GB752552A - Improvements in and relating to growth factors - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention comprises a growth factor prepared by cultivating an Aspergillus in a culture medium containing carbohydrates, a nitrogen source, a magnesium salt, a phosphorus compound and oligo elements (particularly copper), in Roux bottles or vats with agitation, said factor differing from the known substances produced by Aspergilli in that it is soluble in water but insoluble in organic solvents such as acetone, ether and absolute alcohol, and neutral in aqueous solution, and in that it does not constitute an antibiotic as it does not have a bacterial spectrum, the product having a very strong growth action in regard to some bacteria of the group of antibiotic bacilli, particularly certain sporulated bacteria. The growth factor is extracted from the sub-mycelial juice by normal methods such as atomization, precipitation, e.g. with phosphotungstic acid, or selective precipitation. The application of the growth factor to the bacteria of the Subtilis mesentericus group yields a large variety of enzymatic and antibiotic secretions. Examples describe the preparation of the growth factor using Aspergillus flavus.ALSO:The invention comprises a preparation for the systematic feeding of livestock, particularly to increase their strength and resistance to disease, which comprises a growth factor obtained by cultivating an Aspergillus in a culture medium containing carbohydrates, a nitrogen source, a magnesium salt, a phosphorus compound and oligo elements with agitation, and is characterized in that use is made of powder extracted from the submycelial juice, purified or otherwise, or of mycelium stabilized and dispersed before drying on a support which may contain vitamin or other substances. A chicken food comprises finely divided mycelium with half its weight of bran which is added in a proportion of 0.5-2 per cent to a complete paste ensuring normal equilibrium in nitrogenous, carbohydrate, mineral materials and containing in addition oligo elements and vitamins necessary for the growth of young animals. Water polluted by Coli bacilli may be purified by the addition of a culture medium of bacilli of the Subtilismesentericus type, the development of which has been accelerated by means of the growth factor obtained by cultivating an Aspergillus.ALSO:A growth factor obtained by cultivating an Aspergillus in a culture medium containing carbohydrates, a nitrogen source, a magnesium salt, a phosphorus compound and oligo elements with agitation, increases the growth of bacillus of the Subtilis mesentericus group and also of a certain number of non-pathogenic bacteria, particularly in the case of certain Clostridia. This action also extends to a number of saprophytic micro-organisms, to which action the growth factor owes its preventative and curative action in certain animal maladies.