The principles of diet formulation are simple and straightforward: we assume we know exactly what the nutrient requirements of a given group of animals are, we know the nutrients each potential ingredient can deliver, we assume all nutrients are additive and linear, we know the cost of the materials, we apply any production constraints and we then combine all that knowledge in our linear programming software so we can get the lowest cost solution to meet the nutrient requirement given the available raw materials. With regards to feed additives, defined as low inclusion products that have an impact on nutrient availability of the diet, there are many opportunities to be confused when applying these in feed formulations. The main reason for this is confusion about matrix values, how best to apply them and how to combine matrix values from different types of additives. This paper is meant to clarify some of these issues and give food for thought to get to the best strategies for applying feed additives in formulations. Enzymes are one of the major categories of additives with matrix values but several other product categories use the same approach and in principle should be considered together.
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