What we do

The Florates Diagnostic System

Florates currently operates with two different assays and five specific biomarkers. One assay focuses on gut damage, while the other evaluate productivity.

By analysing these biomarkers, Florates calculates five key ratios that offer detailed and actionable insights into gut health.

Gut Damage Assay

The gut damage assay uses three specific markers to evaluate the extent of damage and the health status of the animal’s gut microbiome.

Host Marker:
This marker measures the presence of host cells in the gut. Host cells refer to the animal’s own cells. A high value of this marker indicates gut damage.
Entero Marker:
This marker provides more detailed information about gut damage. Enterobacteria are a known cause of gut damage. A high value for this marker is unfavourable and indicates active damage in the gut.
Total Bacterial DNA Marker:
This marker measures the total amount of bacterial DNA in the gut. More total bacterial DNA is related to better gut health.

These three markers are translated into two key ratios:

Gut Damage Ratio: Host vs Total Bacterial DNA
Entero Ratio: Entero vs Total Bacterial DNA

Productivity Assay

The productivity assay uses three markers directly linked to digestion, nutrient absorption, and the overall health of animals.

Butyrate Marker:
Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid that is essential for a healthy gut function. It supports digestion and nutrient absorption. Higher levels of butyrate are more beneficial, as they directly contribute to improved growth in the animal. The assay measures the amount of butyrate and compares it to healthy reference animals.
Lactate Marker:
Lactate, or lactic acid, is another short-chain fatty acid that contributes to gut health in moderate amounts. Higher lactate levels are beneficial up to a certain threshold. Excessive lactate can lead to gut acidification. The exact threshold depends on the butyrate level, making the ratio between butyrate and lactate crucial for insight in the balance within the gut microbiome.
Total Bacterial DNA Marker:
As in the gut damage assay, this marker measures the total amount of bacterial DNA in the gut. In the productivity assay, it is used to calculate the ratio between bacterial DNA and butyrate, providing key insights into the gut’s potential for digestion and nutrient absorption.

These three markers are translated into three key ratios:

Butyrate Ratio: Butyrate vs total
Lactate Ratio: Lactate vs Total
Butyrate-Lactate Ratio: butyrate vs lactate ratio

What Makes the Florates Analysis Unique?

Quantitative

The Florates analysis is quantitative, meaning you receive five specific values instead of just a yes/no outcome. These values provide detailed information about gut damage, gut productivity and health of animals.

Reliable and Robust

The reliability and robustness of the Florates analysis are exceptionally high. Repeated tests consistently deliver identical results, thanks to the carefully standardized basis of the assays, which are fully composed of synthetic components. This minimizes variation and ensures consistent accuracy.

Comprehensive Measurement

There are many types of bacteria. Conventional assays measure approximately 3% of these bacterial families per PCR test. Florates achieves a coverage of more than 95% through a unique preprocessing step, allowing the measurement of all bacterial families. This results in a highly comprehensive analysis.

Targeted Analysis

Florates filters only those bacteria that have been scientifically and practically proven to be linked to animal productivity and welfare before the analysis begins. By combining this targeted approach with comprehensive measurement, Florates can accurately identify correlations. This results in easy-to-read outcomes that provide fast and precise insights into the gut health of animals.

What Can Florates Offer in Practice?

Compare Farms

Florates enables productivity and health comparisons across different levels:

Between farms: Compare the performance of your farm with others, regionally or globally.
Within your own farm: Analyse differences between individual barns or flocks for better internal management.

Intervene

With real-time insights, Florates empowers farmers to:

Current flocks: Take immediate action to improve the health and performance of the current flock.
Next cycles: Make strategic adjustments for future production cycles.

Investigate

Florates provides data-driven insights into gut health, allowing farmers and feed advisors to optimize their feeding strategies:

Feed advice:
- Improve feed conversion and growth.
Effectiveness of feed additives:
- Quickly and reliably measure the impact of feed additives on gut health and animal performance.

Predict & Plan

Through an advanced algorithm, Florates delivers accurate predictions that contribute to optimizing the management of production animals:

Slaughter weight: Predict the number of days to reach slaughter weight, optimizing planning and market delivery.
Mortality risks: Gain insights into mortality risks, such as post-weaning mortality in piglets, enabling preventive interventions.
Animal health and welfare: Monitor the overall health and welfare of flocks.

What is an Assay?
An assay is a scientific method or test used to measure the presence, quantity, or activity of a specific substance, organism, or biological component. Depending on the purpose, assays can analyse genetic information, measure chemical reactions, or assess the function of microbial populations.
In the Florates assays for gut health, the focus is specifically on identifying and analysing the composition of various bacterial populations in the gut.