At the launching seminar of the program financed by the Innovation Fund for Regional Competitiveness FIC, authorities headed by the Governor of the Ñuble Region, Oscar Crisóstomo and academics, as well as businessmen and producers, highlighted the advantages of biochar for poultry farming.
The event, which took place recently in the Ruperto Hepp Auditorium of the Agronomy Faculty of the Universidad de Concepción, included the presentation of a series of topics where the effectiveness of the use of biochar on the control of pathogenic bacteria in the egg industry was highlighted, a topic addressed by the academic, Dr. Valeria Velasco; the production of biochar in the poultry industry; the use of biochar in the production of poultry products; the use of biochar in the production of poultry products; and the use of biochar in the production of poultry products. Valeria Velasco; the production of biochar (biochar) from agricultural biomass with potential for use as an additive in the animal diet, which was presented by Dr. Cristina Segura of the UdeC Technological Development Unit; and biochar as a diamond of Ñuble for poultry farming, on which the director of the Department of Animal Production of Agronomy UdeC, Dr. Pamela Williams, spoke.
“The biochar has the particularity of being a porous material, which would allow adsorbing moisture in the digestive tract of the poultry, as well as dragging pathogenic microorganisms, allowing to generate more stable guanos, which could be applied as amendments to crops and fruit trees, with less generation of odors, and therefore less impact on the community”, explained Dr. Williams.
Poultry Unit
The resources obtained, which are approximately 180 million pesos, from the Innovation Fund for Regional Competitiveness FIC, have allowed the consolidation of the poultry unit of the UdeC through the fitting out of spaces and acquisition of equipment for the creation of knowledge on dietary additives and agricultural inputs aimed at improving the productivity of the poultry sector and reducing the environmental impact they have, valuing raw materials from the agricultural sector, such as waste from the milling and fruit industry, for the creation of inputs that allow generating circularity in production. “To this end, it is considered that in the region, as well as in the country and the world, there are different production systems for laying hens, such as traditional caged henhouses, which are in decline, floor hens, but confined, and free-range hen systems that access grazing, which consider the raising of backyard hens or small poultry producers”, said Dr. Pamela Williams.
The project includes setting up a traditional hen house for scientific purposes, teaching and technology transfer, a free-range hen house, acquiring equipment to evaluate the quality of eggs and biochar, “and a multi-purpose room will be built for training producers, companies and students from our faculty or from other universities or institutions that require it in the field. From the scientific-technological point of view, this additive will be developed to improve the productive efficiency of poultry farms and the environmental impact generated by poultry farms,” said the project director, Dr. Pamela Williams.
The work developed by UdeC Agronomy experts was highlighted by the Governor of Ñuble, Oscar Crisóstomo. “This particular project points to a circular economy that allows us to go reusing and generating new conditions and what we also hope is that this project of sufficient products to generate startups that are dedicated to this area. So this alliance we have with the Faculty of Agronomy and the University of Concepción is very virtuous and we will continue to support these initiatives.”
Presentations
On the control of pathogenic bacteria in eggs, a topic presented by Dr. Valeria Velasco and Diego Figueroa, agronomist and Master’s thesis student in Agronomic Sciences at UdeC, highlighted that during the project an invitro study was carried out to evaluate the effect of biochar on pathogenic and beneficial bacteria related to the egg industry. “We did this invitro study to see how it affected bacteria under controlled conditions, not in the animal’s intestine. In this study we used different concentrations of biochar ranging from 01 to 1% and we found that the biochar coming from wheat straw and hazelnut shells, in these concentrations does not have an antimicrobial effect, this implies that if we give it to the animals and we do the following test which is in vivo, this biochar would not affect the diversity of their intestinal flora”, explained Dr. Valeria Velasco.
Another of the advantages mentioned at the conference was its incorporation as an additive in animal diets, a topic that Dr. Cristina Segura from the UdeC Technological Development Unit discussed in depth. “As a UDT group, we presented the production of the material, which in this case we are testing as a dietary additive for poultry. If the results work well, we hope to be able to use it in animal diets, especially ruminants and pigs, and later we hope to use it in salmon diets. There are some international experiences in this respect, but we must see the results at field level to analyze its performance”, explained the expert.
This project, which is being executed by a work team made up of experts from the Faculty of Agronomy, Veterinary Sciences and the Technological Development Unit of the UdeC, has the support of associated poultry producers such as the Asociación Tejiendo Sueños, Agrupación Chicken Chicken Buli, Avícola Cóndor and Avícola Peumo; as well as food companies such as Nutravet and Molino Santa Marta.