In Asia and Europe late August, the Associations of Animal Production organised their yearly Meetings, in Japan for the Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies (AAAP) and in Northern Ireland for the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP).

New experimental data were exposed on HiZox®, the potentiated source of zinc oxide from Animine. In Fukuoka, Dr Noel Lumbo from the University of the Philippines Los Banos won the Young Scientist Award for his Excellent Paper Presentation. His study, supervised by Prof. Rommel Sulabo, compared HiZox® to the pharmacological dosage of the conventional ZnO in tiamulin/CTC supplemented diets for weaned piglets. In Belfast, recent findings from Ghent University (Belgium) were presented. The experiment, supervised by Dr Joris Michiels, evaluated the effect of HiZox® and of the regular zinc oxide on intestinal bacterial populations and gut permeability of weaned piglets. Supplementation with 3000 mg/kg of the standard zinc oxide or with lower dosages (110 mg/kg and 220 mg/kg) of HiZox® gave similar reduction in E.coli and coliforms in the small intestine. Gut integrity, measured by Transepithelial Electrical Resistance in Ussing chambers, was significantly improved by HiZox supplied at the same level (110 mg/kg : legal dosage in the EU) than the negative control.