Seminar to focus on zinc oxide in piglet diets

A scientific and technical seminar focusing on the use of zinc oxide in piglet diets will be held on December 10 in Breda, Netherlands. Guest speakers from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Italy will come from various universities and organizations.
The seminar is being presented by Animine and the distributing company Speerstra. An update will be presented on HiZox, a potentiated zinc oxide product, which has shown great interest in countries with or without authorization of zinc oxide at the pharmacological level.
The usage of zinc oxide at pharmacological dosage in piglet diets has been debated for years in the European Union. It became a hot topic in western member states since the publication of the reports from the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), and from the Belgian working group AMCRA. In Belgium, the situation has accelerated since September 1 with the signature of the "Zinc convention" between the authorities and the feed industry. Some zinc oxide-based medicated premixes for piglets have been authorized under the condition of reduced zinc supplementation in the feeds for fattening pigs. This implies that the Belgian pig industry has now the choice to use or not to use, like in many other EU countries, pharmacological dosage of zinc oxide in piglet diets.

Animine conducts research using HiZox in piglet diets

Animine recently presented results from three piglet diet experiments conducted in Asia at the 15th Conference of the Asian Association of Animal Production Bangkok.
HiZox, as a source of potentiated zinc oxide, was tested at low inclusion rate in comparison to the pharmacological dosage of the regular ZnO in piglet diets. Trials differed by piglet age at weaning, feeding program during the nursery phase, diet composition, levels and sources of zinc oxide, antibiotic supplementation, and level of growth performance. In the typical conditions found in the three countries, HiZox fed piglets had the highest growth, resulting in increased weights at the end of the experimental phase.
Trials were supervised by Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, Dankook University in Korea and the Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Vietnam.