wheat would ensure that the entire
requirement in the diet of monogastrics was
met without the need to add supplementary
phosphate.
Ideally, it was hoped that the new HAP
wheat could also be used in conjunction with
commercially produced phytase to further
reduce the release of P into the environment,
since there was evidence to suggest that they
could interact in a positive way.
The project aims to provide adapted germplasm and tools for marker-assisted
breeding of Highly Available Phosphate (HAP) wheat with the potential to
significantly reduce diffuse P pollution when used in pig and poultry diets. NIAB
has recently invested £ 1. 25 million in laboratory facilities, equipment and growth
rooms specifically for the pre-breeding and plant genetic research scientists.
referred to as phytic acid, inositol, or InsP6;
it is an important antinutritional factor for
farm animals because of its ability to form
a compound with micronutrients such as
iron and zinc.
Microbial-derived phytase that can be
added to the diet of pigs and poultry is
produced on a commercial scale as part of
the large feed enzyme market because the
exogenous phytase provides an effective
means of breaking down the phytate in
plant-derived feeds, allowing the animals
to use more P and other minerals and
proteins, rather than excreting them.
Good precedents
By using a careful balance of nutrients
combined with phytase (together with
other measures), the livestock industry
in the Netherlands has managed to halve
the amount of P excreted by growing and
finishing pigs over the past 20 years.
Taking the UK, which currently has
some 500,000 sows, as an example, the
consortium’s spokesman pointed out that
wheat could constitute up to 60% of the
country’s pig and poultry diets.
A variety of HAP wheat with similar
performance characteristics to conventional
Encouraging results
In fact, initial stages of this research
project have already revealed the expected
potential reduction possible in diffuse
P pollution from HAP wheat is in line
with that demonstrated for HAP maize
and barley. Pigs fed with the HAP maize
reduced P excretion by 18% and by 16%
when they were fed with HAP barley.
In collaboration with the University of
Idaho, researchers at NIAB have already
been successful in developing several
new wheat lines in which phytic acid
P represents only 42% of seed total P,
compared with 74.7% of seed total P in
the spring-sown control.
This has resulted in a significant
increase (more than 35%) in the amount of
phosphate that is available to a monogastric
animal — and it is anticipated that this will
lead to a major reduction in input costs
and the environmental impact.
This research is considered to be
extremely important for some European
pig and poultry farmers, because new
Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
(IPPC) legislation and the European Union’s
tough Water Framework Directive restricts
them spreading muck on fields and threatens
their size and viability which they have
traditionally maintained by maximising the
economies of scale. PIGI
