1140 agribusiness professionals from across the globe provided their views on the use of phytogenic feed additives (PFAs, or botanicals) as part of the 2017 Biomin Phytogenic Feed Additives Survey.

“The response has been tremendous,” stated Michael Noonan, Global Product Manager Phytogenics at Biomin. “These results confirm that veterinarians, nutritionists, live production managers and other professionals in every region of the world have identified clearly defined benefits to using phytogenics in their operations,” he remarked.

According to Biomin projections, the PFA market could surpass US$1 billion by 2023.

Digestibility enhancement ranked as the number one reason that the livestock industry uses phytogenic feed additives. The antimicrobial effects of phytogenics ranked second overall—while they constituted the top motivation for respondents in the Western hemisphere.

The use of PFAs within an antibiotic growth promoter (AGP) replacement strategy and growth promotion ranked third and fourth place, respectively.

“Research supports the perceived benefits that professionals report in the field,” noted Mr Noonan. Plant-based compounds –specifically essential oils, herbs and extracts– are known to have a range of biologically active properties that can be applied to modern animal production. These include anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and digestion enhancing effects.

When asked about the relative importance of the benefits of phytogenic feed additives to their business, respondents overwhelmingly chose enhanced feed efficiency, or an improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) as the most important benefit of PFA application.

“Feed efficiency speaks to the core concern of every livestock and feed producer in a globally competitive market,” observed Mr Noonan. “At Biomin, improving feed efficiency has been the main thrust of our research and product development around phytogenics in recent years.”

Read more and download the survey results.