21 July 2015 - The EU registration for the NSP enzyme Hostazym® X was renewed on 1 July 2015 and is now extended to fattening pigs and minor poultry species.
Huvepharma, the manufacturer and holder of the authorization (Regulation (EU) 2015/1043), views the renewed EU registration as a confirmation that the European Commission sees Hostazym® X as an efficient means to improve FCR and growth in pigs and poultry. Additionally, the authorization further comforts Huvepharma in its feed enzyme development strategy.
Feedinfo News Service spoke to Karel Bierman, Global Director Enzymes at Huvepharma, to find out more about the significance of Regulation (EU) 2015/1043 and the potential additional business it offers for Huvepharma.
[Feedinfo News Service] Mr. Bierman, can you give us an overview of how successful your NSP enzyme Hostazym® X was in the market prior to 1 July 2015?
[Karel Bierman] Hostazym® X has developed tremendously fast over the last years. Earlier, NSP enzymes were seen as particularly helpful and effective in wheat based diets for poultry but less in corn-soy based diets. However, it has become apparent that Hostazym® X is very effective in corn-soy based diets. The effectiveness of Hostazym® X is based on its double action against both the soluble and the insoluble NSP. If you look at corn you will see that the insoluble NSP are the most dominantly ones present. These insoluble NSP are present in cell walls and enclose nutrients which cannot be utilized by the digestive system of the animal. When the insoluble NSP in the corn are broken down by the enzymes, soluble NSP will be formed, which increase viscosity and act negatively on the digestion and uptake of nutrients. To avoid this it is necessary to have also enzyme activity present against these newly formed soluble NSP. Hostazym® X contains both the activities against soluble and insoluble NSP due to its producing strain Trichoderma citroniviride Bisset and the surface fermentation production process, which makes it a unique enzyme for both wheat and corn-soy based diets. The surface fermentation on a wheat based substrate induces the strain to produce a broad spectrum enzyme mix which is ‘perfect by nature’.
Looking at the market, especially in countries like USA and Brazil, where the mainly used diet is composed of corn–soya, the use and acceptance of Hostazym® X has become very relevant, and also in wheat and barley dominated markets, like Europe and Russia, we notice a large increase in the use of Hostazym® X.
[Feedinfo News Service] The EU registration for Hostazym® X has been extended to fattening pigs and minor poultry species. What additional business opportunities do you think this extension will help unlock?
[Karel Bierman] The use of NSP enzymes in the poultry sector is very common and generally accepted. In the pig sector, there is still a different perception towards the use of NSP enzymes, although it is proven in numerous trials that NSP enzymes really benefit the pig sector by improving digestibility of the diet. The official registration for the use of Hostazym® X in fattening pigs is important, as this registration is an official confirmation by the EU highest scientific authority EFSA that Hostazym® X is effective in pig diets. Furthermore, having a registration for poultry and pigs will facilitate the use of Hostazym® X in multi-species feed mills in the EU, because with this registration it is possible to have only one enzyme in the feed-mill for use in all species. Another very interesting finding that we have noticed is an improvement in the health status of pigs fed diets containing Hostazym® X, as shown in our June 2015 scientific seminar for the EU feed nutritionists. The mortality rate of fattening pigs fed a diet with Hostazym® X was almost 50% down. Most likely the formation of arabino-xylan-oligosaccharides (AXOS) by the enzyme is part of this. The AXOS can influence the composition of gut flora, because they can serve as fermentable carbohydrates for particular gut bacteria, and so benefit their growth. We have already observed this in several trials where we measured pH and composition of the gut flora and observed significant changes in both. The above, together with the strong features of Hostazym® X as there are the robustness (shelf life, temperature stability), broad spectrum action (multiple enzyme activity and functionality on a range of raw materials) and the product quality (granulation, low dust potential) make Hostazym® X a strong performing NSP enzyme both for poultry as well as for pigs.
Karel Bierman
Global Director Enzymes
Huvepharma
[Feedinfo News Service] Today, where is Hostazym® X produced, and are you ready to expand production should there be more demand from the pork sector?
[Karel Bierman] Huvepharma has full control and flexibility over it’s own production capacity and is continiously investing in adding on production capacity in our factories as the businesses grow. A full new and modern fermentation plant in Razgrad was recently opened and major investments to add fermentation and formulation capacity are continiously taking place at our other sites in Peshtera and Botevgrad. Sufficient capacity is installed to take care of the increased demand we expect for Hostazym® X.
[Feedinfo News Service] Do you expect the EU registration for Hostazym® X to have any indirect positive, knock-on effects on the other products in the Hostazym® product range, or even OptiPhos® for that matter?
[Karel Bierman] The approval of the use in fattening pigs and minor poultry species of Hostazym® X will for sure support us to provide total enzyme solutions to our customers which could not be offered before, for instance the combined offering of OptiPhos® and Hostazym® X. As we are specialists in formulation and granulation, we can make any desired combination of these 2 enzymes now for all pig and poultry, totally tailor made for the individual customer. The broad-spectrum NSP properties of Hostazym® X and extreme efficiency of OptiPhos® as phytase make them together ideal contributors for improving the digestive performance of animals
[Feedinfo News Service] Do you view the registration as supportive of your ambitions for water soluble enzyme applications?
[Karel Bierman] Yes definitely. In the pig industry, treatments as expanding or even extrusion are very common practice. These technologies improve the digestibility of feed ingredients by applying high temperatures and high pressure, making starch to gelatinize and influencing the speed of uptake of the starch especially in younger animals. The industrial problems that feed millers are facing regarding these processes, is the destruction of a lot of enzymes and enzyme activity during the processing steps. The application of enzymes in a liquid form after the temperature critical processing gives much more security in reaching the correct amount of enzyme activity in the feed.
[Feedinfo News Service] In February 2015, Eddy Piron (Vice President - Sales & Marketing at Huvepharma) said your firm is committed to further expanding its enzyme business with advanced work on new phytase and xylanase products, new alternative enzymes and the development of new and better application technologies. Can you provide us with an update on this commitment?
[Karel Bierman] As earlier already mentioned regarding investments in production capacity, we are indeed committed to the enzyme business. The investments also reply to enzyme production, new enzyme development and further research. The process of identifying, developing and the application of new enzymes or combinations of enzymes is in full progress. We look for new opportunities by developing enzymes for new substrates that are expected to come into the market (by-products from biofuel or human food industry), or by developing better and more competitive enzymes for replacing existing ones. One example of new developments, currently practiced, is the roll out of our WSP enzymes with the Huvematic®, which is a totally new concept for the feed industry. Furthermore the enzyme portfolio is expanded for use into other species, one example of this is the current approved EU Hostazym® X registration in fattening pigs, but there is more to come soon…