Exogenous phytases have been used commercially since the early 1990s as a successful tool for reducing the environmental impact of industrial livestock production and improving poultry and swine profitability (Selle & Ravindran, 2007). These cost-saving and sustainability benefits derive primarily from phytase’s ability to liberate phosphorus from phytate. The breakdown of this poorly digestible compound improves animals’ phytate-phosphorus retention and reduces the need to use inorganic phosphorus sources in the diet.
However, the hydrolysis of phytate also delivers several additional physiological effects in animals, which extend beyond phosphorus alone. These additional benefits include the retention of amino acids, trace minerals, calcium and energy. Phytase also offers performance enhancements which extend beyond expectations associated simply with nutrient release values (Cowieson et al., 2011). The exact cause of these enhanced benefits, however, is currently not fully understood.
New research conducted by dsm-firmenich has revealed important new insights into the ‘extra-phosphoric’ effects of phytase, particularly on the role of myo-inositol...
