Introduction

Organic animal production seeks to improve the level of animal welfare, respecting its specific behavioral habits while maintaining adequate parameters that support it.

Globally, there is growing tendency towards increased public awareness of the environmental impact of food production and food security. There has been an increase in consumer consumption of nutritionally healthy and organic products.

In the European Union (EU) the market for organic products has markedly increased in recent years, with growth of 8% during 2019. This growing trend has continued throughout 2020 and is expected to continue to increase during 2021.

Organic animal production in the EU

In recent years, the number of organic certified poultry farms has increased significantly. In 2017, about 3% of EU poultry farms were certified as organic, while in 2019 this percentage increased to 8%. Organic animal production is expected to continue to increase during 2021.

Organic egg production has experienced a marked growth in recent years, in fact in countries such as Italy, it is the most demand organic certified product [1]. France remains the leading organic egg producer at Europe with 7.7 million layers, followed by the Netherlands with 3.7 million layers and the United Kingdom with 1.6 million layers.

France leads the organic chicken production in the EU, producing 14 million chickens per year, followed by Belgium with 3.6 million chickens, UK with 1.7 million chickens and Austria with 1.3 million chickens under the organic certification (2019).

In the case of pigs, Denmark is the main swine producer under organic certification with 490,924 animals followed by France with 437,950 and Germany with 182,653 animals during 2019. This organic production is experiencing great annual growth, around 10%.

“The green deal” – challenges of organic production

As a result of increased demand for organic products and with the aim of increasing consumer confidence in organic certification, the European Union has adopted new organic legislation, which will enter into force on 1 January 2022. The aim of this new legislation is to prevent fraud, to improve the competitiveness of European producers with non-EU imports and to ensure consumer confidence in organic certification [2].

The European Union aims to ensure that by 2030 25% of agricultural land is certified as organic. In addition, various initiatives (From Farm to Fork) are planned, aimed at enhancing these organic productions, which will be endowed with 41 million euros by 2021 [3].

However, the transition to organic animal production requires major changes in today’s production systems. One of the main changes is the reduction in the use of antibiotics and synthetic products. The emergence of antibiotic resistance is an increasingly visible reality, so the EU wants to reduce by 25% the sale of antimicrobials intended for animal production by 2030, thereby trying to reduce the problems associated with antibiotic use.

Producers need natural solutions that improve animal´s health status, reducing the use of antibiotics and to maintain the productive performance of animals under organic certification.

Intestinal conditioner pronutrients – improving gut health.

A large part of the chemicals used in animal production are aimed at improving the digestive health of animals. The digestive tract of animals is one of the main pathways of entry and settlement of microorganisms, and at the same time its state is related with the ability of animals to digest and absorb the nutrients present in the diet.

Pronutrients are active molecules of botanical origin that optimize the physiological functioning of organs. Under natural conditions animals have access to these molecules, which are found in small amounts in different types of plants. However, on farms animals only have access to commercial diets, devoid of pronutrients, so their organs are less consistent and more susceptible to infection.

The addition of pronutrients in the diet allows to improve the functioning of organs, ensuring the productive performance of animals in a natural way. Pronutrients are available under organic certification.

These molecules act at the metagenetic level, increasing the expression of genes that were muted and over-expressing genes related to cellular functioning. This increased in gene expression leads to increased mRNA production and eventually greater synthesis of functional proteins [2].

Pronutrients are classified into 10 categories depending on the target cell on which they act. These include intestinal conditioner pronutrients.

The intestinal conditioner pronutrients, have as a target cell the enterocytes. These active molecules, increase the renewal of enterocytes and improve tight junction between the enterocytes, ensuring integrity of the intestinal epithelium.

This physiological improvement of the intestinal mucosa is reflected in greater absorption and digestion of nutrients, ensuring the growth of animals, and improving feed performance, since the animal is able to use all the nutrients contained in the feed.

In the case of laying hens, the use of intestinal conditioner pronutrients improves the production and weight of eggs, thanks to a greater absorption of the nutrients present in the diet.

In a trial with 600 laying hens of the Boris Brown breed of 85 weeks old, it was observed that the administration of intestinal conditioner pronutrients continuously at dose of 0.25ml/l in drinking water, allows to improve laying rate by 6.2%, and at the same time improve the weight of eggs by 3.17%, without affecting egg resistance.

Figure 2 and  3. Laying rate (%) and egg weight (g) obtained in a trial of 600 laying hens, divided into the following experimental groups. Control group: basal diet without pronutrients. Pronutrient group: basal diet with intestinal conditioner pronutrients at dose of 0.25 ml/l administered continuously in drinking water.

Conclusion

Consumers are increasingly willing to invest more money in purchasing organic certified food, which has been reflected in a marked increase in these products, reaching 45 billion euros in Europe during 2019.

This trend is accelerating the conversion of animal production into organic production. The addition of pronutrients in the diet improves organic physiological, reducing the need to include synthetic products.

Intestinal conditioner pronutrients are a natural solution to improve the intestinal health of animals, improving nutrient absorption and productive performance. In the case of laying hens the addition of these molecules improves laying rate by 6.2% and at the same time improves egg weight by 3.17%.

From Biovet S.A. we market Alquernat Nebsui, a patented product, based on intestinal conditioner pronutrients and certified organic.

Bibliography          

• [1] Bertsch G. (2020). Production of antibiotic-free eggs. Digital veterinary, available in: https://www.veterinariadigital.com/articulos/produccion-de-huevos-libres-de-antibioticos/

• [2] Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and reviewing Council Regulation (EC) No. 834/2007.
• [3] EU looks to boost organic farming sector as part of European green deal. (2020). The poultry site, available at:  https://www.thepoultrysite.com/news/2020/09/eu-looks-to-boost-organic-farming-sector-as-part-of-european-green-deal

• [4] Borrell, Use of plant-based pronutrients in veterinary, Royal Academy of Veterinary Sciences (RACVE), available at:http://www.racve.es/publicaciones/uso-de-pronutrientes-de-origen-natural-en-veterinaria/