Multi-enzyme dosing, whether achieved using a single fermentation product with multiple activities, or a blend of single activities produced separately, does not necessarily increase performance claims AB Vista Research Manager Dr Helen Masey O’Neill.
“Individual feed enzyme characteristics and dose have a far greater impact on improving feed conversion ratio and cost savings than the number of enzymes present,” she states. “The effects of combining multiple feed enzymes are not additive, or necessarily worthwhile.”
The interactions that result from multi-enzyme dosing are extremely complex, with the outcome affected by the feed ingredients used, differing enzyme characteristics, substrate availability and enzyme activity end products.
“As a result, even in the limited number of studies where complete comparisons have been made, the best single enzyme products usually match and sometimes outperform those with multiple activities,” Dr Masey O’Neill continues. “It’s also much harder to get multi-enzyme products to perform consistently across all diet types, or achieve required levels of thermostability for all constituent enzymes.”
Very little published information has ever shown survivability of each component of a multi-enzyme following feed manufacture. Often, only key activities of the product are described, yet it is known that each constituent probably differs in thermostability. This makes direct comparison within the scientific literature extremely difficult and purchasing decisions virtually impossible.
“Even if a multi-enzyme xylanase-based product did outperform one based on a single xylanase, for example, the result would just as likely be due to differing xylanase characteristics, dose rate or efficacy, rather than the additional enzymes,” adds Dr Masey O’Neill. “That’s why it’s so important that end users are aware of the factors that affect target animal performance when making commercial buying decisions.
“The one situation where more consistent results do appear to be achievable is when a phytase is supplemented with a separate xylanase product, perhaps due to the great differences in mode of action and substrate.”
