GB2420066A

GB2420066A - Feed additive derived from plant material originating from quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa)

Info

Publication number: GB2420066A
Application number: GB0523642A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Beatrice Konstanze Kli Nielsen; Troels Elgaard; Sven-Erik Jacobsen
Original assignee: Nor Feed AS
Current assignee: Nor Feed AS
Priority date: 2004-11-23
Filing date: 2005-11-21
Publication date: 2006-05-17
Also published as: GB0523642D0

Abstract

A natural intestine-functional additive usable in animal feed contains natural and/or nature identical active constituents including a saponin-containing active component which can be derived from a plant material originating from quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). The additive may be characterised by that it includes the outer shell of quinoa or parts thereof. The additive may further include up to 5% organic acids and up to 30% if salt. The additive may be characterised by that a quantity of additive to be used in 1000kg of feed, includes 50-5000g quinoa by-product/s. Also claimed is a feed mixture for livestock including the components in the additive and a method for animal breeding and/or production whereby the animals are fed on the aforementioned feed mixture.

Description

Title: Natural intestine-functional feed additive Technical scope The

present invention concerns an intestine-functional feed additive with natural or nature identical substances, a feed mixture, which contains the additive and a line of action for livestock.

Technical background

The use of antibiotic or chemotherapeutic substances, referred to as growth promoters', in the production of livestock is well known. In the later years the attention has to a higher degree been focused on problems related to the widespread use of antibiotics or chemot- herapeutics as growth promoters. More and more pathogenic micro-organisms are able to develop resistance to the concerned antibiotic, which as a result of this becomes less effective. There is a risk that residues of antibiotics are left in the product consumed by humans, resulting in a risk of resistant pathogenic micro-organisms. Equally there is a risk of consuming antibiotic-resistant micro-organisms through animal products.

In consequence of the above a continued use of antibiotics as growth promoters is ex- pected to increase the risk of epidemic outbreaks among animals and/or humans, which can not be fought by antibiotics. A considerable number of humans have already devel- oped allergy towards certain antibiotics. In addition one of the used chemotherapeutic growth promoters so far has shown to be causing cancer.

The result of this has already been a complete stop of the use of classical growth promot- ers in swine production in various countries including Denmark and Sweden, and will be banned within the EU by the end of 2005.

As a consequence of the relations mentioned above and to ensure the economy and sustainabiiity in the livestock farming, new alternative methods are sought to ensure the livestock's growth conditions free of both disease and use of antibiotics.

Such drugs may with advantage be based on natural or nature identical active sub- stances. To ensure the acceptance of these new additives by the farmer as well as the feed industry, they should also have the same or preferential better effect on the animals' growth and feed utilization as the classical growth promoters.

It is well known that many plants contain various functional and/or antibacterial sub- stances, such as saponins, flavonoids, tannins, hydroxycymens and terpene, and it is also known to exploit such active substances from plant material in medicine, It is also sug- gested to use such nature substances as daily supplement for both animals and humans.

The claimed effects of such active plant components are however in many cases not adequately well-documented, and many of the components appear in only small amounts in the concerned plants, like they are mostly too precious and/or too difficult to access for a preventive daily use as feed additive.

The use of antibiotic growth promoters has in some matters been perceived as an asset to the environment, while the obtained improvement of feed utilization has been the direct cause of a reduction in the spread of nitrogen. The demands for minimizing the loss of nitrogen in agriculture increase these years, and a very important factor to reduce the loss is an improved feed utilization and especially an improved protein utilization Saponin-containing additives have shown to have positive effects on the production of ruminants, single-stomach animals and fish (Francis et al., 2002: The biological action of saponins in animal systems: A review. British Journal of Nutrition 88, 587-605.) Saponins, which are highly molecular glucosides with sugar- or acid groups linked to a steroid ortriterpene aglycon (not-sugar part), are secondary plant substances, i.e. they are not part of the metabolism. They are traditionally derived from few plants, such as for instance ( yucca (Yucca Schidigera) and quillaja (Quillaja saponaria). Saponins from quillaja, the soapbark tree, which grows in Chile, are derived from tree's bark and branches. A steadily increasing demand in the later years has resulted in a need to find alternative saponin sources, which can be used in livestock production.

It has now been found that quinoa is a useful cost-effective saponin source for animal breeding and production.

Brief description of the invention

The present invention concerns a natural intestine-functional additive used as addition in feed for animals and containing natural and/or nature identical active constituents besides polyphenols, such as tannins and flavonoids and which can be derived from a plant material originating from quinoa, and eventual conventional subsidiaries or additives.

In addition the invention includes a feed mixture for livestock containing the additive along with a conventional feed and a line of action to be used for livestock and feeding the animals the feed mixture.

The additive is even based on a residual product, which at the time is not to any practical use making the active component very cheap and simplifying the production of the addi- tive.

Quinoa is a promising plant as a one-year crop with high content of saponin in the shell.

At the same time quinoa has a large potential as food - and feed plant in Denmark among others. Prior to the present invention the shell has only been considered as a waste product because of its high saponin content.

The extent of applicability of the invention appears from the following detailed description.

It should, however, be understood that the detailed description and the specific examples are merely included to illustrate the preferred embodiments, and that various alterations and modifications within the scope of protection will be obvious to persons skilled in the

art on the basis of the detailed description.

Detailed description of the invention

According to the invention the additive is obtainable on basis of a byproduct from the quinoa production.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) originates from the highland surrounding the Titicaca Lake. Quinoa has been grown since 5000 BC and is with that one of the world's oldest crops. It is one of the most important crops in the Andes Region, where it is used as food with a nutritional value. The quinoa seed contains a grain covered by a bitter shell with a high saponin content, which is removed before it is possible to use quinoa for cooking and feed, It is estimated that shell powder accounts for 10% of the harvested yield. The shell is removed by mechanically affected graining. The saponins can also be washed out of the raw quinoa seed (shell included), by the use of water. The saponin content in the shell powder is estimated to be 10-15%.

By washing the raw quinoa seed (shell included) the obtained liquid product can be dried to reach a water content level of 8-15% at the highest, usually to a maximum water content of 10% water or it can be preserved for instance by adding 0 to 30 weight% NaCI or another salt, and after that restore it for later drying. To further secure the keeping qualities it is beneficial to add 0 to 5 % of an acid acceptable for feed, such as citric acid, tartaric acid or lactic acid or a mixture of these, of which addition at the same time has a positive influence on the product's effect.

The shell powder product can to a necessary extent be concentrated further up by re- moval of some of the product's water. This can be done by filtration, by extraction, by centrifuging and by other conventional methods.

The invention does therefore concern a product based on dried and grinded quinoa shell powder or an extract hereof, or a concentrated liquid, which originates from the washing of the raw quinoa seed (shell included).

Quinoa shell powder contains a number of interesting active substances. Among the most essential ones are saponins, triterpene saponins in particular, which among others have the following beneficial effects: * they are surface active because of the lipofobic sugar part and the lipofilic aglycone part * they increase the cell permeability * they are hemolytic, bind for instance cholesterol and are therefore cholesterol reduc- ing * increase the absorption of for instance vaccines * increase the immunological response * anti-allergic, anti-diabetic, anti-mycotic, antiviral * improve ruminants' protein utilization by anti-protozoal activity * antibiotic characteristics * anti-septic * bind ammonia and reduce excretion of nitrogen Quinoa shell powder contains also other active substances such as polyphenols, among others flavonoids, which have several effects, including * they are antibacterial * they counteract the deficiency of vitamin E and vitamin K * they have antioxidative properties The additive can, according to the invention, with great benefits be used for both single- stomach livestock, ruminants and aquaculture, and for pets.

The additive may be used by addition to a conventional animal feed. Preferably the quantity of additive to be used in 1000 kg of feed, includes 50 - 5000 g the active compo- nent derived from quinoa, calculated as dry matter. The additive may be given as a liquid or a spray dried product or powder to the animals via drinking water, possibly with a natural emulsifier, or it can be mixed directly in the feed, possibly as a premix.

Formulation of commercial products with the additive according to the invention Depending on the concentration and variety of the active substances in the raw material it can be necessary to mix the raw material with a suitable carrier substance, in such way that a final product will be partly standardized, and partly not too concentrated for it to be mixed with the feed directly by both the producers of feedstuff, and by home mixers.

To obtain the mentioned characteristics of the commercial feed additive, suitable carrier substances are primarily mineral carrier substances in shape of clay minerals and zeolites - sepiolit and klinoptilolit - and secondly vegetable carrier substances such as wheat flour, wheat bran, soy shell flour etc. Calcium carbonate can also be a useful carrier substance not so much because of its technical characteristics but because of its low price. The same is relevant for grape seed oil, which is a known carrier substance used frequently in animals' feed.

Quinoa shell powder can to a larger or smaller extent be grinded before it is mixed with the actual carrier substance.

The additive has, according to the invention, shown to have a considerable effect on livestock's feed intake, daily weight gain and feed utilization. The reasons for the con- cerned effects are not fully clear, while there can be more than the ones stated so far. The already confirmed reasons include the following: According to the invention the additive * improves the animals' immune response * improves the utilization of nitrogen compounds in general * improves the utilization of fat compounds in general

Examples

In the present examples quinoa shell powder is used: For verification of the additive a number of trials on selected Danish farms have been run.

Some representative trial results are seen in the examples 1-3.

Example I

Trial at "Farm 1" in Jutland, 21-day trial in the period September23October 14 1992.

( Finisher; tested additive: Quinoa shell powder at the dosage of 200 g per ton of feed, consisting of 200 grams of quinoa shell powder.

Table 1. Trial results at trial "Farm 1" Control group Trial group Duff., % Numberof pigs 21 21 Av. weight, start 33.3 kg 28.6 kg -14.1% Av. weight, end 43.5 kg 41.3 kg - 5.1% Weight gain/pig/day 485 g 605 g + 24.8% Feed conver- 1.32 FEs 1.31 FEs -1.2% sion/pig/day Feed conversion/kg 2.72 FEs 2.16 FEs -20.6% weight gain ___________________ The results show: * Daily feed intake is lowered: 1.2 % * Daily weight gain is improved by: 24.8 % * Feed utilization is improved by: 20.6 %

Example 2

Trial at "Farm 2" in Jutland, 21-day trial in the period September 19October 10 1992.

Piglets, 7 days after weaning; tested additive: Quinoa shell powder at the dosage of 200 g per ton of feed, containing 200 grams of quinoa shell powder.

Table 2. Trial results at trial Farm 2' _____________________________________________ 7 Control group Trial group Duff., % Numberof pigs 11 10 Av. weight, start 13.4 kg 14.1 kg + 5.2 % Av. weight, end 24.5 kg 26.1 kg + 6.5 % Weight gain/pig Iday 528 g 571 g + 8. 1 % Feed conver- 1.08 Fes 1.00 Fes -7.4 % sion/pig/day Feed conversion/kg 2.04 Fes 1.75 Fes -14.2% weight gain The results show: ( * Daily feed intake is lowered with: 7.4 % Daily weight gain is improved by: 8.1 % * Feed utilization is improved by: 14.2 %

Example 3

Trial at "Farm 3" on Zealand; 11-day trial in the period April 15-26 2004.

Piglets from weaning; 30 pigs in both control group and the trial groups.

Tested additive: Quinoa shell powder at the dosage of 125 ppm, 250 ppm and 500 ppm, consisting of solely quinoa shell powder.

Table 3: Trial results at trial "Farm 3" Compared with control Control 125 ppm 250 ppm 500 ppm Feed intake/pig/day 0.41 FEs + 16 % - 12 % + 9 % Dailyweight gain 239g + 14% - 19% + 10% Feed utilization 1.70 + 2 % + 9% 1 % Depending on the concentration of the active substances in the used shell powder the optimal dosage rate in the feed can vary widely - e.g. from 50 to 5000 grams.

The above description of the invention reveals that it is obvious that it can be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be considered a deviation from the scope of the invention, and all such modifications which are obvious to persons skilled in the art are also to be considered comprised by the scope of the succeeding claims.

Claims

Claims 1. Natural intestine-functional additive usable in the feed for

animals and containing natural and/or nature identical active constituents including a saponin-containing active component which can be derived from a plant material originating from quinoa (Cheno- podium quinoa) and obtionally conventional adjuvants and/or additives.
2. Additive according to claim 1, characterised by that it includes the outer shell of quinoa or parts thereof.
3. Additive according to claim 1, characterised by that it includes quinoa by- products, which can be obtained as residue after the processing of the quinoa by-product defined in claim 2.
4. Additive according to claim 1, characterised by that it includes quinoa by- products, which can be obtained as residue after removal of one ore more substances by extraction of the quinoa by-product defined in claim 2.
5. Additive according to any of the previous claims, characterised by that it includes a combination of two or more quinoa by-products as indicated in claim 2 - 4.
6. Additive according to any of the previous claims, characterised by that it further includes up to 5 weight% of organic acid acceptable for use in animal feed in relation to the quinoa by-product or quinoa by- products, calculated as dry matter.
7. Additive according to any of the previous claims, characterised by that it further includes up to 30 weight% of salt acceptable for use in animal feed in relation to the quinoa by-product or quinoa by-products, calculated as dry matter.
8. Additive according to any of the previous claims, characterised by that a quantity of additive to be used in 1000 kg of feed, includes 50 - 5000 g quinoa by-product or quinoa by-products, calculated as dry matter.
9. Additive according to any of the previous claims, characterised by that it includes one or more carrier materials acceptable for use in animal feed.
10. Feed mixture for livestock including the components in the additive according to any of the claims 1 - 9 along with conventional feed.
11. A method for animal breeding and/or production whereby the animals are fed a feed mixture according to claim 10.