Organic Acid Feed Blend
Organic acid blends are supplied for feed preservation gut health and performance support.
An organic acid feed blend is a mixture of different organic acids and their salts used as a feed additive in livestock and aquaculture to preserve feed quality and improve animal health and performance. These blends are specifically formulated to provide a broad-spectrum effect against various microbial threats.
Key Benefits
Organic acid blends offer multiple advantages that extend beyond pathogen control, serving as a viable alternative to traditional antibiotic growth promoters.
Pathogen Control: They inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Clostridium perfringens in the feed and gastrointestinal tract.
Improved Digestion and Nutrient Absorption: By lowering the pH in the stomach and intestines, they create an optimal environment for digestive enzyme activity (like pepsin) and enhance the absorption of proteins and minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc), leading to improved nutrient utilization.
Enhanced Performance: The result of better gut health and nutrient absorption is improved growth rates, average daily weight gain (ADWG), and feed conversion ratios (FCRs) in animals like weanling pigs and broilers.
Feed Preservation: They act as preservatives, protecting raw materials and finished feed against deterioration caused by molds, yeasts, and their metabolites, which prolongs shelf life and maintains nutrient value.
Reduced Environmental Impact: Some blends can help reduce the production of harmful ammonia in animal waste, which has a positive impact on the barn environment and reduces pollution.
Common Ingredients and Products
Blends are necessary because no single organic acid can address all the complex challenges alone; each acid has different properties and modes of action. They often contain a combination of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) and their salts.
Fylax®: A synergistic blend of organic acids and surfactants by Selko/Trouw Nutrition, primarily for mold reduction and prolonging feed shelf life.
Lupro-Cid®: A blend by BASF that effectively combines the strengths of formic and propionic acid for feed preservation and improved silage fermentation.
Acidapure: A product by Mankind Pharma available in powder (acetic, formic, propionic, benzoic, sorbic, butyric acids) and liquid (lactic, formic, citric, sodium citrate, butyric acids) forms, shown to enhance growth performance and gut health in broilers.
ACTIVATE® Nutritional Feed Acids: A blend of organic acids and the L-methionine precursor HMTBa (2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio) butanoic acid) by Novus International, designed to support gut health and balance intestinal flora.
Quill Complete Organic Acid: A premix blend that includes chelated minerals along with organic acids for enhanced immunity and performance in pigs and poultry.
