The training sessions were held on 12-13 May in the Chamber of Commerce of Tarragona

On May 12-13, 2022, the Chamber of Commerce of Tarragona hosted the XXXVII Biovet International Symposium. The congress was developed in two parallel conference rooms, one in English and the other in Spanish, and brought together participants from more than 15 countries.

Ms. Laura Roigé, president of the Chamber of Commerce, was in charge of the opening ceremony in the Spanish session, while, the English session was in charge of Mr. Roberto Barros, international director of the Chamber of Commerce.

Alquerfeed Diatom, natural solution to slow down the intestinal transit in intensive farming animals

In the first day, the central issue was the presentation of Alquerfeed Diatom, the recent development of Biovet S.A. The first conference dealt about the mechanism of action of this product and the conference was in charge of Dra. Anna Tesouro, head of the R&D and Production department at Biovet S.A.

Dra. Anna Tesouro detailed how rapid intestinal transit is a frequent problem on farms that prevents feed from remaining enough time in the intestine for a complete nutrient absorption. Consequently, partially undigested feed is found in the excreta and watery faeces.

Alquerfeed Diatom is a product developed to improve intestinal transit. It is a product based on optimized diatoms which increases the retention time of feed in the digestive tract of poultry, which favors feed contact with digestive enzymes and intestinal microvilli. This has a positive effect on the growth rate, feed efficiency, and intestinal welfare.

Use of Alquerfeed Diatom in pigs continuously from weaning

Dr. Alexander Daniel Obando Sánchez, professor at the Universidad Católica de Santa María de Arequipa, complemented the presentation of Alquerfeed Diatom with a recent trial carried out with the product administered to pigs continuously from weaning.

The trial was carried out in a commercial farm in Arequipa (Peru) under the direction of Dr. Obando and results until day 42 of product administration were presented.

The experimental design divided the pigs in two batches, one with a standard basal diet and the second with a standard basal diet with Alquerfeed Diatom at 0,5 kg/T continuously. Productive parameters (weight, feed intake and conversion rate), intestinal transit time and economic performance were evaluated.

Promising results of Alquerfeed Diatom in pigs

Results showed that the batch with Alquerfeed Diatom, in comparison with the control batch, slowed down the intestinal transit (+1h 56min); it obtained a better productive performance with +3,41 Kg/pig (+15%) and improved feed conversion rate (-12%). In addition, the results of the trial show that there is also an improvement in economic performance since for every 1,000 pigs, 10.33 tons of feed would be saved, and 3.4 more tons of meat would be produced.

In conclusion, Alquerfeed Diatom proved to be an effective product to slow down intestinal transit and consequently allow greater contact of feed with the microvilli, which favors a better nutrient absorption. Thanks to this, the productive parameters such as the feed conversion rate, weight and welfare of the pigs are improved, which in turn allows higher economic gains.

Poultry and pig flash products at the XXXVII Biovet International Symposium

This first day of the symposium was followed by conferences focused on poultry and pig farming in flash format products. These are short and didactic presentations by customers and collaborators who explain how these Biovet solutions have practical and efficient applications on their farms.