Feed and Feed additives – The difference

Feed and Feed additives – The difference

Intensive animal agriculture is unthinkable without solid feeds and feed additives. The use of unbalanced feed leads to a decrease in animal productivity, overconsumption of feed per unit of production and an increase in its costs. For the breeding of highly productive animals it is necessary to use feed additives containing various nutrients and biologically active substances that can enrich them. 
In this article, we will address the difference between feed and additives used for animals. We will focus on the different types of feed and additives. 
Modern animal farming requires the use of modern technologies to increase productivity, growth and development of the animals. Feed and feed additives have been proven to have positive effects on these parameters. Nowadays, probiotics, multi-enzyme compositions, enzyme preparations, natural sources of biologically active substances and non-traditional feed additives are increasingly used. Their use must be based on knowledge of their physiological and biological properties, the standards and methods for their application in animal farming. Proper use of various feed additives and the complex of biologically active substances is one of the important factors for increasing the productivity of animals - growth, eggs, milk and others.

Types of feed
Feed is a product of plant and animal origin that is used to feed animals. It is a source of energy and nutrients and does not have a detrimental effect on the health, reproduction and quality of animal products.
The feed is formed in different groups. According to which part of the plant they are from, they are divided into cereals, fibre, succulents, root crops, tubers, pumpkins and waste roughage. Grass feed, according to the method of preservation is green, hay, silage, haylage or dehydrated feed. Wastes from the food industry are grouped according to the type of enterprises from the sugar, oil, milling, distilling and brewing industries. The main groups are feed of animal origin, compound feed, fat and leaf feed.
The feed from the different groups has common characteristics. Cereals are low in crude fibre, have high digestibility and energy value. Root vegetables contain a lot of water and sugars, but are low in crude fibre and have high digestibility. Waste from the oil industry is rich in protein. Animal feedand legumes are also rich in protein. Corn, corn silage and cereals are low in protein.
According to its origin, feed is divided into plant, animal, based on milk, fish meal, blood and animal fats, microbial or also known as yeast, mineral, containing macro-and micronutrients, as well as synthetic.
According to the energy value, feed is also divided into several groups. Concentrated feeds contain more than one feed unit for milk - KEM in kg of dry matter or less of crude fibre.
In terms of protein content, protein-protein feeds differ, which have more crude protein in the dry matter, and carbohydrate-high-energy feeds with less crude protein.

Types of feed additives 
Nowadays, there are many different compound feeds, the separation of which is determined by the specific substance added to them. Modern zoo technical additives are able to improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract of animals and thus contribute to increasing production in the farm.
Non-food feed additives are probiotics, eubiotics, prebiotics, symbiotics, enzymes, protein-vitamin supplements and premixes.
Use of probiotics
A modern direction in the prevention and treatment of intestinal infections is the use of probiotics. These are environmentally friendly preparations of living microorganisms that suppress pathogenic bacteria. Unlike antibiotics, the mechanism of action of probiotics is not aimed at destroying parts of the populations of intestinal microorganisms, but at the colonization of competing strains of probiotic bacteria, some of which are from the microflora of the host gastrointestinal tract. Lactic acid bacteria now remain one of the most widely used probiotic microorganisms. Bifidobacteria are used for probiotic purposes, and their constant presence is part of the normal intestinal microflora. The effectiveness of probiotics is not lower than that of antibiotics. Their advantage is that they do not destroy the microflora of the gastrointestinal tract.
Probiotic preparations are divided into eubiotics, prebiotics and symbiotics. Eubiotics are biological preparations consisting of living microorganisms, representatives of the normal intestinal microflora. Prebiotics, in turn, are nutrients or other chemical ingredients that help develop beneficial microflora in the gut of the animal body. Useful prebiotic supplements may contain specific substances produced by lactobacilli that prevent the attachment of unwanted microorganisms to the epithelial cells in the host's gut. Carbohydrates-oligosaccharides can be used as prebiotics, which inhibit the development of certain groups of microorganisms. If live microbiological additives (probiotics) are used in combination with specific growth substrates (prebiotics), then such biological products are called symbiotics. At present, symbiotic compositions enriched with vitamins, growth supplements, trace elements, lactose, antibiotics and others are being developed. Probiotics are widely used to increase the body's resilience, as well as environmentally friendly growth stimulants in the breeding and fattening of young animals.

Enzymes for better digestion of feed
Enzymes are specific proteins that act as biological catalysts in a living organism. They, unlike hormones and biostimulators, do not act on the animal body, but on the components of food in the gastrointestinal tract. 
For the needs of agriculture, the industry produces enzyme preparations of fungal and bacterial origin. Enzyme preparations are not a source of nutrients, but provide digestibility of indigestible carbohydrates, which allows the use of cheaper components in compound feed - barley, rye, sunflower meal.
In animal farming, the enzymes belonging to the hydrolase class are mainly used - amylolytic, proteolytic, pectolytic. Enzyme preparations are complex, i.e. in addition to the main component, they contain other enzymes. The preparations are standardized according to the activity of the main enzymes.
It is considered more effective to use as additional enzymes bacterial beta-gluculanase, amylase, protease, as well as fungal pectinase and protease in combination with the main enzymes - cellulases, beta-glucanases and xylanases of fungal origin, which break down cellulose and non-starch polysaccharides.

Protein and vitamin supplements
According to modern science and practice, the most rational way to feed farm animals is the use of complex protein-vitamin supplements and premixes. Protein-vitamin supplements are a homogeneous mixture of foods high in protein, minerals and biologically active substances, based on scientifically based recipes. Their composition includes feed from protein crops - legumes, meal, expeller, wheat bran, grass and animal products (fish, meat and bone, blood meal), synthetic microbiological products (feed yeast, minerals, trace elements, amino acids, antibiotics and others ). Protein-vitamin supplements are intended for enrichment of compound feeds and feed mixtures with protein, macro- and microelements, vitamins and other substances. The composition of the additives must be such that, after introduction into the mixture, the animals receive all the necessary nutrients and biologically active substances.