Florates in day-to-day operations
What does Florates bring to day-to-day operations?
Florates provides farmers and feed advisors with real-time, science-based insights to investigate problems, compare performance, predict outcomes and make timely interventions.
Florates provides data-driven insights into gut health, allowing farmers, feed advisors and vets to optimize management and 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 in your chain - Trials
Execute field trials to evaluate feeding strategies in practice, or scientific trials to validate the effectiveness of feed additives
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 to further improve management
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
Florates delivers 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
Florates compared to traditional techniques
- Functional Gut Health
- Cost price [suitable for routine]
- Speed
- Ease of interpretation
- Accuracy
- Global transport possible
- Vet scoring
- Classical Microbiology
- PCR
- 16S sequencing
- Florates
Florates uses only ratios, not raw counts. Why?
Field-proof & easy sampling
No need for precise amounts, just one swab per bird. Simple, biosecurity-proof, and highly practical on-farm.
Easier interpretation
Ratios give context: they highlight imbalance and functionality, making results clearer and more actionable than isolated numbers.
Robust & reliable
Inconsistent sample size or texture? No problem. Our method ensures repeatable, accurate outcomes across all conditions.
The Florates Diagnostic System
Gut Health has many aspects. At Florates we investigate the 3 main areas of Gut Health: Productivity, Gut Integrity and Microbial Balance. Using a simple cloacal or rectal swab, translating functional biomarkers into clear ratios that offer detailed and actionable insights into gut health.
- For productivity we measure the butyrate ratio and lactate ratio using the same assay, as well as the balance between these two ratios.
- To evaluate gut integrity, we analyse host cells as a ratio to the total bacterial microbiome, as an overall indicator of the villus crypt ratio in the gut. Healthy birds have a high villus crypt ratio, meaning less host DNA and a rich microbiome. Animals with poor gut health show the opposite.
- For microbial balance, we use the Enterobacteriaceae ratio as an indicator of dysbiosis and microbial instability. Enterobacteriaceae are opportunistic bacteria that grow fast when gut conditions are not optimal. Many of the Enterobacteriaceae are pathogenic for humans (like Salmonella, E.coli and Klebsiella).
“To date, Florates has analysed over 8,000 samples in field and research projects, generating more than 45,000 unique ratios”
Productivity
The productivity index uses three ratios directly linked to digestion, nutrient absorption, and the overall health of animals.
1. Butyrate Ratio:
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 ratio measures the amount of butyrate and compares it to healthy reference animals.
2. Lactate Ratio:
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.
3. Butyrate-Lactate Ratio:
The butyrate-lactate ratio refers to the interplay between butyrate and lactate. As Lactate can be beneficial to a certain amount but excessive accumulation can be detrimental, the ratio with Butyrate is important to keep the gut microbiota in balance.
Gut Damage
The gut damage index uses two ratios to evaluate the extent of damage and the health status of the animal’s gut microbiome.
1. Host Ratio
This ratio measures the presence of host cells in the gut. Host cells refer to the animal’s own cells. A high value of this ratio indicates gut damage.
2. Entero Ratio:
This ratio provides more detailed information about gut damage. Enterobacteria are a known cause of gut damage. A high value for this ratio is unfavourable and indicates active damage in the gut.
Microbial Balance
The microbial ratio evaluates microbial contamination and gut balance by comparing the amount of Enterobacteriaceae DNA to total bacterial DNA.
A high microbial balance ratio signals compromised gut conditions and an increased risk of enteric infections. This metric provides a clear indication of overall microbial stability, helping farms monitor cleanliness and prevent health issues.
Swab sampling protocol for broilers
Collect a minimum of six cloacal swabs per flock on day 21 and follow the detailed instructions provided in the Florates Sample Collector Box.
Trusted by Feed experts and Scientists
Prof. Emeritus dr. R. Ducatelle
Professor in Veterinary Pathology“The versatile PCR-based diagnostic toolbox of Florates, is targeting important functional groups of the intestinal microbiota, and constitutes a new approach for quick evaluation of gut health in different animal species”
Rick van der Ende
Veterinarian“Florates offers a practical tool for gaining additional insight into the gut health of a broiler flock. Sampling is simple and does not require sacrificing any birds. The results provide farmers and their veterinary and nutritional consultants with clear guidance to actively manage the flock towards optimal gut health”