TechnoYeast - The Complete Package!

Early life is the most challenging time in many animals’ lives. Their immune system and gut physiology are not fully developed, making young animals more susceptible to disease. As such, young animals need thorough digestive support for a productive future. One way to help is to promote a healthy gut microbiota for high immune defense and provide highly available sources of protein.

Frequently used sources of animal protein blood plasma for non-ruminants and milk proteins, such as skim milk powder. In fact, the livestock industry uses animal protein sources to provide the highly available nutrients for young animals. Due to several concerns, there has been growing interest in alternative feed material that can replace porcine blood plasma. One such alternative is the use of specific yeast products. Yeasts have long been used to support animal health and productivity. In particular, there is an increasing attraction to yeast products that can meet the specific needs of young animals. Moreover, these yeast products can be integrated into the diet as a cost-neutral or even cost reducing ingredient.

The most commonly used yeast strains for animal feed include strains from Saccharomyces spp., of which Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the most well-known and studied. Today, however, other yeast strains are gaining increased attention for their application in feed. One strain, Kluyveromyces fragilis, is rich in both nutritional and functional components, making it an excellent functional feed ingredient.

TechnoYeast is a functional feed material derived from this unique strain of yeast. TechnoYeast is a primary grown yeast that is multi-enzymatically hydrolyzed using a standardized, gentle, but efficient process to deliver highly bioavailable nutrients. As such, TechnoYeast is packed with beneficial components.

TechnoYeast has a good amino acid profile composed of both functional amino acids—like glutamic acid—and essential amino acids such as lysine, threonine, and valine. In addition, TechnoYeast is an excellent source of nucleic acids to serve as a source of nucleotides. Nucleotides play an important role in many biological processes, such as tissue development in the immune system and digestive tract, which is very important during rapid growth. In addition, nucleotides are essential for the several functions of the immune system.

The special umami taste of K. fragilis stems from specific amino acids, such as glutamic acid, and nucleotides that signal the brain. Umami improves the overall palatability of feed and increases feed intake. In fact, elevated levels of glutamic acid are found in breast milk, underscoring the importance of umami to taste sensation.

TechnoYeast also contains mannan-oligosaccharides and β-glucans. These two cell wall components act as pathogen binders and immune stimulators. When used as feed supplements for animals, these compounds have been shown to have beneficial effects on animal health and productivity.

TechnoYeast has an added benefit. It contains high amounts of highly available crude protein, which has digestibility close to that of animal protein. This makes it an excellent choice to replace other protein sources in your formulation. This, combined with the milky umami taste of TechnoYeast, is especially valuable in young animal nutrition. Let’s explore two real-life examples!

Skimmed milk is one of the main ingredients of milk replacer. It accounts for 10-60% of the total ingredients. Due to its high-quality protein, TechnoYeast is able to be exchanged a portion of the skimmed milk powder in milk replacer. For example, a combination of 1.5 % TechnoYeast and 1 % whey powder can replace 2.5 % skimmed milk powder. This substitution, within TechnoYeast’s recommended dosage, provides the excellent gut and immune health properties of TechnoYeast, without impairing the protein value of the milk replacer. Additionally, due to the current high cost of skim milk powder, this optimization is achieved with no added, but reduced costs!

TechnoYeast is an excellent choice to provide superior quality protein at no additional costs while delivering added value. When you consider the extra effects of TechnoYeast on gut and immune health, there is a clear benefit. This refinement is possible for other protein-containing diets. Let’s look at one involving porcine blood plasma.

In many countries porcine blood plasma is a common ingredient in weaning diets for piglets. This ingredient increases palatability and provides a highly digestible source of amino acids and nutrients when feed intake is reduced in a piglet's life. Blood plasma improves health and zootechnical performance, such as feed intake, in weaned piglets.

However, blood plasma can have some potential drawbacks, including high costs, regulatory restrictions, and consumer acceptance. The feed industry is looking for alternative functional feed ingredients with comparable growth-promoting effects. With its excellent digestibility and umami taste, TechnoYeast is a perfect candidate for weaned pig diets in combination with its positive properties on intestinal health.

TechnoYeast has showed through many feeding trials that it can replace—partially or fully—porcine blood plasma diets. Moreover, this can be achieved positive effects on performance and health, and with reduced or optimized costs. For example, in one trial, the blood plasma in a pre-starter and starter diet was fully replaced with TechnoYeast. At the end of seven weeks, piglets fed diets containing TechnoYeast had statistically similar weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio compared to those fed the blood plasma diet (Figure 1).

Figure 1

In addition, there were no significant differences in fecal consistency or incidence of diarrhea between the two groups (Figure 2). However, there was a difference in feed costs. Replacing blood plasma with TechnoYeast reduced the total per kilogram feed cost while maintaining health and performance effects. The net result was a reduction in feed cost per kg of weight gain.

Figure 2

TechnoYeast offers an optimal alternative to some expensive animal protein sources for young animals and can be integrated into the feeding in a cost-optimized or even cost-reduced way due to its special quality. Its high digestibility and functional ingredients make it an excellent choice for promoting growth and development in young animals, while providing additional benefits for their overall health.