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ADM PremiDexTM Has Beneficial Impact on
Swine Performance and Gut Microbial Population
PremiDex, a
modified starch, is a proprietary feed ingredient manufactured by
ADM. ADM swine research trials have shown nursery pigs fed
PremiDex responded with an average daily gain improvement of 2.7%
and feed efficiency improvement of 3.5% for pigs reared under
conditions of low stress and minimal pathogen challenge. PremiDex
may provide greater benefits when fed to pathogen-challenged pigs
or pigs under stress conditions. MOMENTUM® nursery products from
ADM Alliance Nutrition will now contain PremiDex as
a research-proven and beneficial feed ingredient.
Identifying innovative proprietary technologies to improve pig
performance while providing an economic advantage continue to be
of highest priority for the ADM Alliance Nutrition swine research
team. ADM PremiDex (the trade name for ADM dextrin) is a modified
starch derived from a patented manufacturing process initially
developed for industrial applications. Innovative research
applications were sought for the possible use of dextrin as a
prebiotic in swine diets. ADM swine research has shown PremiDex to
be an effective feed additive that can have positive benefits on
swine performance and can favorably alter swine intestinal
microorganism populations. The application of a dextrin-use patent
for livestock, poultry, and aquaculture feeds is the result of
ADM's innovative research.
Also see technical
bulletin -
Proving Its Worth in Swine Grow-Finish
Diets
Role of
Microorganisms in Intestinal Health
Many different microorganisms colonize the gastrointestinal tract
(GIT), beginning in the mouth and continuing throughout the entire
GIT. In fact, the GIT can be thought of as the largest organ in
the body, housing well over 100 trillion microorganisms for every
gram of intestinal content. It should be no surprise that
fluctuations in the microbial population can have beneficial or
adverse effects on overall intestinal and body health. In normal
non-disease conditions, beneficial organisms dominate the
population and provide advantages for digestion and absorption of
feedstuffs, health and immunity of the intestine, and overall body
health. In disease-challenged animals, these populations shift
toward an increase in pathogenic organisms that can disrupt normal
processes, often evident as diarrhea, decreased performance, and
even death. Microbial population balance is critical in
maintaining healthy animals. Feed additives, such as prebiotics,
may be fed to animals to help alter the balance of microbial
populations by helping provide an environment that can selectively
increase beneficial organisms in the GIT. As a result, some
prebiotics may foster intestinal health and subsequent
performance.
Overview of
Prebiotics
A prebiotic has been defined as a non-digestible carbohydrate that
beneficially affects the host animal by selectively stimulating
the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria
in the colon. As bacteria have evolved to gain a competitive edge
in their environment, certain commensal (beneficial) bacteria such
as Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria have developed the ability to
use certain sugars that other bacteria cannot utilize for their
growth and development. The competition for nutrients in the
intestine is intense. Increasing the commensal population can be
achieved by supplying a source of nutrients only available to
commensals. In this competitive environment, when one bacterial
population increases, it deters growth of another population. This
increase in the number of "good" bacteria is usually detrimental
to pathogenic bacteria. An analogy would be the crowding out of
weeds when cultivated plants are thriving. This means commensals
outnumber pathogens to an even greater degree, so that it should
require more pathogens to cause disease than it would have without
the prebiotic. This becomes even more important when conditions
are less than ideal in the animal's environment.
Interaction of
Prebiotics with Other Feed Additives
The use of prebiotics can be synergistic with many other feed
additives including antibiotics, mannan oligosaccharides (pathogen
binders), direct-fed microbials, and acidifiers. These feed
additives usually have different modes of action compared to a
prebiotic. The structure of prebiotic sugars prevents digestive
enzymes in the stomach and small intestine from breaking them
down. This enables commensal organisms in the large intestine to
directly utilize prebiotic sugars. Prebiotics can be especially
beneficial in conjunction with mannan oligosaccharides (MOS).
Mannan oligosaccharides, such as CitriStim®, have been shown to
act as pathogen binders to remove pathogens out of the GIT;
whereas, a prebiotic may promote growth of beneficial bacteria in
the colon. Therefore, using both additives in a nursery diet
should work synergistically to favorably impact the gut microbial
population. University of Illinois research has shown that
including a MOS and prebiotic in canine diets had additive effects
on immunity, gut health, and manure odor.
ADM PremiDex Basics
Dextrins are starch hydrolysis products produced via a dry
roasting process using starch alone or with trace levels of an
acid catalyst. ADM has developed a patented process to manufacture
a dextrin product (PremiDex) from grain starch. This manufacturing
process (called dextrinization) is designed to intentionally
re-arrange grain starch molecules to convert a portion of normal
alpha-1,4-glucose linkages to random 1,2-, 1,3-, and 1,4- alpha
and beta linkages.
Starch consists primarily of alpha (1→ 4) glucosidic linkage and is commonly used as an energy source in
swine diets. The pig's digestive enzymes, amylase and glucoamylase,
can break down the glucose bond linkage of starch in the stomach
and small intestine, which releases energy for the animal to use.
However, the randomization of glucose linkages makes PremiDex
resistant to digestion by enzymes typically released in the
stomach and small intestine. Thus, PremiDex passes into the large
intestine where it provides food for ?good? bacteria. The
manufacturing process only randomizes a portion of the starch
linkages. This portion of randomized starch is referred to as
resistant starch. The higher the percentage of resistant starch
contained in dextrins, the more effective dextrins will be as a
prebiotic. Dextrin can be further treated by enzymes to
manufacture a different product that contains even more resistant
starch. This ADM product is marketed under the trade name
Fibersol-2®* as a food-grade ingredient for humans.
ADM PremiDex Research
In-vitro Gas Production
ADM research evaluated the fermentation capacity of PremiDex in
vitro using a ruminant gas-production monitoring system.
 Volume of
gas production from this monitoring system is an indication of the
degree of rumen fermentation. The lower the amount of gas produced
from a product, the more it can escape the rumen and reach the
large intestine. Regular starch and PremiDex samples were
fermented over a 24-hour period.
The volume of gas produced by
each product was measured at intervals over the 24-hour period.
PremiDex had less gas production than regular starch (Figure 1).
This clearly indicates that PremiDex is less fermentable
(digestible) compared to regular starch.
This does provide an
indication that PremiDex could reach a pig's large intestine where
it could serve as a prebiotic for healthy bacteria.
 Impact on Gut Microbial Populations
Most prebiotics, including PremiDex, are thought to selectively
promote growth of beneficial bacteria in the large intestine
(primarily in the colon). A swine grow-finish trial (S04201) was
conducted at the ADM Animal Nutrition Research Center to evaluate
the effects of PremiDex on gut microbial populations. Pigs (45.4
lb initial weight) were fed diets with or without PremiDex. At the
end of the 101-day study, fecal samples from seven pigs per
treatment were taken and sent to the University of Missouri for
microbial population analysis. The samples from the pigs that were
fed diets containing PremiDex had healthy Lactobacilli bacteria
counts that were 41.4% higher than samples from pigs fed diets
without PremiDex (Figure 2). The potentially harmful E. coli
bacteria counts in the pigs fed diets containing PremiDex were
33.6% lower than in the samples collected from pigs fed diets
without PremiDex. These fecal microbial population changes
indicated a change in the numbers of both "good" bacteria
(increased number) and "bad" bacteria (reduced number), which
could translate to better pig growth performance.
Swine Nursery Trials
A series of swine nursery trials conducted by ADM have shown
consistent improvement in feed efficiency and growth performance
with the inclusion of PremiDex in nursery diets. A titration study
was conducted to evaluate the optimal inclusion level of PremiDex
in nursery diets (S04126). One hundred fifty pigs (9.15 lb initial
weight) were split into six pens per treatment in this study. Pigs
were fed one of five diets that contained different amounts of
PremiDex, from none to a very high amount. A four-phase feeding
program (7, 7, 14, and 14 days, respectively) was fed to test
pigs. The antibiotic Mecadox®* was used throughout the trial. At
the end of each phase, pigs and feeders were weighed. Daily gain
increased when low levels of PremiDex were included in the diets
(Table 1). However, daily gain was similar between pigs fed very
high levels of PremiDex and those that did not receive PremiDex,
suggesting the addition of too much PremiDex in diets was not
beneficial to nursery pigs. Pigs fed the medium level of PremiDex
were almost two lb heavier compared to pigs that did not receive
PremiDex.
In comparison to no PremiDex, adding any level of
PremiDex significantly improved overall feed efficiency in this
study. Feed efficiency was better for low to high levels of
dietary PremiDex than a very high level of PremiDex, again
suggesting that addition of too much PremiDex may not be
beneficial. The improved feed efficiency observed in this study
appeared to result from improved daily gain and somewhat reduced
feed intake. This may be due to the change in bacteria counts that
was observed in the previously referenced research trial. Healthy
pigs use fewer nutrients from feed for disease-related metabolism
leaving more nutrients for normal growth.
PremiDex-fed pigs had
better feed efficiency. The feed efficiency improvement was also
observed in three other nursery studies (Table 2). These four
nursery studies have shown an average
daily gain improvement of 2.7% and feed efficiency improvement of
3.5% for pigs fed PremiDex-containing diets compared
with pigs that did not receive PremiDex. These positive
performance improvements were observed in nursery pigs reared
under conditions of low stress and minimal pathogen challenge. ADM
PremiDex may provide greater benefits when fed to
pathogen-challenged pigs or pigs under stress conditions.
Swine Grow-Finish Trial
A grow-finish study was conducted to evaluate whether PremiDex
could improve performance of grow-finish pigs in the absence of an
antibiotic in the diets. In this ADM study, 70 pigs (45.4 lb
initial weight) were housed in 14 pens, with five pigs per pen.
Pigs were assigned to one of two treatments:
A 101-day, five-phase feeding program
was adopted. Adding PremiDex resulted in better gain (6.2%), which
was statistically significant (P < 0.05; Figure 3) and meant 8.1
lb heavier weight at the end of the 101-day study (246.4 versus
254.5 lb). Adding PremiDex had no significant effects on feed
intake. As a result, pigs fed PremiDex-containing diets tended to
have better feed efficiency (P < 0.15; Figure 4). Fecal microbial
population from pigs on this test was found to be favorably
altered by use of PremiDex (reported in Figure 2). Collectively,
these data have demonstrated that PremiDex addition had a positive
impact on growth performance, which may have been the result of
more favorable gut microbial populations.
Conclusion
ADM PremiDex, a proprietary feed ingredient, is manufactured using
a patented process. ADM swine research has demonstrated that
PremiDex influences gut microbial population by increasing
beneficial bacteria, i.e. Lactobacilli, and decreasing pathogenic
bacteria, i.e. E. coli. Several swine nursery trials have shown
that PremiDex-fed pigs responded with a growth improvement of
2.7%, and feed was converted more efficiently (3.5%). ADM's
innovative idea to use PremiDex in animal feeds based on research
documented swine performance benefits and favorable changes in gut
microbial populations, has led to the filing of a dextrin-use
patent for its applications in livestock, poultry, and aquaculture
feeds. MOMENTUM® nursery products from ADM Alliance Nutrition will
now contain PremiDex as a research-proven and beneficial feed
additive. Reference available upon request.
Also see technical
bulletin -
Proving Its Worth in Swine Grow-Finish
Diets
*Not trademarks of ADM.
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