A new live bacterial feed additive will be trialled in broiler chickens, to assess the impact on bird health and welfare.
Ferryx, a Bristol-based biotech start-up has signed a partnership to conduct the first ever UK poultry trials of its product, with AB Agri.
AB Agri will conduct a trial of Ferryx FX856, assessing its impact in farmed birds. If the trial is successful, AB Agri will begin work to develop FX856 into a commercial product. Ferryx is managing the manufacturing process and consulting throughout the live trial period.
FX856 is a live bacteria, proven to survive and thrive in the gut of an animal which is stressed, an area where many currently available probiotics fail. As the global agricultural sector continues to reduce and remove antibiotics and zinc oxide from animal feed, maintaining gut health can become more challenging.
AB Agri’s trials of FX856 aim to investigate its efficacy in poultry, after it has consistently demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects and has been shown to mitigate the effects of stress in other species.
Dr Jennifer Bailey, chief executive at Ferryx said, “We are pleased to be partnering with AB Agri on this hugely exciting project. The company has a great reputation for leading global bio-tech innovation advances which have animal health and welfare at their core. They are the ideal partners for the first large-scale trial of our novel, stress-responsive bacterial product.”
Dr Mike Bedford, R&D Director at AB Vista, AB Agri’s feed additive business said: “Increasingly within animal nutrition, attention is being given not only to the nutrition provided directly to the animal, but to that of the gut microbiota due to the crucial role it plays in gut health and immune function. We have been developing our knowledge in this area for quite some time, and we see this partnership as enhancing that knowledge base to bring to the global animal nutrition industry.”