RELACS
RELACSSupplementary feeding of B-Vitamins is essential in poultry and pig production. B-vitamins are a fermentation product of certain yeasts. Nowadays, GMO-free yeast products have become scarce, expensive and are exclusively available from overseas, namely for B2 and B12. Here, a critical situation emerges for supplying organic livestock with B-Vitamins. Other essential vitamins used in livestock production, such as vitamin E and other lipophilic vitamins which are of purely synthetic origin need to be replaced with vitamins of natural origin.
RELACS aims to revise vitamin requirements in organic livestock and identify sources for GMO-free vitamin production. RELACS will::
- Create an overview of the current use of and need for vitamins in organic livestock production. The amount of vitamins used in organic livestock production in Europe will be estimated;
- Revise and adapt the nutritional requirements for vitamin E in ruminants for organic on production systems;
- Revise the nutritional requirements for B-vitamins in organic poultry: quantitative data for B-vitamin requirements in organic poultry will be gathered;
- Adapt feed formulations and validate them on farm: Revised norms will be evaluated on model farms;
- Develop efficient production technologies for vitamin B2 by GMO-free yeast strains;
- Perform socio-economic and environmental impact assessments of the newly developed recommendations for vitamin E supplementation in cattle and vitamin B2 supplementation in poultry.