Production efficiency

Sula Alves - Technical director of the Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA)

EXPERT TIP – Productive efficiency: what is this in practice?

Focused on preserving natural resources and increasing the supply of products to the population, researchers and animal protein producers strive daily to seek better results in various indexes, such as feed conversion.

Do you know what food conversion is?

In the case of animal protein production, this is a term used to describe the ability to transform inputs (feed) into muscle (and in this case, proteins)

Take the example of chicken meat and how this index has evolved over the years.
About 30 years ago, it took 47 days to obtain a bird weighing 1.9 kilos. To produce it, 2 kilos of grains were needed (basically corn and soybean meal), which is the basis of commercial poultry feed in Brazil.
Today, it takes just 1.6 kilos to reach a 2.4 kilo bird, with a total production time of 42 days!

How is this possible? Basically by three factor indexes:

– Cutting-edge genetics: the advances made in poultry genetics have been significant, and today the country produces for itself and exports genetic material (embryonated eggs and chicks)
– Ambience: the birds are raised in an air-conditioned environment to have adequate thermal comfort, conducive to their growth.
– Food: Basically corn (60% of the ration) and soybean meal (around 25% of the ration).

So, don’t listen to the myths you hear out there! In our sector, food production is done with science, technology and respect for people, animals and the environment!

Sula Alves – Technical Director of the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) and Coordinator of the Sustainability Working Group of the World Poultry Council. Zootechnician and PhD in Agronomy from the University of São Paulo (USP), Sula developed research with NUPEA (Environmental Research Center) at ESALQ and in animal welfare. She has accumulated experience in the academic field as a professor of Agricultural Sciences, Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science courses at the University of Rio de Janeiro