Page 24 - AWA Vol.36-No.5

POULTRY

AUTOMATED WATER ers and technicians (Nishchal Sharma, EVONIK BECOMES
Shubiao Wu, and Brad Dawson) have
INTAKE MEASUREMENT developed an automated water meas- THE EXCLUSIVE DIS-
urement system that can accurately
measure water intake in 48 individual
pens. Each pen can hold 14 birds and TRIBUTOR OF PRO-
FACILITY FOR POULTRY has a 1.4-liter reservoir with a micro-
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF controller to monitor water consump-
tion. Sensors in the reservoir determine PHORCE™ SR 130 IN
NEW ENGLAND when it is empty and trigger the opening SOUTHERN AFRICA
of a solenoid valve to allow it to refill. A
flow meter on the inlet line measures the
amount of water taken to refill the reser-
voir. This data, along with a cumulative Evonik has agreed with Swedish man-
count of the water use since the begin- ufacturer, Perstorp, that it will be the ex-
ning of the trial and the number of refills clusive distributor of ProPhorce™ SR 130
is transmitted wirelessly to a computer in Southern Africa.
where it is stored in a database. Inform-
ation in the database can be viewed by
the researchers through a web browser.
The reservoir is a clear, graduated cyl-
inder, so any water remaining at the end
of a period may be manually recorded.
During initial days when the chicks are
small, the reservoir fills once a day but
as the chickens grow older, it fills 2-4
times a day.
UNE researchers aim to study the ef-
In poultry nutrition, water is the most fects of dietary manipulations on perfor- ProPhorce™ SR 130 is a butyric acid
important nutrient for the overall health mance and water to feed the intake ratio product that is a safe, easy to handle, and
and performance of birds yet less focus of broilers throughout the grow-out cy- cost-efficient solution for the in-feed ap-
has been on water compared to the other cle. The project is funded by Agrifutures plication in livestock management. Bu-
nutrients. In animals, water is used for Australia. Nishchal Sharma, a post-doc- tyric acid is a key ingredient for optimal
the metabolism of nutrients, regulation toral research fellow at UNE working in digestion as it favors gut wall integrity
of body temperature, digestion of food the Agrifutures project led by Shubiao which is important for performance.
and elimination of wastes, etc. In a ther- Wu, has used the automated drinker sys- The product complements the mode of
mo-neutral environmental condition, a tem in their first experiment and the data action of Evonik’s probiotics and shows
broiler consumes twice as much water obtained are very promising in revealing beneficial effects that can bring added
as feed until they reach slaughter age. the relationship between the nutrients value to customers when the products
The water to feed intake ratio (WI: FI), provided to the birds and water intake. are used together.
which is the amount of water a bird con- According to Dr. Nishchal Sharma, “tra-
sumes per unit of feed intake, is higher ditional manual way of measuring water “The partnership between Evonik and
when the birds are young but the ratio intake in poultry research is to supply Perstorp started with the announcement
gradually decreases as the birds grow water in each cage/pen through water of our R&D collaboration last year. This
older and tend to remain constant there- troughs or jars and weigh them at vari- additional distribution agreement is
after (for eg. WI: FI is around 2.5 on day ous time periods. This is a very time con- part of our ongoing endeavors to offer
10 and 1.7-1.8 on days 35-42). suming and labor-intensive process. The our customers holistic solutions for gut
results are also less accurate as of the health issues in animal nutrition,” said
Dr Shubiao Wu and Dr water evaporation through troughs is not Cuthbert Mamabolo, Regional Business
Nishchal Sharma taken into account and leakage can una- Director for Evonik Animal Nutrition in
voidably occur. With this new system in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Water intake in broilers is related to a place, we can produce more accurate re- “We are seeing a growing demand in
number of factors including shed tem- sults of water consumption and these can the southern African markets for altern-
perature, water temperature, water qual- be directly applied to the industry.” He atives to antibiotic growth promoters
ity, water taste, lighting program, feed also added that “the capacity to meas- which increase human resistance to an-
composition, feed availability, stocking ure water intake in 48 individual pens tibiotic medication. Evonik, especially
density, general health and gut health of allows researchers to accommodate 6-8 with this new collaboration, offers a
birds, types of drinkers and drinker flow treatments in one study.” The team also great range of solutions that promote
rates. Increase or decrease in WI: FI in- has a plan to collaborate with other re- healthy animal growth without the use of
dicates possible issues – this can be re- searchers to make more effective use of antibiotics,” Mamabolo added.
lated to birds, management of shed, and the system.
nutrition. Accurate daily recording of The activities of butyric acid are well
water intake allows producers to monitor researched and go beyond simple ma-
any abrupt changes in water intake and nipulation of gut pH. Butyric acid has
identify nutritional, health, or manage- been shown to improve pathogen con-
mental issues associated with it. In the trol, provide energy for cells lining the
current context of “water restrictions” gut wall, enhance secretion of enzymes,
imposed by the Australian government, and improve intestinal cell proliferation,
it is also important that we monitor the differentiation, and maturation.
use of water and avoid wastage as much All of these attributes mean that Py-
as possible. rophoric™ SR 130 has great potential to
At the University of New England in assist animal producers in reducing the
Armidale NSW, a group of research- impact of enteric challenges; in maxi-
22 Vol. 36 No. 5 Circle 29 on enquiry card

36-5.indd 22 7/5/20 12:53 PM