HOW TO CONTROL AMMONIA LEVELS IN POULTRY HOUSES
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One of the biggest complaints surrounding the poultry barn — apart from flies — is the smell of the manure . The ammonia concentration in poultry houses not only contributes to the smell but can be harmful for both the birds in the barn and the workers who frequent the barn . Understanding how ammonia gas is formed , the impact it can have on the bird and how to control ammonia levels can be helpful for proper poultry management .
So, we’re really excited about this technology and what it
can provide for our customers for the future.
Earlier in the conversation, we touched on the Planet
of Plenty initiative at Alltech. And to wrap things up,
I’d like to ask each of you to tell us how the Planet of
Plenty initiative figures into what you do into your
work. How about you, Steve?
S: Perfect. I would say, from the initiative, as I mentioned,
that Mark has really set forward for us to use as our focus,
from a crop science standpoint, I would say what this
partnership has really touched on is, as we mentioned,
the sustainability aspect of the relationship and what
each company is trying to deliver from a solution
standpoint — but more importantly, (in relation to our)
partnership.
The ability for us to work collectively together — and the
idea was to benefit from each other’s strengths and to
combat some of, maybe, the weaknesses that we might
have been looking to come up with solutions for (as) an
individual (company) that (we) now have the opportunity
to be a bit of a stronger force in the space (by working
together). I think that would be where I would say this
really ties into that overall message that Dr. Pearse Lyons
has set forth for us all from an Alltech standpoint.
line that is the technology delivered to provide a genetic
benefit or a specific yield or quality gain.
So, all those four pillars, all of our technologies, will be
offered through our HELM partnership or through HELM
to our distribution channel that we currently work with.
But as I mentioned, we’re really excited about what we
have in R&D and in the pipeline coming with regards
to the biofungicide and the bionematicide — two key
technologies that we’ll be launching through HELM,
hopefully, by the end of next year.
Well, I’m glad you brought that up, Steve, because I
was going to ask each of you — and I know that you
can only go so far with what you can reveal (about)
what’s going on in your labs — but (I am) just curious:
What’s percolating there that might be of interest to
our listeners that you’re excited about?
S: So, I can go first. I would say our — we have a
technology, and the code name right now is ACS811.
It is a biofungicide product that we are registering as
a biofungicide, and it is used to combat fungal and
bacterial pathogens. And the mode of action, how
it works, is fostered around us triggering defense
mechanisms in the plant to provide a systemic reaction to
defend, or from a defense standpoint.
So, we’re really excited about what we’ve been able to
create there from that. And also, contained within that
product is a contact reaction. So, if the disease is present,
we also see a contact, where they kill stimulation that,
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basically, would help to combat the disease if it’s already
there and present. So, it’s almost — not to use an example
of where we kind of are right now within society, but
it’s almost like a vaccine, where you’re putting this on a
plant, and it’s triggering a defense mechanism to help to
defend itself against an impending attack.
So, we’re really excited about that technology. And then,
the other one is a bionematicide that we currently are in
the process of registration in both Brazil and, currently,
here domestically, in the U.S., that we will be launching
through HELM. And that is (targeting) nematode
problems, a very serious problem that usually requires
very serious and toxic chemistries in order to combat. And
we will be providing a safe, biological-derived technology
to combat those challenges for our customers as well.
So, they will be the two key ones that we have under
(development) in the safe right now, Tom, but we are
really, really excited and focused on getting (these
solutions) deployed out through HELM as soon as
possible.
Well, Dave, I want to give you that question as well,
but before we get there, I just want to say that that
sounds pretty revolutionary to this layman’s ear. It
sounds as though what you’re doing is fortifying the
plant’s ability to defend itself versus applying some
external chemical or toxin to do the same thing. Is
that a correct assessment?
D: Yeah, I think you’re absolutely right. With the biological
approach, it’s really working with the plant to enhance
THE FEEDING TIMES
its defense mechanism. The product that Steve was
referencing, ACS811, we’re really excited about that
product and the opportunities that these products will
have in the marketplace. We can see a lot of applications
to that in either row crop or specialty crops as well.
One of the challenges with disease pressure is it’s ever-
changing, and Mother Nature always wins. So, Mother
Nature will build resistance to some of the products being
used. And this gives us a great opportunity to address
them, those challenges that growers have, with a different
mode of action that can make a healthier plant.
So, we’re excited about, you know, being able to bring
new solutions to growers and retailers to help out in that
space. So, it is an exciting, exciting venture. And a lot of
what we’ve seen with other biologicals are they don’t
work as consistently as what we’re seeing with the Alltech
Crop Science portfolio. And I think that attributes to, you
know, the rigor around science and product development
but also the manufacturing capability (at Alltech Crop
Science). It’s not easy to manage that fermentation and
produce through fermentation, and Alltech Crop Science
and Alltech are experts in that space.
So, that’s going to help us, I think, break through dark
water, if you will — (and by that I mean) some of the
biologicals that are out there — and really bring that
consistency and science-based approach, along with the
proof points of, like, nutrigenomics that we can show
(producers that) it actually is enhancing that plant’s
defense mechanism.
WINTER ISSUE – DECEMBER 2021
Okay. And Dave, your perspective on that?
D: Yeah. I think, as we look at this partnership, it’s going to
provide us with the opportunity to provide more solutions
to growers.
Currently this will be a new venture into the soil health
piece, and that’s been an area that’s very much growing.
And we’re excited to be a part of it, because we’re seeing
a lot of development in that area. And being able to
grow a sustainable crop really starts with your soil and
the nutrition in your soil, as well as the right bugs that
are converting organic material into food for the plants.
And the Alltech Crop Science portfolio has some great
opportunities to do that.
And also, with the Reviton product, that’s going to
continue to support minimum or even increasing to till
acres, which will be good in that as people think about
growing a more sustainable crop.
The other thing I wanted to add is, overall, HELM is
moving in this way and other parts of the business as
well. On our industrial business, we just announced a joint
venture with Cargill Green to build a plant in Iowa that
will make input products for plastic to make sustainable
plastics out of corn — so versus out of a petroleum-based
or an oil-based input.
So, we’re really excited about that as well and our
commitment to agriculture and how we can help to be
good stewards of the land with our customers.
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