New probiotic shown to improve digestion in poultry and swine

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A novel probiotic has been developed as a direct-fed microbial in both poultry and swine feed to improve gut health and weight-gain efficiency. Additionally, feed cost savings may be realized through greater utilization of soybean meal in diets.

NEW PROBIOTIC — A probiotic made from a Bacillus strain isolated by poultry science researchers was found to also be beneficial for swine gut health. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo)

The probiotic, which is a beneficial bacterium, is made from a Bacillus-strain isolated by poultry science researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and is being co-developed by KENT Nutrition Group.

KENT licensed the patented technology from the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and is currently making probiotic-infused poultry and swine feed with the Bacillus strain. The experiment station is the research arm of the Division of Agriculture.

“We are grateful for our second novel technology collaboration with UADA,” said Kale Causemaker, senior director of sales and business development for Innovative Solutions, a division of KENT. “These discoveries help improve animal agriculture sustainability and welfare. We are excited and optimistic to have this probiotic commercially available for producers in 2025.”  

Bacillus-strain advantages

Advantages of a Bacillus-strain probiotic, compared to common probiotic microorganism of the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species, include its ability to survive higher temperatures and lower pH environments.

The non-genetically modified Bacillus bacterium also eliminates the need for multiple genetically modified enzymes that are added to animal feeds to help the animal break down ingredients in protein sources such as soybean meal.

Being heat- and pH-stable improves survivability rate in the animal’s gastrointestinal tract and feed processing such as the manufacture of pelleted feed. The strain was originally found to work well in poultry diets and preliminary data suggest the probiotic may also work well in swine.

Overcoming a problem

Billy Hargis, distinguished professor of poultry science, said experiment station studies on the Bacillus strain showed it increased the animals’ ability to digest non-starch polysaccharides in protein sources such as soybean meal. Hargis is also director of the John Kirkpatrick Skeels Poultry Health Laboratory for the experiment station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture.

Non-starch polysaccharides are difficult-to-digest carbohydrates found in soybean meal, which serves as the primary source of protein for both layer and broiler chickens, as well as turkeys and swine, Hargis explained.

“The problem with these non-starch polysaccharides is that they cannot be digested and utilized by the animal, but rather they feed detrimental populations of microbes within the gut, adding to intestinal inflammation and susceptibility to other causes of enteric disease,” Hargis said.

The strain of Bacillus by KENT was isolated by former post-doctoral researcher Kyle Teague under the co-advisement of Hargis and Samuel Rochell. Teague is now the director of poultry nutrition at Life Products, Inc., in Nebraska, and Rochell is now an associate professor of poultry nutrition at Auburn University.

From lab to market

The Division of Agriculture’s Technology Commercialization Office, or TCO, shepherded the Bacillus-strain’s patent-pending status and commercial licensing to KENT.

“Translating research to commercial products is the name of the game,” said Parker Cole, associate director of TCO. “We always enjoy working with industry and have enjoyed working with KENT. They’ve been a great partner to work with and collaborate with, so we’re excited to see these products go into the marketplace.”

Earlier this year, Innovative Solutions also released EFFICOR, an L. plantarum probiotic for swine that was developed in conjunction with Division of Agriculture researchers. Research trials showed EFFICOR helped improve body weight gain and feed efficiency in growing and finishing pigs, with nearly $2 per pig cost savings because of improved efficiencies at the time of the trials, Cole said. The foundational research for EFFICOR came from Jiangchao Zhao, former professor of animal science for the Division of Agriculture.

“Our office sits at the interface of academic innovation and commercialization,” said Cole. “Being able to take a technology that was developed here, work with industry, confirm that it works in a particular product or formulation, and have that company excited about it to where they want to license it and implement it in their portfolio, I think that speaks to the research quality and to the inventors that we have within the Division of Agriculture.”

To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website. Follow us on X at @ArkAgResearch, subscribe to the Food, Farms and Forests podcast and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.

Grapes, blackberries, poultry immune system enhancement methods among patents recognized at annual Ag Awards

By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — New fruit varieties and a means to enhance poultry immune systems developed by University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture scientists were among 10 patents recognized Friday during the annual Agriculture Awards.

PATENTS — Jason Norsworthy, Distinguished Professor and Elms Farming Chair of Weed Science in the crop, soil and environmental sciences department, center, accepts a patent award from Parker Cole, left, associate director of technology commercialization, and Jean-François Meullenet, director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and senior associate vice president for agriculture-research for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Mary Hightower)

All of the patents arose from discoveries made by scientists within the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Cooperative Extension Service and some with the help of graduate students within the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

“I’m always excited about what our innovative researchers are doing,” said Lisa Childs, assistant vice president for technology commercialization for the Division of Agriculture. She is also a patent attorney.

“Once again this year, we have patents that reflect some of the broad range of commercially interesting research in the division,” she said. “We’ve had patents issue from horticulture, the rice research and extension center, entomology and plant pathology, poultry science, and crop soil and environmental science, and they all have in common the desire to make our world a better place to live in.”

Recognized this year were:

• Burkholderia Cenocepacia and Pseudomonas Fluorescens Compositions and Methods of Using the Same: Alejandro Rojas – department of entomology and plant pathology; and Ruben Morawicki – department of food science

• Table Grape Named A-1400 ‘Southern Sensation’: John Clark – department of horticulture

• Herbicide-Resistant Grain Sorghum: Jason Norsworthy and Muthukumar Bagavathiannan – department of crop, soil, and environmental sciences

• Robust Water Trading and Irrigation Performance Meter Measurement System: Christopher Henry – Rice Research and Extension Center

• Pseudomonas Protegens and Products Thereof to Control Bacterial Panicle Blight of Rice: Alejandro Rojas – department of entomology and plant pathology

• Blackberry Plant Named ‘APF-404T’: John Clark – department of horticulture

• Blackberry Plant Named APF-409T: John Clark – department of horticulture

• Table Grape Named ‘Compassion’: John Clark – department of horticulture

• Novel Mucosal Adjuvants and Delivery Systems: Amanda Wolfenden-Bray, Billy Hargis, Guillermo Tellez-Isaias, Marion Morgan, Neil Pumford, and Srichaitanya Shivaramaiah – department of poultry science

• Compositions and Methods of Enhancing Immune Responses to Eimeria or Limiting Eimeria: Billy Hargis, Lisa Bielke, Olivia Faulkner, and Srichaitanya Shivaramaiah – department of poultry science

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. 

Panelists say changes needed to harness bio-, ag-tech innovations

By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas is poised to harness the latest technological innovations to solve problems like food insecurity, but that won’t happen without funding and policy changes, panelists said at the Agri-Food Innovation Summit.

The two-day summit on Nov. 2-3 featured panel discussions and presentations on all aspects of taking research discoveries and developing practical solutions for problems in agriculture and food production.

INNOVATION — The panel on agricultural and food innovation for the 22nd century included Khoa Luu, left, assistant professor of computer science and computer engineering; Brandon McFadden, professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness; Marty Matlock, professor of biological and agricultural engineering; Parker Cole, associate director of technology commercialization for the Division of Agriculture; Walter Burgess, co-CEO of Power Technology, Inc.; and Sylvia Wulf, CEO of Aquabounty Technologies. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo)

More than 200 registered over the two-day summit, which was co-hosted by the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, the University of Arkansas Division of Economic Development, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, and Catalyst/Research and Technology Transfer at Arkansas State University.

Food security

Sylvia Wulf, CEO of Aquabounty Technologies, said she believed in the potential for the Natural State to be a leader in ag and food innovation. Her company produces genetically modified salmon that are tank-farmed on land.

“We are a poster child for how challenging innovation and entrepreneurialism is,” Wulf said. “It took us 25 years to get regulatory approval for our salmon. There was no pathway. We are the first genetically modified animal that was ever approved for use in this country.

“Then we ran into political challenges. It took us several years to overcome what they put in place to allow us to farm” her company’s salmon, she said.

She said her company’s salmon can help reduce carbon footprint compared to the shipping needed to supply Atlantic salmon.

“If you look at Atlantic salmon, it has more frequent flier miles than anybody else in this room,” she said. “We can solve that carbon footprint by creating an industry here in the U.S.”

Wulf also said that “food security is national security. I think we see that because of what happened with COVID.”

“We import 97 percent of the seafood that we eat in this country. It’s a healthy, healthy protein,” she said. “Yet, we are completely dependent on imports. So, we need to be able to develop an aquaculture segment for our economy.”

The challenge ahead is “how do we optimize the technology to where public-private partnerships and some of the funding opportunities that we are talking about today can come into play,” Wulf said.

‘Mud on their boots’

Marty Matlock, professor of ecological engineering in the biological and agricultural engineering department for the Division of Agriculture and University of Arkansas, talked about his time working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was among the panelists discussing Agricultural Innovation for the 22nd Century.

“We have a $23.3 trillion economy in this country. It’s the largest economy of any nation in the history of this planet,” he said. “We know that venture capital is key to innovation for any sort of technology systems because typically there's just no funding source available other than someone who's willing to take a chance on it. 

“If you have the equity, you go to the bank and you just borrow it — you double mortgage your house,” Matlock said. “But the problem with most innovative companies, especially small businesses, is there is no equity there, so venture capital is your mechanism.

Matlock said that in 2022, the U.S. had $246 billion in venture capital expenditures across every sector.

“That’s about 1.5 percent of our total GPD going to venture capital,” he said. “Of that 1.5 percent, about $12.6 billion of that goes to agriculture. Of that $12.6 billion, $5 billion goes to California. Forty percent of it goes to California. It’s not coming to where the people have mud on their boots and that’s one of our big challenges.”

“How do we innovate when there's no money? Arkansas can do it but it's going to take a lot of innovations in policy to make that happen,” Matlock said. “It's going to take everything from what we're doing here — these conversations, to governmental tax code to incentive programs, to core funding sources — to start this process going. And it's going to take years of investment to make that happen. It could happen here, but it's going take will, the force of will, to push this rock up the hill.”

Wulf agreed.

“I’m passionate about two things,” she said. “I'm passionate about ag tech and biotech and I’m passionate about making sure that Arkansas is an area of focus for investment in ag tech and biotech, because I believe that this state can lead the country in making that a reality. “

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.