During a time of elevated Vitamin E prices and decreased availability, Feedworks USA has introduced Elife to its product line-up for pigs. Tommy Shipp, technical services consultant with Feedworks, says Elife is a 100% natural blend of multiple EU-sourced polyphenols that can serve as a cost-effective antioxidant designed to partially spare Vitamin E.
“Oxidative stress is a major challenge in sows that can be caused by intensive production, heat stress, feed quality issues, nutritional deficiency and more,” Shipp says.
All of these things contribute to oxidative damage through the formation of free radicals, which can lead to reduced fertility in sows as well as lower performance and impaired immunity in growing pigs, Shipp explains.
Vitamin E serves several roles in the body from being an antioxidant to playing roles in gene expression and red blood cell formation, Shipp says.
Unfortunately, manufacturing challenges have made Vitamin E difficult to afford for some producers. Shipp says Elife is an ideal substitute for a portion of Vitamin E in sow and grower rations. Because of Elife’s strong antioxidant properties, it can spare up to 50% of synthetic Vitamin E in pig diets while supporting overall redox balance and cellular protection, he says.
“As a nutritionist, I have always looked for ways to give a product as much credit as I can in a diet,” Shipp says. “For example, the majority of nutritionists use phytases for phosphorus release. But with phytases and some of these other enzymes, there may be additional advantages like calorie release that can serve as ways to partially pay or in some cases fully pay for the product..”
How Does Elife Work?
Shipp says the product uses a carefully selected blend with a guaranteed minimum 20% polyphenol content. Some of the benefits of using polyphenols in sow diets are safeguarding integrity and function of the sow’s reproductive tract, improving litter weight gain and survival during suckling, balancing sow redox status around farrowing, and enhancing next-cycle fertility.
Polyphenols can also help growing pigs improve daily weight gain, improve live slaughter weight, improve feed conversion rate and improve carcass yield, Shipp adds.
“Elife has been rigorously tested through ICOS and ORAC assays and has been shown to be a natural enhancer of animal performance and meat quality in multiple global trials,” the company said in a release.
Your Next Read: Vitamin E Shortage Creates Challenges for Pork Producers
