Swine feeding technologies and opportunities for the Philippines

"It is essential for local stakeholders of the Philippines swine industry to focus on improving production efficiency and product quality through technological developments to grow, expand and become globally competitive," said Dr Rommel Sulabo, University of Illinois.

Addressing the audience in Cebu, Dr Sulabo lectured on swine feeding technologies, specifically in diet formulation, feeding management, and processing.

Future of mycotoxin risk management in a changing global environment

Ursula Hofstetter, Director Competence Center Mycotoxins of Biomin Holding in Austria and Dr Guan Shu, Technical Manager Mycotoxin Management of Biomin Asia, presented on the impact of the changing global environment on mycotoxin occurrences in Asia. "Climate change affects the fungal profile and increases the occurrence of mycotoxins," reported Ms Hofstetter. "An example is Australia, which has suffered from a series of floods in December 2010. The mycotoxin survey results gathered for Australia showed that contamination levels, especially in terms of zearalenone (ZON) and deoxynivalenol (DON), generally regarded as field mycotoxins, have already drastically increased in the first trimester of 2011."

"Even when mycotoxins are not present at high levels, animals often undergo extreme performance losses in the field, even at low contamination levels, due to the co-occurrence of more than one mycotoxin in the feed," explained Guan Shu. "The combined effects of two mycotoxins are much greater than the individual effects of each toxin."

Winning the race for supremacy with innovation

Wolfgang Markert, Director of Development of Biomin Holding, Austria introduced the array of innovative solutions from Biomin, drawing attention to advancements in organic acid applications, phytogenic solutions and an exciting future development in mycotoxin biotransformation strategies. “We believe in investing in research & development for the benefit of our customers. An increasing proportion of the company’s annual expenditure goes into R&D every year,” said Mr Markert.

Basic and applied scientific research take place at Biomin’s in-house research facilities located at the Biomin Research Center in Austria and Biomin Research Satellite in Brazil. In addition, the Center of Applied Nutrition in Austria, and Aquaculture Center of Applied Nutrition in Thailand conduct feeding trials to validate scientific findings before new innovations are rolled out to market.