Global Technical Services Manager at Danisco Animal Nutrition and research co-author, Dr Ahmed Amerah, presented a poster showing that a combination of the two essential oil compounds, cinnamaldehyde and thymol, on top of xylanase, significantly improved body weight gain and feed conversion versus control birds. This feed additive combination also reduced horizontal transmission of Salmonella.

The benefits of using Danisco’s Xylanase enzyme with Danisco's Enviva EO in the feed to reduce salmonella infection load and promote excellent economic performance were presented at the 18th European Poultry Symposium, held in Çeşme, Turkey.

Dr Amerah said: "The objective of the study was to evaluate effects of combining essential oil compounds and enzymes in broilers challenged by Salmonella Heidelberg. The results indicated that xylanase and essential oil compound supplementation improved bodyweight gain and feed efficiency, and the effect of the combination was greater compared to using each additive individually."

"Xylanase and essential oil supplementation – either used individually or in combination, reduced the incidence of horizontal transmission of Salmonella infection between birds by 61 per cent and 77 per cent respectively, compared to control. An economic analysis of the research results showed net savings of over 12 Euro per tonne of feed when using the combination of both additives."