Gut health plays a crucial role in the overall health, performance and welfare of your animals. But, with scientists believing that 90% of diseases trace back to the gut and microbiome, gut health support has never been more important. By establishing the microbiome early on, you are ensuring that your animals get the best start in life. Optimizing gut health is also essential for helping to build natural defenses, maximize growth, reduce the use of antibiotics and sustain food safety.
The importance of gut health
Gut health and its management is a complex area. The intestine is home to a dynamic microbial population, forming an intricate ecosystem that has a symbiotic relationship with the host. These gut microbes, or microbiota, play a key role in maintaining the overall health of the animal. Disturbances in the gut microbial ecosystem can dramatically increase the risk of disease.
To meet production goals in the agriculture industry, animals are often placed in artificial and unnatural situations and environments before they develop stable microbial population, and their immune system is mature. Stress early in life disrupts the gut microbial ecosystem, increasing susceptibility to disease.
Historically, antibiotics (sub-therapeutic) and antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) were used in feed to reduce disease challenges, as well as promote faster growth. However, over the last number of decades, the global agriculture industry, national governments and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) have been working hard to limit antibiotic use.
Food safety and antibiotics are intertwined. Bacteria from animals can spread to food products during slaughter and processing. Concerns with foodborne pathogens, such as Salmonella, Enterococcus fecalis and E. coli, is well documented. An animal with a healthy gut and immune system will be better able to control these infections themselves, reducing the need for antibiotic intervention and reducing the likelihood of transmission of these pathogens to humans. Together, producers are developing more prudent and responsible practices that benefit not only the animals but the consumer and environment too.
Gut health challenges for pigs
With pigs, early weaning (between 21–28 days of age) imposes enormous stress, leading to perturbations in gut microbiota, host physiology and immune function. The stress of being removed from the sow and withdrawn from her milk, as well as a new environment, is associated with a volatile gut microbial ecosystem and lowered defenses against pathogen entry. This leads to an increased risk of disease and symptoms like post-weaning diarrhea.
Post-weaning diarrhea is one of the largest sources of economic loss in swine production worldwide. Global producers spend over $3.07m on prevention, treatment and negative performance
The European Union decided to ban the use of zinc oxide in piglet diets by 2022. ZnO is commonly added to the feed of post-weaning pigs but has been found to contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant genes. By eliminating ZnO, producers are helping to decrease their reliance on antibiotics and improve animal performance.
Gut health challenges for poultry
Increasing global demand for meat is creating the need to produce poultry in a more efficient way. All production is led by the consumer’s requirements. In the UK, the demand for larger eggs is growing. Producers are under increasing pressure to stretch the genetic potential of their birds. This puts a strain on gut health.
Producers, now more than ever, need to acknowledge the need for optimal intestinal health of their birds. A healthier gut means a healthier bird.
Gut health challenges for ruminants
Over the whole lifecycle of a cow, many different gut challenges can occur. Setting a calf up for success should begin before it even hits the ground. In addition to supporting gut health and integrity in lactating animals, evidence continues to prove that maternal nutrition plays a vital role in a calf's immune function.
Once born, the calf faces a high-risk period of two to three weeks before its active immune system fully activates. During early life, it is critical never to let your calves go unguarded, as issues during this time can affect the long-term productive life of your herd.
In a grower, the seasonality of weather, feed and forage and environmental stresses create many challenges in terms of sickness and depressed immune function. When illness occurs, we look for every line of defense, and as some tools become less available, fighting it becomes increasingly difficult.
By building a strong foundation from the start, we can set cows up for a lifetime of performance and promote health and reproductive development for the next generation.
Gut health challenges for aquaculture
From the moment fish and shrimp hatch, they need to be put on a path that introduces the correct, beneficial microbes for gut development. With the right intestinal microflora in place, your fish or shrimp can respond with optimized growth, improved feed conversion, uniformity and survival rates.
Once beneficial bacteria are introduced to the gut, the emphasis shifts to nurturing the organisms in nursing aquaculture by maintaining a proper environment. During periods when intake is low or variable — as during a transition period — and handling stress and heat stress, promoting intestinal ecology is especially important.
During grow-out, feed conversion is dependent on the integrity of the absorptive membrane, which is itself directly reliant on the status of the gut environment. In a system where antibiotics are not used, the focus must shift to using nutritional technologies to correctly manage the house flora and intestinal flora over multiple grow-out cycles.
The Alltech Gut Health Platform
Alltech nutritionists understand that it is crucial to support an animal's gut health from the beginning. With our team of 90 scientists in five state-of-the-art research centers throughout the world, we can stay on the cutting edge of animal health research, such as our innovative study of nutrigenomics.
The Alltech Gut Health Platform is a dedicated team that combines nearly 40 years of research experience and practical application with the latest support tools and technical experts. They use this experience to provide specially formulated solutions and work together with producers to navigate gut health challenges on the path of least resistance.
Alltech is working with producers, scientists and nutritionists for a Planet of Plenty. With the advent of new agricultural technologies, the adoption of improved farm management practices and, above all, the ingenuity inherent in the human spirit, a world of abundance could be ours.
With this vision, the Gut Health team strives to establish and maintain optimal gut health for your animals. Our products and solutions can help you achieve economic and environmental sustainability.
To learn more about the Alltech Gut Health platform, its support services, solutions and products, visit alltech.com/gut-health
