Feed additive composition for ruminants containing acidic or neutral amin acid, and method for production thereof

Abstract

A feed additive composition includes a protective agent, lecithin, an acidic or neutral amino acid, and water. A method of producing a feed additive composition includes preparing a molten mixture of a protective agent, lecithin, and an acidic or neutral amino acid, and immersing the molten mixture in water or an aqueous liquid to obtain a solidified mixture. Feed additives may be obtained by such method. The protective agent may include a hydrogenated vegetable oil or hydrogenated animal oil having a melting point of higher than 50° C. and lower than 90° C.

Description

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of International Patent Application No. PCT / JP2009 / 057236, filed on Apr. 2, 2009, and claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-097408, filed on Apr. 3, 2008, the disclosures 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 a feed additive composition for ruminants, for example, a feed additive composition for ruminants that is capable of bypassing through a rumen in lactating cows, and a method of producing the same.[0004]2. Discussion of the Background[0005]When ruminants ingest feed, a portion of the nutrients in the feed is exploited as a nutrient source for microorganisms living in the first stomach (i.e., rumen). Therefore, feed additive preparations for ruminants have been employed in which nutrients in the preparations are protected with protective agents that a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0029]Embodiments of the feed additive composition for ruminants according to the present invention have a resistance to microorganisms in rumen juice, dissolve in the small intestine, and can carry high contents of an acidic or neutral amino acid efficiently to the small intestine of lactating cows. Therefore, the lactating cows can absorb large quantities of amino acids as nutrients, and the milk production can be enhanced. Furthermore, embodiments of the method of producing a feed additive composition for ruminants according to the present invention involve, for example, retaining a molten mixture produced with an extruder temporarily in a multi-hole shooter, and allowing this mixture to fall through a plurality of holes at the bottom of the multi-hole shooter into water. In embodiments of methods according to the present invention, it is possible to increase the production amount of the feed additive composition in accordance with the capacity of the extruder. Furthermore, by controlling the drop (fall distance) from the multi-hole shooter, the granules of the composition produced can be made into various shapes such as a spherical shape, a granular shape, a pellet shape or a shape of pressed barley, based on the energy with which the composition impacts the water surface. Granules of pellet shape and the shape of pressed barley are not easily sorted out when added to a feedstuff. Embodiments of the feed additive composition for ruminants according to the present invention include granules having a shape that is easily ground by the mastication of lactating cows, but remains stable in the rumen juice, irrespective of the shape. Further, because such feed additive compositions have a high content of amino acids which are biologically active substances, it is possible to obtain high quality granules that are capable of releasing more amino acids from the granules in the small intestine of lactating cows.

Problems solved by technology

As a result, the nutrients are not exploited by microorganisms when they pass through the rumen.

However, workable feed additive compositions for ruminants employing acidic or neutral amino acids are not known.

Therefore, dispersion-type preparations do not effectively prevent the loss of amino acids in the rumen.

As a result, a problem that arises is that the content of amino acids in the preparations decreases.

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

However, such preparations have drawbacks in terms of production, because the production process is complicated compared to the production process of dispersion-type preparations.

However, if the content of L-lysine monohydrochloride in the mixture exceeds 40% by weight, the molten mixture will have high viscosity, and thus it will be difficult to make the mixture pass through the spray nozzles.

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

Furthermore, although the method described in JP-A-2005-312380 has a characteristic feature wherein small spherical granules having a diameter of 3 mm or less with relatively well established granularity can be obtained, there is a drawback.

However, the method described in JP-A-2006-141270 utilizes the air spraying method which sprays a mixture into air with an extruder as in the case of the method described in JP-A-2005-312380, and therefore, an L-lysine monohydrochloride preparation having a content exceeding 40% by weight cannot be obtained, as discussed with respect to the method described in JP-A-2005-312380.

. . since this rumen bypassing agent is double-coated, there has been a drawback 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, because 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, such a particle size may present difficulty because the product may be sorted out when mixed with a feedstuff.

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