The latest functional animal feed compositions, like Mars Inc.’s, can naturally increase water intake, reduce fat gain, and even reduce methane emissions from livestock.
These lowered methane emissions are achieved by inhibiting methane-producing bacteria. Furthermore, proteolytic enzymes in newer feedstock formulations help animals digest carbohydrases more easily. In poultry, Vitamin K12-based supplements are replacing antibiotic products.
This article discusses more such innovations in functional additives in animal feed products in 2025. Fill out the form below for a comprehensive report on animal healthcare trends.
Mars Inc.’s formulation prevents chronic kidney diseases in animals.
Animals are affected faster and more noticeably when they lack enough water than when they lack other nutrients. Some animals, like cats, naturally consume prey with high moisture content, relying less on voluntary water intake. Due to this, cats produce highly concentrated urine, increasing the risks of kidney and urinary tract diseases.
To solve this issue, Mars INC. has developed a formulation that could increase water intake and prevent chronic kidney or urinary tract disease in animals. This drinking water composition comprises milk proteins, amino acids that bind to the animal’s umami receptors, and flavors to make the composition palatable.
This composition offers nutritional components and elicits umami flavor perception in animals. Enhanced flavor increases the urge for water intake, thus decreasing the chances of kidney or urinary tract disorders.
BLOOMAGE Biotechnology’s food composition increases the pet’s water intake
BLOOMAGE BIOTECHNOLOGY has developed a pet food composition that comprises hyaluronic acid salts that can promote various health benefits. Sodium hyaluronate and Hyaluronic acid contribute to increased water intake by promoting hydration at the cellular level. Its high water-binding capacity could potentially attract and hold onto water molecules, providing a source of hydration for the animal.
This increased water intake helps prevent and treat common urinary diseases like urolithiasis.
Synergia’s functional animal feed enhances weight gain and reduces mortality in poultry.
Disease identification in poultry is challenging due to several factors. Many poultry diseases exhibit similar clinical signs, making it difficult to differentiate between them based solely on symptoms. Birds often mask signs of illness to avoid predation, further complicating early detection.
Synergia Life Sciences Pvt Ltd. developed a functional animal feed supplement containing vitamin K2. The feed enhances weight gain and reduces mortality, replacing antibiotic growth promoters in poultry. Dosage involves oral delivery for a defined duration, which helps promote growth without relying on traditional antibiotics.
The Danish Biotechnology company Novozymes has shown interest in this company’s innovation and acquired majority shares in Synergia Life Sciences.
Nutrition21 and Kent Corporation’s bird feed prevents myopathy in poultry.
Myopathy disease in poultry leads to deteriorated quality and appearance of chicken breast meat, which reduces consumer satisfaction. To solve this challenge, Nutrition21 and Kent Corporation collaborated to develop a bird-feeding composition containing arginine silicate inositol and carrier material such as grain, oil seed, and other additives.
Incorporation of arginine silicate inositol can treat and prevent myopathies such as white striping or woody breasts in birds, thereby improving meat quality in terms of texture and taste and boosting poultry weight.
Fonterra and Agresearch Ltd livestock feed reduces methane emissions
Methane is one of the most prominent greenhouse gases produced primarily by methanogenic microbes in livestock animals’ gastrointestinal tracts. Poor gut health, inefficient fibrous materials, microbial imbalances, and incomplete digestion contribute to elevated methane production.
Fonterra Co-Operative Group Limited and AGRESEARCH LTD collaborated to formulate a new feed composition to solve the methane production problem and improve overall gut health. It can be formulated as fermented yogurt or mixed feed compositions for ruminant animals.
The feed improves body weight and composition, increases milk yield, and reduces methane emissions by inhibiting methane-producing bacteria.
This enzyme-enriched animal feed by Dsm Ip Assets B.V. and Novozymes improves carbohydrase digestibility.
Carbohydrates are important macronutrients that provide energy to animals. However, these carbohydrates are sometimes not broken down properly and stored as fats. This can cause unnecessary weight gain and lead to a bad digestive system, affecting the animal’s gut health.
As a solution to the above challenge, Dsm Ip Assets B.V. and Novozymes have collaborated to develop a functional animal feed composition containing proteolytic enzymes and carbohydrates. Proteases can boost the activity of carbohydrases to hydrolyze carbohydrates in animal feed and, thus, potentially improve the digestibility of carbohydrases in an animal.
The feed composition can be formulated using various carbohydrate or protein feed materials, such as soybean meal, corn, or wheat, in combination with protease and carbohydrases in powder form.
Recommended Report: Explore the top five animal healthcare trends in 2025
BASF and Schothorst Feed Research
BASF and Schothorst Feed Research (SFR) entered an agreement where SFR received non-exclusive licensing rights to Opteinics™, BASF’s digital solution for environmental footprinting of feed and animal protein. SFR will integrate the digital sustainability platform Opteinics™ into its global animal nutrition consultancy services as a sustainability initiative. With the collaboration, BASF and SFR will support and reduce the environmental impact of feed and animal producers, contributing to more sustainable feed and animal protein production.
ADM Animal Nutrition and Anco
ADM Animal Nutrition and Anco collaborated to provide livestock producers with increased access to Anco’s specialty feed ingredients. This partnership aims to help reduce the risks of naturally occurring toxins in feed, ensuring the health and productivity of animals and businesses.
DSM and Novozymes
This collaboration between DSM and Novozymes is focused on developing, producing, marketing, and selling enzymes for animal feed. Enzymes play a crucial role in improving animal feed efficiency by aiding digestion and absorption of nutrients, ultimately enhancing livestock’s overall performance and health.
Cargill and InnovaFeed
Cargill and InnovaFeed are partnering to increase the use of insect ingredients as a functional animal feed additive. By leveraging InnovaFeed’s expertise and Cargill’s animal nutrition knowledge to create sustainable value chains, the collaboration aims to benefit over 20 million piglets’ diets by 2026.
Nutreco and BiomEdit
This collaboration aims to develop innovative feed additives using microbiome technology, combining BiomEdit’s expertise with Nutreco’s distribution capabilities to enhance animal health solutions and contribute to a more sustainable future for the industry.
Read here: Pet Startups That Are Changing Pet Care in 2024
Conclusion
Companies are developing specialized feed formulations and supplements to improve water intake, prevent diseases, reduce methane emissions, and increase nutrient digestibility. These advancements demonstrate the industry’s commitment to improving animal health and environmental sustainability in livestock and pet care. Due to increasing consumer demand, the animal feed market is expected to reach $929.0 billion by 2033. So, you must identify the pioneers to collaborate and create new products.
Finding genuine innovations, like the ones above, amidst market noise can be challenging for researchers like yourself. Insufficient public data on these startups makes aligning these innovations with your organization’s strategic goals difficult. GreyB’s R&D experts can help you with these issues and more.
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Authored by: Suborna and Vishakha, Patent Intelligence
Edited by: Hemanth Shenoy, Market Research
