Animal feeding

For many years, the use of therapeutic antibiotics in animal feed, both in concentrates, drinking water, and farm-made feeds, allowed them to be promoted as growth promoters, contributing to animal welfare and reducing the cost of energy production due to a lower immune response in animals. For these reasons, they became indispensable compounds in animal diets, especially in the swine and poultry sectors.

The European ban on the use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) such as avilamycin, avoparcin, bacitracin, flavomycin, espiramycin, and tylosin in recent years has led to a trend in the development of products and research in the animal feed sector focused on the use of other compounds as replacements for antibiotics, such as organic acids.

Organic acids lower the pH in feed and the digestive tract. The main advantages of these compounds are: (i) improving the control of enteric processes, (ii) sanitizing the feed, and (iii) increasing production.

The criteria that determine the ability of organic acids to perform this function are their molecular weight, the number of carboxyl groups, and the dissociation constant. Fumaric acid has a greater pH-reducing effect compared to other organic acids as it has two acidity constants and the lowest molecular weight among malic and citric acids. The more carboxyl groups per unit weight of organic acid there are, the more potent the acidifying effect will be. For this reason, fumaric acid and formic acid have the best inhibitory effect.

The Addimentum's Fumaric Acid acts as a feed preservative, allowing for favorable manipulation of intestinal microbial populations, improving the animal's immune response, and enhancing nutrient digestibility and absorption.