The World Nutrition Forum this week saw Austria-based feed additive company announce its plans to lead the phytogenic feed additive sector by 2020 using omics technology.
It will also launch a new phytogenic product in the spring.
Efforts to lead the sector include a focus on science, customer service and speed of development, said Hannes Binder, managing director of Biomin.
Biomin is focusing on the phytogenic market as it currently is a field with a raft of small companies so the Austrian firm reckons there is room for it to become the industry leader. “The market is still very fragmented,” said the MD.
Ongoing product focus will be on helping customers remain profitable and work on optimizing feed costs and improving feed efficiency, said Binder.
“If you go back the last four years in our gut performance portfolio, phytogenics [has been] a significant product and we’ve been able to grow 24% a year,” he said. “So we’re on the right track, we just believe if we invest a bit more, are more ambitious, we can accelerate the growth in the future.”
“We’ve invested in omics technologies, for example." He said such tools are used in the mycotoxin field as well as in the phytogenic space.
And the company’s budget for R&D activities has almost doubled, said Binder.
Currently, phytogenic products can improve feed intake and lead to better animal performance with reduced ammonia emissions, said Michael Noonan, global product line manager of phytogenics with Biomin. Phytogenic products also help support beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and reduce inflammation.
“More energy is available for the animal to produce more meat, milk and more eggs and you have a healthier animal,” he added.
Additionally, products combining different phytogenic substances may provide a “synergistic” effect, he said. “Formulating phytogenic feed additives is a fine art, it’s a very scientific process, it’s very complex and Biomin has dedicated research teams working in this area,” he added.
New product
Biomin is to release a new phytogenic product at VIV Asia in March, said Noonan.
"We can't say how it works yet because it’s a little too early – the patent is submitted on the technology and more will be revealed later.”
The company is also seeking to register the product with the EU as a technical feed additive, he said.