In the United States increasing concerns are given to the phosphorus levels in the manure applied to the soils. As phytase is an enzyme that increase the availability of the phosphorus that is present in the feed ingredient given to the pigs, an experiment was done to determine the costs and benefits for the swine producers to adopt phytase and incorporate it in the regular diet givne to the pigs. The profitability of such use is verified considering the value of the animals, the value of the manure produced and the fix and variable costs of the production. Different parameters (nutrients in feed, resulting N and P contents in the manure and manure management system) were studied to determine the optimal situation for phytase use. The land available and the number of pigs produced were also considered as parameters to evaluate. The result of the study showed that the net value of the manure was negative and that the use of phytase was profitable in only several cases.

The analysis was done with consideration on nitrogen production and manure management practices. The use of phytase becomes interesting when the producers are severely limited by land availability. The results suggest that little or no economic impact of the phytase addition for producers interested by its use in best management practices. The general adoption of phytase would need to be coupled with economic incentives (subsidy on phytase or tax on the di-calcium P).