Feed Management - July/August 2010

From trials we know that strains yielding 200 bushels per acre will produce a kernel with 70% starch. With 300 bushels per acre, the starch content increases to 76%. Accordingly, breeding for yield will at the same time satisfy the needs of ethanol producers.

believe that our Nutridense™ strain essentially primes the pump and will create demand for the product which will be driven by pork and poultry producers.

FM: What are the barriers to further
adoption of enhanced value
strains?

JW: Research and development is expensive, but our technology is continually improving. Currently, we are assigning resources to mapping metabolic pathways associated with the production of nutrients. A significant problem is obtaining germplasm. Patents and licensing are extremely complicated. Although there is a focus on opportunities with corn, it is well nigh impossible to obtain germplasm from competitors even if they are not pursing their own development programs. Dealing with the agencies representing national plant breeding centers is also difficult as they often

FM: Do you have any message for
the feed industry?

JW: Our ability to produce new hybrids
is limited only by our imagination. We need
requests for products and we will consider
both nutritional qualities in addition to other
traits such as milling characteristics. We
believe in ultimately satisfying the needs of
the feed and animal industries by producing
ingredients which can be incorporated in
diets at a progressively lower cost to enhance
productivity and profitability through the
entire food chain. [FM]
“We believe that even the
EU will adopt GMO seeds,
but this will take some
time.”

have unrealistic expectations of financial return and impose onerous restrictions which impede access and progress.

The problems of identity preservation still persists but it may be possible to introduce value-enhanced strains to market if there is coordination within an integration or bet ween feed producers and intensive animal enterprises and farmers or corporations operating large tracts of land.

beyond ingredients

FM: How do you view the activities
of your competitors?

JW: There appears to be little activity in the development of enhanced-value strains. At BASF, the program is unique, being driven from the perspective of a nutritionist. We believe in “better corn for better feed.” It is possible to market a new strain with beneficial attributes only if it is yield-neutral and the nutritional benefits can offset at least a 25 to 50 cent/bushel premium for identity preservation. We

At Nutriad we go far beyond just providing feed ingredients. We start by listening to the dairy producer and recognizing their current feed and management program needs. Then our experienced and innovative team develops a targeted solution using our application expertise and “applying ��Dairy Krave® that provides ��Apex®�� plant extracts or Adi-Flow�� right for today and tomorrow.