Workshop helps to educate professionals in Southeast Asia animal feed industry

URBANA, Ill. – With a growing population and increasing wealth, Southeast Asia is experiencing a rapid rise in demand for meat. As a consequence, maximizing growth performance of food animals as economically as possible is a priority for Asian producers. Researchers from the University of Illinois, in collaboration with U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and U.S. Grains Council (USGC), recently completed a successful workshop to educate feed mill managers, nutritionists, and feed formulators in Southeast Asia on "The Basics of Nutrition to Maximize Animal Performance."

The 20th Southeast Asian Feed Technology and Nutrition Workshop was held in Manila, the Philippines, August 4-7. More than 100 invited participants from feed companies in Southeast Asia participated in the short course on pig and poultry nutrition. The technical program was planned by University of Illinois professor of animal sciences Hans H. Stein.

"This is a great example of how U of I Extension can partner with American commodity groups to develop Extension programs to help disseminate knowledge across the globe," Stein said.

Shellen Ng from USGC Malaysia agreed. "These types of programs have huge impacts because the knowledge base of professionals in the feed industry is being updated. This will not only benefit producers and consumers in Southeast Asia. The increased production of pigs and poultry in Asia will also increase the demand for U.S. soybean meal, grain, and grain co-products, and thus, benefit U.S. soybean and grain producers," she said.

The course focused on basic concepts of energy metabolism and metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids. The program consisted of lectures by experts in the field of pig and poultry nutrition, as well as a one-afternoon workshop on a topic selected by participants. Two of the six presenters, Stein and Ph. D. candidate Kelly Sotak, were from U of I. Bill Dozier of Auburn University, Martin Nyachoti of the University of Manitoba, Ravi Ravindran of Massey University in New Zealand, and Beob Gyun Kim of Konkuk University in South Korea also presented at the course.

Basilisa P. Reas, USSEC technical representative in the Philippines, stressed that the information presented was of particular relevance to an Asian audience. "The workshop provided the participants with new and updated information on animal nutrition and the concepts that were demonstrated at this meeting will be rapidly implemented and will have a positive impact on pig and poultry production throughout Southeast Asia,” she said.

Overall, Stein said the program was a great success. "All participants were very interested in the topic areas, and they gained valuable knowledge about basic aspects of nutrition that will help them in their daily jobs as nutritionists in the Southeast Asia feed industry."

Miriam Tempra, technical manager at Nuevo Milenio, Inc., was one of the participants in the program. "I was very fortunate to have attended the 20th workshop this year with Dr. Hans H. Stein spearheading the discussions, and I gained a vast amount of practical information from the experts," Tempra said. "This seminar made me realize that I still have a lot of concepts to explore and verify in my work as an animal nutritionist."

The United States Department of Agriculture and the South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council provided financial support for the workshop.

Source: ACES