Feed additive composition for ruminants and method of producing the same

Abstract

A food additive composition for ruminants of the dispersion type and a method of continuously producing the same. This food additive composition for ruminants, which contains 40% by weight or more but less than 65% by weight of a basic amino acid and has rumen bypass properties, is formulated into granules in an arbitrary shape which are scarcely classified when added to a silage or another feed. Thus, attempts have been made to develop a method of producing granules by which the milk yield of a lactation cow can be increased. Namely, it is intended to provide a food additive composition for ruminants which contains at least one protecting agent selected from among a hardened vegetable oil and a hardened animal oil having a melting point higher than 50° C. but lower than 90° C., 0.05 to 6% by weight of lecithin, water and 40% by weight or more but less than 65% by weight of a basic amino acid. It is also intended to provide a method of producing a food additive composition for ruminants characterized by comprising solidifying a molten mixture, which comprises at least one protecting agent selected from among a hardened vegetable oil and a hardened animal oil having a melting point higher than 50° C. but lower than 90° C., lecithin and a basic amino acid, by dipping in water.

Description

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of International Patent Application No. PCT / JP2007 / 001088, filed on Oct. 4, 2007, and claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-273330, filed on Oct. 4, 2006, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-354771, filed on Dec. 28, 2006, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to feed additive compositions for ruminants, in particular, feed additive compositions for ruminants which are capable of bypassing the rumen in lactating cows. The present invention also relates to methods of producing the same. The present invention further relates to methods of raising ruminants and methods of making products derived from ruminants.[0004]2. Discussion of the Background[0005]When ruminants ingest feed, a portion of the nutrients in the feed is exploited as the nutrient sourc...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0021]In particular, it is another object of the present invention to develop a dispersion type feed additive composition for ruminants containing a basic amino acid which is a biologically active substance in an amount of 40% by weight or more and less than 65% by weight, and a method of producing the same, and more particularly, to develop granules which have rumen bypass properties, can accelerate the milk yield and production of lactating cows by releasing the biologically active substance into the small intestine of the ruminants at high concentrations, and can be made to have an arbitrary shape which is difficult to be sorted out even when added to feedstuff; and a production method of efficiently and continuously producing the granules.

[0022]These and other objects, which will become apparent during the following detailed description, have been achieved by the inventors' discovery that water in a feed additive composition for ruminants contributes to the stability of the composition in a high temperature environment, and that in order to make granules to be arbitrarily shaped and to enhance the productivity, when a feed composition containing a biologically active substance is heated to melt while being extruded by a screw in a cylinder of an extrusion granulator (extruder), and the discharged molten mixture is allowed to fall into water from a certain height, granules of a solidified mixture may be obtained.

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, it is an especially important issue to prevent elution of basic amino acids, particularly L-lysine monohydrochloride which is generally used in the form of hydrochloride, to the rumen juice, and exploitation thereof by microorganisms.

However, in the case of dispersion type preparations, amino acids are partially exposed at the preparation surface, and thus when the amino acids are in contact with the rumen juice at pH 6 to 8, the amino acids are prone to be eluted.

Therefore, it is difficult to say that prevention of the loss of amino acids in the rumen, particularly basic amino acids, is sufficiently accomplished.

Furthermore, formulation is carried out using a variety of protective agents so as to reduce the loss of amino acids from the preparations, and as a result, a problem arises that the contents of amino acids in the preparations become relatively scarce.

Thus, in general, it is difficult to produce dispersion type preparations containing amino acids in an amount exceeding 40% by weight.

In this preparation, since there is no chance for the amino acids to be exposed at the preparation surface due to the coating, the amino acids are relatively stable in the rumen juice, but the preparations have a defect in terms of production, such that the production process becomes complicated compared to the production process of dispersed type preparations, and thus more processes are needed.

However, in the production method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-312380, it is necessary to use a mixture having low viscosity so as to allow the mixture to pass through the spray nozzles, but on the other hand, if the content of L-lysine monohydrochloride in the mixture exceeds 40% by weight, the molten mixture obtains high viscosity, and thus it is difficult to make the mixture to pass through the spray nozzles.

Therefore, a preparation containing L-lysine monohydrochloride at a high content which exceeds 40% by weight cannot be obtained with the aforementioned method.

Furthermore, although the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-312380 has a feature wherein small spherical granules having a diameter of 3 mm or less with a relatively well established granularity are obtainable, there is a defect that since the granules are small particles, the granules are likely to escape through dry fodder and be sorted out when mixed into feedstuff.

However, the method described in JP-A No. 2006-141270 utilizes the air prilling method which sprays a mixture into air with an extruder as in the case of the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-312380, and therefore, an L-lysine monohydrochloride preparation having a content exceeding 40% by weight cannot be obtained, as discussed in regard to the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-312380.

. . since this rumen bypassing agent is double-coated, there has been a defect that when the coating at the core surface layer part is destroyed by rumination, mastication or the like, the protective effect is extremely reduced, or the like.”

The above-described coated type preparations are indeed advantageous in view of containing large amounts of biologically active ingredients, however, since their production includes first making a core containing a biologically active ingredient, and further coating this core with a coating agent, the production is achieved not in a continuous mode but in a batch mode, therefore, an increase in the number of production processes is unavoidable.

However, there may be posed a problem such that a preparation having such a dimension is sorted out when mixed into the feedstuff.

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