Silvateam has kicked off a research project with JBS to study methane emission reduction in ruminants, while improving both productivity and animal welfare. Because sustainability entails also the ability to manufacture more, better, and more efficiently.

World leader in the production of tannins and other plant-based extracts used in several industrial sectors, including the tanning field, Silvateam, for over fifteen years, has been investing in the search for cutting-edge animal nutrition solutions, promoting the transition towards natural, eco-friendly ingredients. Chestnut and quebracho tannins, saponins, polyphenols and pectins are the main natural extracts chosen to improve the livestock’s production efficiency, to effectively replace antibiotics, and to reduce the impact of climate-changing gas emissions. Michele Battaglia, vice president of the firm based in San Michele Mondovì, Cuneo province (Italy), explained the latest challenge tackled by Silvateam in the field of animal feed additives. Michele Battaglia, what is the new project carried out by Silvateam in the animal nutrition sector? Besides the search for new natural alternatives to antibiotics, in the last few years, we have invested resources in the development of feed additives able to migate ruminants’ greenhouse-effect gas emissions, in terms of both methane and of nitrous oxide (N2 O), whose impact is, respectively, 28 and 265 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. The use of our tannins, derived from chestnut and quebracho wood via aqueous extraction, in combination with other plant-based extracts, such as saponins, reduces ruminants’ enteric production of methane and N2 O up to 30%. Said values are the result of research projects carried out internationally and vary according to the kind of product, to dosage, to the type of animal, to diet and, to usage time. We have collaborated for years with renowned universities in the USA, like UC Davis, Clemson University, Georgia University, Colorado State University, University of Florida, as well as in Italy, as in the case of the Bologna University. Among the scholars taking part, I would like to mention professor Frank Mitloehner, one of the world’s major specialists when it comes to atmospheric pollution. Recently, we have signed a five-year research agreement with the School of Zootechnics in São Paulo, Brazil, and with JBS, the world’s leading animal protein processor.