Phytogenics are here to stay: Natural, Sustainable and Effective

Livestock are playing an ever increasing role in meeting the demand for food world over. Ironically, it is facing the dual challenges of sufficiency and safer production.

According to the FAO, animal protein production will grow at least 3 times by 2050, and meats (poultry, swine, and beef) will double. The increasing consumer demand for meat for food necessitates raising of livestock under intensive production system, triggering indiscriminate use of antibiotics. Consequently, the improper application of antibiotics (as antibiotic growth promoter, AGP) has lead to residues in meat which enter the food chain and pose a higher risk of resistance towards antibiotics. The potential side effects of antibiotics has become a real public health concern globally and eventually led to its ban in leading countries.

The key challenge is to produce sustainable food, sustainable feed to raise our animals and addressing the consumer concerns about food quality and safety, with limited availability of resources and with the need to diminish pressure on the environment.

The use of phytogenic products, which are safe, cost-effective, and environment friendly with no side-effects in most occasions, seems to be a way forward in addressing this challenge.

However, there are usually large differences in efficacy between different phytogenic products that are available in the market. These differences are mainly due to a large variation in ingredient composition of these products, which is often poorly defined.

Zist^#, a unique synergistic combination of phytogenic compounds having adaptogenic, antistress, immunomodulatory effect in target species is a step forward in meeting most of such evolving requirements in poultry and swine industry. Its unique formulation has proven efficacy in attaining the desired performance in the most natural way.

Zist has proven highly efficacious in in vitro as well as in vivo experiments. In vitro tests do not necesarily reflect the situation under practical conditions. Therefore, numerous trials have been conducted to determine the in vivo performance of the phytogenic additive.

Zist has been shown to alleviate environmental and physiological stress successfully and effectively and thereby improving production parameters (table 1).

The heat tolerance in target species, in summer, clearly increases upon usage of Zist, as depicted in Table 2.

Zist regularizes plasma corticosteroid level and thus prevents excessive protein catabolism and helps coping with the stress.

In one of the In-house laboratory trials conducted to assess adaptogenic activity of Zist, a set of mice was subjected to anoxic stress by keeping them in hermetically sealed jars. The time taken for mice to exhibit clonic convulsions was the end point and the animals were, thereafter, immediately removed for recovery. The results are depicted below (Table 4).

The phagocytic and immunomodulatory activity of Zist is well established by In-house studies.

Phytogenics, in general, are gaining high consumer’s acceptance. However, only a scientifically formulated combination of active ingredients can be expected to function synergistically in order to bring about the desired benefits for the producer. This is where ‘Zist’ makes headway by giving consistent results.
 
During critical phases of animal’s production cycle, such as the weaning phase of piglets or early in the life of poultry, it may relieve the host animal from immune defence stress and increase the intestinal availability of essential nutrients for absorption, thereby helping animals to grow better within the framework of their genetic potential. In addition to other Natural Growth Promoters (NGP), Zist can be looked upon as sustainable solutions not only in antibiotic-free feeding systems but also in adaptogenic, anti-stress & Immunomodulator category in general.

As more evidences pour in for feeding such compounds to swine and poultry, the assumption that phytogenic feed additives may have the potential to promote production performance and productivity, is only going to be strengthened in near future.