The National Pork Board presented its Innovation Award to R. Dean Boyd of The Hanor Company for research he presented at this year’s Midwest ASAS/ADSA meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. Sharing in the award with Boyd were co-authors Catherine Zier-Rush, C. Groom, and M. Tillman with The Hanor Company and Janet Remus with DuPont subsidiary, Danisco Animal Nutrition. The National Pork Board’s Innovation Awards promote and reward original and ground-breaking ideas that are scientifically based and valuable to the pork industry.

The abstract “The Feed Enzyme Xylanase Improves Pig Viability and Carcass Feed Efficiency,” was the first study to show that xylanase, a feed enzyme used in swine diets, improves pig viability.“This outcome has wide ranging implications in the area of animal well-being and reduced antibiotic use, key trends in consumer desire when it comes to their food supply,” said Boyd.

The criteria for the Research category is defined as involving work that can be immediately applied to the pork industry or that has potential future application to the pork industry. “We are delighted that the National Pork Board recognized our research for the value it provides to the pork industry and we are honored to have been selected as the winner of one of the research awards,” added Remus.

Meeting the growing demand for pork, while improving animal liveability and reducing feed costs and antibiotic use, is critical for swine producers. The research demonstrated the benefits of xylanase enzymes to meet these goals while staying competitive in the marketplace.