Nowadays, the animal production has reached very high standards of efficiency and productivity, due to the constant modernization and research that is being carried out in terms of genetics, nutrition and management. Despite of this, microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses and parasites, continue to challenge production continuously.

Immunity is one of the key systems to maintain these quality and health standards. The immune system is in charge of protecting the organism from potentially noxious substances, recognizing them and responding to them so that they do not affect the life of the animals.

The following is a trial conducted with immunostimulant pronutrients in commercial breeding ducks in the United States. Immunostimulant pronutrients are active molecules of plant origin, intended to enhance the adaptive immune response derived from vaccination and to improve the innate immunity in young and adult animals. In this way, thanks to a reinforced immune system, a productive improvement can be achieved.

Objectives:

The purpose of the trial was to evaluate the effect of a solution rich in immunostimulant pronutrients on the health and productivity of ducks.

The trial was carried out with 3118 ducks distributed in two treatment groups, each group divided into two houses per treatment, until 33 days of age.

Diets were administered as follows: starter feed from day 1 to 14, and grower feed from day 15 to 33. T2 group received immunostimulant pronutrients at a dose of 0.5 kg/Tn throughout the trial.

Results:

The assessment of the results showed that the group supplemented with immunostimulant pronutrients obtained better productive parameters, such as live weight at the end of the trial (day 33), which was 0.7 kg higher per bird on average, and a 2.64% better feed conversion ratio than the control group.

Mortality during the study period was related to digestive problems at the beginning of the trial. It should be noted that immunostimulant pronutrients do not have an impact on digestive problems, as they are indicated to strengthen the immunity of the animals. However, the improvement of general immunity can have a positive impact on the resistance to digestive infections.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) classifies poultry carcasses into 3 classes (A, B or C) according to their features. Grade A meat has the highest quality and is marketed directly for human consumption, since it does not contain defects in the skin nor bones and has a good fat cover. Meat graded as B or C has certain defects that prevent it from being directly marketed and is used for processed products or minced meat.

Considering the grading reported by the slaughterhouse, the pronutrients group stood out with a higher carcass yield (+0.89%), as well as a higher carcass quality (+6.58% of meat classified as grade A) compared to the control group. Regarding discards, the pronutrients group obtained a lower percentage (56.41% reduction) compared to the control group.

Conclusion:

The focus on immunity is of utmost importance nowadays in the animal production, in order the animal can express its maximum genetic potential, and achieve healthy animals prepared to meet the challenges they are constantly exposed to.

Immunostimulant pronutrients improved the weight of the birds by 2.17%, as well as the conversion rate by 2.94% compared to the control group. They also obtained a better carcass yield (+0.89%) and meat quality (+6.58% Grade A meat).

Extrapolating the result to 1 million birds, the use of immunostimulant pronutrients would result in savings of 158.1 tons of feed and a production of 67.95 more tons of meat, achieving an economic benefit per bird of $0.20 dollars.

Immunostimulant pronutrients are marketed by Biovet S.A. under the name Alquernat Immuplus.