Attended by more than 120 participants, the 1st edition of the Congrès AlgaSciences was successfully held at the Breizh Algae School in Le Linio, France.
The Breizh Algae School (Saint-Étienne-du-Gué-de-l’Isle, France) opened its doors on Tuesday, May 29, to celebrate the first edition of the Congrès AlgaSciences, Olmix’s scientific seminar on how algae can improve current animal farming and plant growth techniques and strategies.
Attended by more than 120 professional experts, not only was the event an excellent opportunity to get valuable technical updates through high-level conferences and scientific workshops, but also to exchange innovative ideas and opinions, and discuss some of the most recent trends in both animal and plant production.
Mr Hervé Balusson opened the Congrès AlgaSciences.
Mrs Maria Matard-Mann: “Marine sulphated polysaccharides possessdiverse biological properties”.
Mrs Maria Matard-Mann: “After the Amazon rainforest, Algae are the second lung of the planet”
Animal Care Plenary Session
After that, participants had the chance to choose between two conference programmes: Animal Care or Plant Care, both offering various presentations from renowned international speakers.
Drawing the attention to Animal Care, the plenary session started with the lecture of Dr Delphine Le Roux (ENVA Maison-Alfort), who focused her speech on the actors of immunity at the intestinal level and the potential influence of nutrition on it. The immune system is a very complex organization, known as “GALT” (Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue) in the intestine:
“The immune system is very complex and involves many mechanisms of maturation and communication between cells, particularly at the level of the intestine. Some dietary compounds have the capacity to interact with it and be used as a very potent tool to better and safer raise animals. A targeted use of specific polysaccharides can activate the immune response; algae extracts are good candidates with their content in unique active polysaccharides. We count on the research work of Olmix Group to gain some more knowledge in this area”.
Dr Le Roux concluded her speech highlighting that ”the GALT guarantees intestinal homeostasis, but cannot be dissociated from the intestinal microbiota and vice versa”.
Dr Delphine Le Roux (ENVA Maison Alfort) at Congrès AlgaSciences.
To underscore Le Roux’s speech, Mrs Danièle Marzin (Marketing & Innovation Director, Olmix Group), contributed to the programme through an overview of Olmix’s new alternative to reinforce animal’s natural defences, ‘Algimun®’:
“Algimun® brings together two unique specific Olmix marine algae extracts: MSP® BARRIER (patent pending) and MSP®IMMUNITY (patented by Olmix), acting respectively on intestinal mucosa integrity and immune response modulation, properties which were scientifically proven in collaboration with INRA among others and that work in synergy in the intestine”, she said. Included in the animal’s feed, Algimun® allows to support animal’s natural defences, helping them to face daily challenges to secure and optimise their growth while improving farm benefits!“.
Dr Isabelle Oswald (INRA Toxalim Toulouse) at Congrès AlgaSciences.
If immunity was the topic to discuss during the first half of the session, the second one was focused on the still challenging subject of mycotoxin risk. In this context, Dr Isabelle Oswald (INRA Toxalim Toulouse) was the next to go on stage to deliver a presentation entitled ‘Fusariotoxins and intestinal health’, where she shed light on the main challenges related to the presence of mycotoxins in feeds:
“Mycotoxins are a problem everywhere in the world, including in France. They are not exclusive to tropical countries. Talking about fumonisins and DON, they affect the integrity of the intestinal wall and they reduce its barrier function against pathogenic invasions. Moreover, we have to take into account that co-contamination by several mycotoxins is the rule, not the exception! This has to be deeply studied and should be taken into account for regulatory recommendations”, Dr Oswald said.
To close the Animal Care plenary session, Mrs Julia Laurain (For Feed Product Specialist, Olmix Group) showed the latest updates on the Olmix’s tools to fight mycotoxin risk:
“Olmix has been working on mycotoxin risk for 15 years along with several professional associations and experts and we have come up with a global strategy to face this challenge, providing tools to support producers from diagnosis to reliable and effective solutions. Myco’Evaluator and Myco’Screen to qualify the problems and define the needs followed by Myco’Calculator to optimize the use of our wide spectrum algae-based toxin binder MT.X+ and MMi.S”.
Plant Care Plenary Session
At the same time, the Plant Care Plenary Session counted on the presence of 4 speakers to shine a spotlight on the global agricultural issues for tomorrow and the new production techniques as well as on the Olmix’s natural strategies for “integrated plant health management”.
Thus, Mr Didier Blin (Plant Care Product Manager, Olmix Group) and Emmanuel Bausson (Specialized Crops Product Manager, Olmix Group) first shared with the audience the contribution of the Olmix Plant Care division to the sector and its innovative technology.
Emmanuel Bausson said: “The biostimulants and biological activators of soils developed by Olmix are tools for farmers and distributors who want to move toward agroecology“, whilst Didier Blin explained that “these biosolutions support effectively the new agronomical practices to boost the quality of soils, quality of plant nutrition and resistance capacity of plants to attacks. This approach is fully in line with the objectives of a productive and ecologically respectful agriculture”.
Mr Didier Blin (Olmix Group) at Congrès AlgaSciences.
Mr Emmanuel Bausson (Olmix Group) at Congrès AlgaSciences.
Mr Samuel Dequiedt (INRA Dijon) at congrès AlgaSciences.
Mr Samuel Dequiedt (INRA Dijon) at congrès AlgaSciences.
In the afternoon, the Plant Care Plenary Session went on and, at the same time, several Animal Care technical workshops divided by species were held at the Breizh Algae School.
The Congrès AlgaSciences was closed on Wednesday, 30th May, with a factory visit and a tour along the coast of Brittany (France), where participants could appreciate the wide diversity of marine algae present on Brittany seashore and collect fresh marine algae!