Laboratoires Phodé presents new poultry studies

Laboratoires Phodé presented two new poultry studies during the 2013 Joint Annual Meeting (JAM) of the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) and the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) in Indianapolis.

The first study concerned Optifeed Poultry, a natural solution designed to stimulate animal voluntary feed intake, and confirmed its benefits on broiler chicken growth performance during the first breeding week.

The Optifeed Poultry study was conducted in the experimental aviary Farm School of State University of Londrina, Brazil, and involved 440 one-day-old Cobb female broiler chickens in total. Optifeed Poultry is a natural solution developed and manufactured in France by Laboratoires Phodé. It is based on plant extracts and designed to stimulate animal voluntary feed intake through the positive stimulation of the olfactive and gustatory receptors in the hypothalamus.

The study showed that Optifeed Poultry allowed improving zootechnical performances of broiler chicken during the first week of life: live weight; feed intake, and feed conversion rate were improved. This study confirms previous results obtained in 1-10 days old chicks, and that this natural solution, which acts through a positive message at brain level, represents a valuable solution for pre-starter or starter broiler feed.

The second study evaluated the benefit of Phodé new natural solution Force 6 Poultry on broiler performances and antioxidant potential under moderate heat stress.

Force 6 Poultry has been launched by Laboratoires Phodé in 2012. It is based on vectorised cucurmin, a plant extract documented for its exceptional functional properties: antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, liver protection, immunity enhancer. Force 6 Poultry is recommended to alleviate the effects of oxidative stress in flocks and improve zootechnical performances of high productive birds. Based on the hypothesis that Force 6 Poultry could increase autogenous antioxidant levels, the new study, performed in a Canadian production farm, aimed at measuring the effects of the supplement on broiler performances and antioxidant activity under induced oxidative stress conditions (moderate heat stress). Zootechnical performances were significantly (P<0.05) improved with the supplement: live weights at 28 and 35 days were improved by 4.5% and 2.9%, respectively. Average daily weight gain between 22 and 28 days was increased by 8.9%. In parallel, liver glutathione peroxidase activity (an endogenous antioxidant enzyme), was significantly increased, showing a potentially higher antioxidative protection under stressful situation.

These two studies are the fruit of Phodé Sciences R&D activities and efforts to document its solutions applications in various species. Abstracts of both studies have been published in the Journal of Animal Sciences.