Company seeks swine producers to run commercial trials
WOBURN, Mass., Dec. 5, 2019 – Agrivida, a privately held biotechnology company, today announces the availability of its innovative GRAINZYME® Phytase enzyme feed additive for use in swine operations following receipt of GRAS status from the Food and Drug Administration. Already a proven commercial success in over 50 million chickens, the corn-based enzyme offers a more convenient, nutritious, and sustainable phytase than previously available. Thanks to its high enzyme concentration, only 2 to 4 pounds of ground GRAINZYME corn is needed per ton of feed to conveniently deliver “super dosed” levels of phytase in animal feeds. Since the phytase is embedded in corn, nutrient credits are also provided, thus saving “nutrient space” in the ration. Compared to traditional phytase products, GRAINZYME Phytase is expected to offer swine producers similar benefits to those observed commercially in poultry–including improved nutrition, feed conversion, and animal performance, together with a very favorable return on investment.
“After the exceptional results of GRAINZYME Phytase in commercial poultry operations, achieving GRAS status in swine now allows us to continue to implement our strategic plans,” says Rajiv Singh, interim CEO at Agrivida. “Our next steps include pelleting trials, animal performance studies comparing GRAINZYME Phytase to traditional phytases, and trials using varying doses of phytase together with diets of differing nutritional specifications to determine optimum performance.”
Swine producer, The Maschhoffs to participate in commercial evaluation
The largest family-owned pig producer in North America, The Maschhoffs, will be one of the first swine operations to evaluate GRAINZYME Phytase commercially. “Super dosing is a very interesting topic,” says Bradley Wolter, Ph.D., president and CEO of The Maschhoffs, who also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “That’s the big advantage that GRAINZYME offers and why we’re bullish on the technology and have invested in Agrivida. We are pleased to be on the forefront evaluating this new product because we think it may deliver the enzyme to the hind gut. This will be exciting to assess.”
Other swine producers invited to participate
Agrivida will now conduct research at scale in thousands of pigs from the grower through finisher stages, which will also help determine the optimum phytase dosing throughout the swine life cycle. Due to their immature digestive systems, young pigs particularly benefit from feed enzyme supplementation. For example, three feeding studies with weaned piglets and young growing pigs published earlier this year in the Journal of Animal Science demonstrated GRAINZYME Phytase provided improvements in growth performance, digestibility of calcium and phosphorous, and bone parameters. As an added bonus, swine producers should also benefit from a more sustainable environmental footprint.
“We welcome additional swine producers to participate using GRAINZYME Phytase in their commercial operations,” says Michael Lanahan, Ph.D., chief commercial officer at Agrivida and one of the scientists involved in its development. “Since pigs and chickens are both monogastric species, I fully anticipate we’ll observe the same high-value proposition in swine that we’re now seeing in commercial poultry operations.”
Swine operators interested in conducting trials with the product at scale can contact Agrivida via the website contact form at Agrivida.com or by calling (781) 391-1262.