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In modern farming, the trend of scale and intensification is becoming more and more obvious. The bottleneck of animal growth rate is one of the most concerned issues for farmers. Uneven growth and long fattening cycle directly affect the profitability of farming. Feed is the largest expenditure in the breeding cost, and the low conversion efficiency of feed makes the economic burden of farmers increase. Traditional feed formulations are often difficult to fully meet the nutritional needs of animals.
In addition, disease prevention and control is of great significance in the farming industry, and many farmers have suffered heavy losses due to animal diseases. In the face of frequent epidemics, farmers urgently need to improve the immunity of animals, so as not to affect the overall efficiency of farming.
The Importance of gut health
The special physiological structure of poultry makes it more susceptible to pathogenic microorganisms than livestock, and the main location subject to pathogenic microorganisms is the intestinal tract which has both digestive and immune functions. Improving the intestinal health of poultry and enhancing the resistance of the intestinal tract to pathogenic microorganisms can prevent and minimize diseases and reduce the use of antibiotics.
The digestive function of the intestine comes from the peristalsis of the intestine, which drives the movement of intestinal mucosal cells, and these movements require energy consumption. In many cases, the intestinal tract does not get nutrition, resulting in part of the intestinal mucosal cell death, intestinal villi atrophy, the animal’s ability to enter the intestinal absorption of nutrients is weakened, which in turn damages the intestinal mucosal integrity, so that pathogenic microorganisms pass through the intestinal mucosa, leading to disease. For example, piglet diarrhea is caused by pathogenic E. coli through the intestinal mucosa.
Functional role and mechanism of tributyrate
Tributyrate is the esterification product of butyric acid and glycerol, and is generally a mixture containing glyceryl monobutyrate, glyceryl dibutyrate and glyceryl tributyrate. Different production processes determine the differences in the content of the three types of glycerides in the mixture. Because glyceryl butyrate not only solves the difficulties of volatile butyric acid, unpleasant odor and not easy to be added in feed; but also can release butyric acid under the action of endogenous lipase in the small intestine targeting the intestinal epithelium to supply energy, promote intestinal development, improve the balance of digestive flora, and thus become a hot spot of the research in recent years to replace the antibiotic-type growth promoter.
Tributyrate can be obtained by natural plant extraction methods or by chemical synthesis. Due to its excellent hydrophilicity and fat solubility, it can be efficiently absorbed by animals and enhance its utilization in the animal body. Especially in hard-to-digest feeds, the addition of glycerol tributyrate can effectively improve the digestibility of feed. Its principle of action is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
- Promote digestion and absorption, stimulate the animal’s digestive system, increase the secretion of digestive juices, improve the activity of digestive enzymes, which in turn improves the absorption rate of nutrients;
- Improve intestinal health, butyric acid can stimulate the growth of intestinal epithelial cells, enhance the intestinal barrier function, and reduce the infringement of pathogenic bacteria;
- Enhance the immune system, Glycerol tri-butyrate improves the animal’s resistance to diseases by enhancing the immune tissue resistance, thus reducing the incidence of disease.
Application of Glycerol Tributyrate in Practical Production
Feeds supplemented with TBG can significantly increase the weight growth rate of animals and shorten the fattening cycle, enabling farmers to realize economic returns more quickly. In addition, several trials have shown that the addition of glycerol tributyrate improves feed utilization efficiency. The increase in feed conversion ratio allows farmers to reduce feed costs while achieving higher production efficiency.
At the same time, tributyrate can significantly enhance the immunity of animals, especially in the breeding of disease-prone segments, through the additive effectively reduce the incidence of disease and protect animal health. In addition, it can help animals to relieve stress reaction, stabilize the intestinal environment, improve appetite, so that animals can maintain good growth condition and improve the ability of stress resistance.
As a new type of efficient feed additive, tributyrate shows a broad application prospect in modern farming. It can effectively solve the pain points faced by farmers, such as slow growth rate, low feed conversion rate and insufficient immunity.
With the deepening of scientific research, the future application of tributyrate in the aquaculture industry will become more and more extensive, and become an important weapon to improve the breeding efficiency and protect the health of animals. We hope that farmers can pay attention to this emerging product in time and realize greater farming goals with its power.
