Ruminant Conference 2020 Vision & Beyond - Adisseo Dairy Nutrition Conference

At its upcoming Ruminant Conference 2020 Vision & Beyond on November 13-14 in Paris, Adisseo will bring together key researchers and users worldwide for presentations on the latest research findings in amino acid nutrition and formulation. Adisseo is the pioneer of the science of amino acid nutrition and its application to practical, day-to-day use.

“Adisseo’s extremely deep roots in the dairy industry extend to the 1970s. That’s when Adisseo made a commitment to unsurpassed technology and rigorous scientific research. The results are today’s best-of-class products, technology, and services,” says Dr. Brian Sloan, Global Ruminant Business Director, Adisseo. “Together they set the standards for today’s industry.”

Adisseo invests more than one million U.S. dollars per year in ruminant methionine nutritional research. It alone funded 14 of the research papers presented at this year’s American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) annual meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. A multitude of new findings resulted from these papers that further defined the precise role of methionine as an essential nutrient for dairy cows. The ADSA meeting is highly respected by researchers and nutritionists worldwide.

Methionine has long been known to enhance production performance and efficiency. Now its functionality in liver health, immunology, heat stress and reproduction, particularly embryo survival (or against early embryo death), are coming into sharper focus. The commitment of Adisseo to amino acid nutritional research is unsurpassed.

“Today Adisseo has the best two methionine technologies available to the dairy market – Smartamine® M and MetaSmart® -- with a cost-per-unit of digestible methionine at least two times less than that of other technologies,” says Dr. Sloan. “We are willing to go head-to-head with any technology at a neutral university site to prove the product differences.

“I will also personally visit with the majority of our European customers in 2020 to share Adisseo’s vision of the future and the key role ruminant amino acid nutrition will play in economizing feed (protein) resources. The efficiency of ruminant production will be the key to its sustainability and to providing food at a reasonable price for the world’s growing populations.”

Rumen Protected Amino Acids are Ingredients

The role of rumen protected amino acids is as ingredients, i.e. metabolizable amino acid sources in feed formulation. They are included in feed and ration formulations based on their price and value in terms of their contribution as metabolizable methionine or lysine.

Unfortunately rumen protected amino acids are not always held to the same rigor and expectations one would have for corn or soybean meal. Nutritionists would never use such feedstuffs without a feed analysis from a certified lab with approved methodology.

Amino acid balancing gets a bad rap in some quarters because of the provision of poor technologies by some companies. Many protected amino acid technologies are placed on the market without registration with the appropriate authorities such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In addition, many technologies provide no objective third-party data to validate their claims of bioavailability. Bioavailability relates to the percentage of the amino acid that reaches the animal’s blood and becomes available for use by the animal. This is a primary necessity in order to provide real amino acid value to the animal.

Adisseo, has heavily invested in developing a rigorous, unbiased gold-standard methodology with the University of New Hampshire to determine the metabolizable methionine contribution of methionine and methionine hydroxy analogue technologies . This methodology, the plasma free-amino-acid dose-response technique, is fully published in the recent paper by N. Whitehouse et al., Journal of Dairy Science 100:9585-9601.

This dose response technique ensures an unbiased approach to accurately and precisely measure the percent of the amino acids in any technology that reaches the animal’s bloodstream irrespective of particle size, density, composition, or any other characteristic of the technology. For amino acid products to be taken seriously as feed ingredients, they need to be tested using this methodology.

Adisseo also provides specialized services to the industry that are highly valued by dairy nutritionists and producers. Adisseo dairy nutritionists are experts in dairy amino acid nutrition, an expertise that goes way beyond their core knowledge of amino acids. Their assistance with amino acid balancing during ration reformulation and optimization helps dairy farmers and their nutritionists fully realize the potential benefits of amino acid balancing. Adisseo’s worldwide, longstanding presence affords the company knowledge and experience in all the major nutritional systems. It can thus advise and support customers who use these systems, irrespective of geographic location.

The future is exciting. Adisseo has funded research projects over the last 10 years at 14 major universities and research centers, leading to 69 abstracts at ADSA annual meetings and 27 articles published in peer-reviewed journals. This has allowed a key body of data to be generated and the next generation of dairy feed formulation models to be developed. The new formulation system in France is already seeing the light of day.

Within a few years, Cornell University will introduce its new version of the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS). The new version will bring a paradigm shift in the way amino acid fluxes are accounted for in dairy ration formulation models. It will allow dairy nutritionists to move completely away from considerations of crude protein and metabolizable protein. Formulation will be based on essential amino acids, nitrogen needs for the rumen, and energy. At the upcoming seminar in November, today’s experts in formulation will share timely tips and give a sneak preview as to what the future holds.