Brazilian agriculture feeds more than 1.5 billion people around the world and, for this to happen, there is a very long production chain! 

Understand the role of corn in animal nutrition in this production chain

Celebrated on May 24, after Law 13.101, 2015, we officially have the National Corn Day, which is now in its sixth year of celebration. But, this story started much earlier, as one of the main foods of indigenous peoples and, with the evolution of animal production, it also became the basis of food in the processes of animal protein.

Corn is used as an energy source in the formulation of diets especially for poultry and swine in Brazil, participating in up to 80% of diet composition. The quality of corn is extremely relevant to ensure the levels of nutrients and the absence of toxic substances, especially mycotoxins, as described in the material from Embrapa Corn and Sorghum, stressing that grain for animal consumption must be free of toxic seeds, mycotoxins and pesticide residues.

What are mycotoxins?

Mycotoxins are metabolites produced by fungi that harm animal and human health. Also according to material from Embrapa, its production occurs in the pre-harvest stages in conditions favorable to fungal development and throughout the post-harvest period, when the corn is not kept in good condition. The most frequent identified are zearalenone, fumonisin and aflatoxin.

And this fact deserves attention, not only because they pose a great threat to the entire food production chain, but also because it has been used as a criterion for restricting imports by other countries and in marketing by large companies in the sector.

What are the damages caused by mycotoxins?

From the gate to the inside, the result is an increase in the mortality rate, economic losses related to low bird growth, reduced feed conversion, losses in yield and carcass quality, as well as a drop in egg production due to embryo mortality.

 

Yes Solutions

In this context, solutions that help in this containment become fundamental to combat, in short, any compromise in animal health. An example of this feature are adsorbents, which act to capture mycotoxins within the body of animals.

Composed of products that combine active phosphorylated β-glucans (extracted from the yeast cell wall Saccharomyces cerevisiae), enzymatically microparticulates, polycationic bentonite, activated charcoal, organic molecule, organic selenium and milk thistle extract (Silimarin), the line of Yes-Fix adsorbers, from YesSinergy®, adsorbs these elements that impair animal development and also acts to maintain intestinal integrity.

A care that begins with valuing animal welfare, passing through the care of the producer's squad (which can have negative economic effects by ignoring the presence of mycotoxins), and reaches the table of people who consume a guaranteed 100% final product.

These people add up to 772 million people who are fed by us, Brazilian agro-Brazilians, all over the world, as revealed by the study by the Department of Intelligence and Strategic Relations of Embrapa (Sire). According to the publication, 212, 235 of these people are from Brazil and the other 560.365 million are from other countries.

Over the past ten years, Brazil's share of the world food market has jumped from US$ 20.6 billion to US$ 100 billion. Among the featured products, guess what? Meat and corn!

Production in Brazil

To arrive at this calculation, even grain production was a metric. Corn production in the 2020/2021 harvest is expected to reach 105.2 million tons, according to the National Supply Company (Conab), the highest volume ever, with an increase of 2.6% over the previous cycle, even with a reduction of 1.1% in the area.

By the way, this is one more factor that producers should be aware of. From an economic point of view, corn represents around 70% of the cost of diets for poultry and swine. And in this regard, finally good news: the costs of producing pigs and broilers fell for the first time in 2021, according to the monthly study published by the CIAS, the Embrapa's Poultry and Swine Intelligence Center.

In March 2021, costs to produce broilers decreased by 0.70%, while those for pork production decreased by 0.06% compared to February. "It is observed, however, that although the price of corn continues to rise in the domestic market, soy bran and oil tend to balance the final prices of feed", says the analyst in the socio-economic area of Embrapa Swine and Poultry , Ari Jarbas Sandi, published on the Embrapa website.

It is worth remembering that the higher the density, the higher the energy value of corn and the lower the cost of producing poultry and swine. Another score is the combination of ingredients, a balanced diet, which allows the expression of the maximum productive potential of poultry and swine.

In this plot about corn, we have already presented its emergence, its role in diets, production volumes and, of course, its contribution to feeding the world. The complexity of participating in the chain is equally proportional to its importance, so take advantage of the date to share information!

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Founded in 2008, the YesSinergy® it combines animal welfare, food safety and sustainability to produce natural additives that replace antibiotics for animal health and nutrition. Since 2016, YES has been part of Aqua Capital, an investment fund aimed at companies in the agribusiness sector in Brazil and South America.