BIOTECHNOLOGY IN

ANIMAL FEED
&
FEEDING
 WHAT IS BIOTECHNOLOGY?

Biotechnology is the application of technologies,

such as recombinant DNA techniques, biochemistry,
molecular and cell biology, genetics and genetic
engineering, and cell fusion techniques etc.
Using living organisms or its products,

• to manufacture industrial products including

antibiotics,
insulin, and
interferon,
• to improve plants or animals,
• to develop microorganisms for specific uses,
• to identify targets for pharmaceutical
development,
• to transform biological systems into useful
processes and products or
• to develop organisms for specific uses.
Biotech and Animal Feeds…
The largest impact of biotechnology on livestock
production is increasing the livestock feeds through
improving nutrient content
as well as
the digestibility of low quality feeds through use of
efficient feed additives.
Its attention in two areas,

01) Development of genetically modified

feed ingredients
in order to nutritionally enhance and
improve the production capabilities.

02) Improve certain feed ingredients

which have inherently low nutritional
capabilities like high fiber, anti-
nutritive factors, low protein, and
deficiency of certain amino acids
through the addition of feed additives
REQUIREMENT OF BIOTECNOLOGY IN ANIMAL
FEED & FEEDING

Some of the limitations which the nutritionist face during

feed formulation are the antinutritive factors like trypsin
inhibitors, saponins, tannins, phytates, oxalates, high fiber,
limitation of phosphorus content etc in feed.

Developing genetically modified feed having improved

nutritional values could solve these problems.
 Nutritional Improvements

Value added feed Feed additives

stuff
– Value added feed stuff
• Low phytate corn
• High oil corn
• Low oligosaccharide soybean
• Soybeans with high lysine
• GM crops with improved amino acid profiles
•Low phytate corn:
All plant feed ingredients contain natural phosphorus, which
is only 30 % available, and the rest 70 % is in the form of
phytate phosphorus.
Grains with low phytate phosphorus and high
available phosphorus were made

•High oil corn:.

This variety contains 87 % higher crude oil fat and
3.3% higher crude protein compared to typical corn.

Feeding studies with high oil corn on broilers shows

-Significant improvement in body weight & feed conversion.
-Less abdominal fat
-Better feed to egg ratio.
-Egg yolks contained increased levels of linoleic acid and
oleic acid.
•Low oligosaccharide soybean:
Soybeans contain raffinose and stachyose the
oligosaccharides, which act as antinutritive
factors.
Genetically modified soybeans with low
oligosaccharides gave an increased 3% in amino
acid digestibility and 5 % increased in dry matter
digestibility.

•Soybeans with high lysine:

Increased lysine content from 3 % to 4.5 %
It reduce the supplemental addition of lysine in
diets.

•GM crops with improved amino acid profiles

Great potential to decrease nitrogen excretion in
poultry.
 -Feed additives

Adding specific nutrients to feed improves animal digestion

and thereby reduces feed costs.
A lot of feed additives are being currently used and new
concepts are continuously developed.
Enzymes
Pro-biotic
Pre-biotic
Dietary amino acids
Toxin Binders
Minerals and Vitamins
Bypass proteins
Metabolic modifiers
•Enzymes
Enzymes are biological catalysts and they improve
the nutrient availability from feedstuffs,
lower feed costs and
reduce out put of waste into the environment.

01) Microbial phytase as the result of

biotechnology is an enzyme that breaks down the
indigestible phytic acid (phytate) in cereals and
oilseeds and releases digestible phosphorus.
This reduces the use of expensive supplemental inorganic
phosphorus like dicalcium phosphate. Phytase also
releases minerals (Ca, Mg, Zn and K), amino acids and
proteins, which are complied with the Phytate molecule.

02) Concentrate feed pellets could be made by

incorporating cellulase,pectinace and xylanase with straw,
bagasse and other agricultural waste.
•Probiotics

Probiotics can help to build up the beneficial bacteria in the

intestine and competitively exclude the pathogenic bacteria.
These bacteria also release enzymes, which help in the
digestion of feed.
The common organisms in probiotic products are
Aspergillus oryzae,
Lactobacillus acidophilus,
L. bulgaricus,
L.plantarium,
Bifidobacterium bifidium,
Streptococcus lactis and
Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Can be administered through water or incorporated in the
feed.

Useful in the early stages of chick growth since the gut of

the newly hatched chick is sterile
Helps to build up beneficial bacteria much faster than the
normal course.
•Prebiotics

Some of the prebiotics, which are currently used in animal

feed, are
Mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS),
fructo-oligosaccharide and
mixed oligo-dextran.
Mannan-oligosaccharides are mainly obtained from cell walls
of yeasts. Other sources of MOS are copra or palm kernel
meal.

The advantages of prebiotics are that it can stand high

palletizing temperatures in the feed and also have a long
shelf life.
•Dietary amino acids

•Essential amino acids are added as supplement to the feed

to get a balanced amino acid profile.
•The new trend is to formulate diets on digestible amino acid
levels thereby reducing the requirement of protein.
•Lysine is produced by microbial fermentation and methionine
is chemically synthesized to add as supplement .
•Genetically enhanced micro-organisms are being used to
produce threonine and tryptophan on a commercial basis.
•Using all these amino acids it is possible to lower dietary
crude protein level by 2 – 3 %, which is a substantial saving
for the farmer..
Toxin Binders

Present day methods are generally use of organic acids

and their salts like propionic acid or adsorbents like
bentonites, zeolites, hydroxyl aluminosilicates.
In the future, biotechnology based products like microbes,
herbal extracts or esterified glucomannan could be used.
Aqua extracts of garlic, onion, turmeric, neem have been
shown to exert antifungal activity or inhibit aflatoxin
production.
•Minerals and Vitamins

The absorption and availability of inorganic trace minerals

varies depending upon the nature of the minerals (sulphate,
oxide or carbonate), their solubility, ionization etc.

Trace minerals are now being attached to oligopeptides to

make them more bioavailable.

Commercial preparations of proteinated selenium and

chromium are used in poultry.

In the case of vitamins due to varying availability and stability

of vitamins in ingredients supplemental vitamins are
incorporated in diets. These vitamins are much more stable
than naturally occurring forms.
•Metabolic modifiers

Metabolic modifiers are a group of compounds that modify

animal metabolism in specific and directed ways.

They have the overall effect of

Improving productive efficiency (weight gain or milk yield
per feed unit)
Improving carcass composition (lean:fat ratio) in growing
animals,
Increasing milk yield in lactating animals and
Decreasing animal waste per production unit (NRC 1994)

 Two classes of compounds have received major focus,

1. Somatotropins (STS) and
2. Adrenergic agonists.
Commercially these compounds are produced by the use of
recombinant DNA technology to selectively produce specific
components for a species

The most common somatotropin is the bovine somatotropin

(bST) which is administered to dairy cows.

Similarly somatotropins have also been used in pigs which

resulted in greater nutrient use.

Administering of β adrenergic agonist components lead to

improved feed conversion ratio, daily weight gain and
carcass leanness (NRC 1994).
These components induce changes in endocrine and
cellular mechanism.
MERITS & CONSTRAINS OF
BIOTECHNOLOGY IN
ANIMAL FEEDS & FEEDING
 MERITS

•Increase the digestibility of low quality feeds through use

of efficient feed additives.
•Developing genetically modified grains with improved
nutritional values avoid limitations of antinutritive factors
like trypsin inhibitors, saponins, tannins, phytates,
oxalates and high fiber content and limitation of
phosphorus content during feed formulation
•Less phosphorus would be thrown in the litter and
manure, which would lead to the control of
eutrophication.
•If phytase enzyme used in poultry, aquaculture integrated
farmers are benefiting in controlling the algal bloom due to
the reduction in ground water phosphorus levels.
•Also it reduces the use of expensive supplemental
inorganic phosphorus such as dicalcium phosphate.
•Reduce the cost of animal feed.
•Increased milk yields, improved productive efficiency
(milk/feed) and decreased animal waste.
 CONSTRAINS
• The inclusion of genetically modified feedstuffs in
animal feed could also pose certain risks. GM plants
are produced by transferring foreign genes of
particular characteristics into feed grain crops.
• For example introducing antibiotic resistant marker
genes may render common infectious diseases
untreatable or certain proteins may cause allergic
reactions to animals and humans.
• Hence proper lab, field assessments as well as
health assessments have to be made before release
of such plants for commercial cultivation.
• High cost of the enzymes. Due to enzymes attract
import duty, making their usage expensive. There are
very few companies producing enzymes due to lack of
technology