METHOD FOR PRODUCTION OF MILK WITH A HIGH CONTENT OF NATIVE VITAMIN D

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for the production of milk with a high content of native vitamin D3, comprising the irradiation of one or more lactating animals in a roofed enclosure, having at least one luminaire with a lamp emitting UV-A and UV-B radiation, and the milking of animals. The method allows producing milk having a high content of native vitamin D. The method also leads to an improved milk yield per animal.

Claims

1. A method for the production of milk with a high native vitamin D3 content, comprising the irradiation of one or more lactating animals in a roofed enclosure having at least one luminaire comprising a lamp which emits UV-A radiation and UV-B radiation, and the milking of the animals.

2. A method according to claim 1, the luminaire comprising a lamp cover which is permeable to UV-B radiation of a wavelength of 300 nm, the lamp cover being formed of quartz glass, borosilicate glass, polymethyl methacrylate, polymethylpentene, fluorinated ethylene propylene or polytetrafluoroethylene.

3. A method according to claim 1 for increasing the native vitamin D3 content of the milk and/or for increasing the milk yield per animal.

4. A method according to claim 1, the emission spectrum of the lamp comprising visible light and/or the lamp having a color rendering index of greater than 40.

5. A method according to claim 1, the radiation component in the VIS range in the emission spectrum of the lamp being at least 70%.

6. A method according to claim 1, the UV-B radiation component in the emission spectrum of the lamp being at least 0.1%, of the irradiation intensity of the lamp and/or the UV-B radiation component in the emission spectrum of the lamp being less than 5% of the irradiation intensity of the lamp.

7. A method according to claim 1, the UV-B radiation component in the emission spectrum of the lamp being at least 0.5% of the irradiation intensity of the lamp and/or the UV-B radiation component in the emission spectrum of the lamp being less than 5% of the irradiation intensity.

8. A method according to claim 1, the lamp being selected from among a gas discharge lamp, a fluorescent lamp, a halogen metal vapor lamp or an LED lamp, and/or the lamp being a full-spectrum lamp.

9. A method according to claim 8, the fluorescent lamp being a low-pressure discharge lamp.

10. A method according to claim 1, the lamp being a fluorescent lamp which comprises strontium borophosphate:Eu and/or strontium magnesium phosphate:Sn and/or barium magnesium aluminate:Ce and/or lanthanum phosphate:Ce as luminescent substances.

11. A method according to claim 1, the daily rhythm of the animal being divided into a day phase with a first light regimen and a night phase with a second light regimen, the luminaire being employed for illumination purposes at least for some time during the day phase and/or a light source being employed during the night phase which emits light in the wavelength range of 500 nm or more and essentially no light in the wavelength range of below 500 nm.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein the light source used for the night phase is an LED lamp or a sodium vapor lamp.

13. A method according to claim 1, the animal being a sheep, a goat or a cow.

14. A method according to claim 1, the luminaire being dust-proof and protected against strong water jets, the luminaire preferably having an IP 65 rating.

15. A method according to claim 2, the lamp cover being fixed to a housing of the luminaire, and a seal with talcum applied thereto being arranged between the lamp cover and the housing.

16. The use of a luminaire comprising a lamp which emits UV-A radiation and UV-B radiation for irradiating one or more lactating animals in a roofed enclosure.

17. The use according to claim 16 for increasing the native vitamin D3 content in the milk of the animals and/or for increasing the milk yield per animal.

18. The use according to claim 16, the luminaire comprising a lamp cover which is permeable to UV-B radiation at a wavelength of 300 nm.

19. A roofed enclosure, especially an animal house, for keeping lactating animals, at least one luminaire being fixed in the enclosure which comprises a lamp which emits UV-A radiation and UV-B radiation, the luminaire comprising a lamp cover which is permeable to UV-B radiation at a wavelength of 300 nm.

20. A milk with a high native vitamin D3 content, obtainable by a method according to claim 1, the vitamin D3 content being more than 1.5 μg/100 ml of milk.

Description

EXAMPLES

Comparative Examples 1 to 4

[0080] The milk produced in two pilot farms (farm I with 1100 dairy cows, farm II with 420 dairy cows) was examined in respect of its vitamin D concentration. The animals were kept in houses with stress-reducing free-range systems in which they were free to choose their own eating, drinking and lying-down places. Moreover, the animals were given grass- and herb-based feed rations. The animals were milked during the day and in some cases during the night phase. The animals were kept under the following photoperiod:

[0081] The duration of the day phase was approximately 16 hours. The duration of the night phase was approximately 8 hours. In the day phase, the animals were provided with visible light using commercially available fluorescent tubes arranged approx. 3 m above the floor of the animal house. The fluorescent tubes did not emit any radiation in the UV-B range. In the night phase, both groups of animals were kept under a light regimen with light with a wavelength of not below 500 nm. To this end, red LED lamps were employed.

[0082] After a habituation phase, milk collected at different days in farm I was examined for its vitamin D content (vitamin D3) by means of HPLC/UV (comparative examples 1 to 4). The results are shown in Table 1. The values agree with the values for the vitamin D content in commercially available milk (approx. 0.1 μg/100 ml milk according to Bundeslebensmittelschlüssel).

Examples 1 to 7

[0083] Operations in the two pilot farms continued in the same manner, except that the commercially available fluorescent tubes for the illumination in the day phase were replaced by luminaires with specific fluorescent lamps with a similar illumination intensity in the visible range. During the day, the animals were thus exposed to artificial light with a sunlight-like light spectrum. To provide the light, the full-spectrum lamps used were specific fluorescent lamps with the following emission spectrum:

TABLE-US-00001 VIS component (380-780 nm) approx. 90.85% UV-A component (315-380 nm) approx. 9% UV-B component (280-315 nm) approx. 0.15% UV-C component (200-280 nm) 0%.

[0084] The illumination was effected daily using 2×58 watt full-spectrum fluorescent lamps arranged approx. 3 m above the floor of the animal house. The fluorescent lamps were IP 65-rated. The fluorescent lamps comprised a lamp cover. The lamp cover was formed from PMMA (Plexiglas 6N from Degussa) with a wall thickness of 3 mm. The FIGURE shows a transmission curve of the plexiglass of this wall thickness. At a wavelength of 300 nm, the degree of transmission was approx. 70%.

[0085] After a habituation phase under this photoperiod, the milk was examined on different days for its vitamin D content (vitamin D3) by means of ELISA (1 to 7). The milk produced in this manner contained a multiple of vitamin D in comparison with milk from traditional milk production. The vitamin D contents were 1.63 to 1.92 μg/100 ml milk. Table 1 shows the results of the samples in question, which had been taken from the respective milk tanks, and of mixed samples. The tanks and the mixed samples comprise the collected milk of several cows. The average fat content of the milk samples was approx. 4%.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 1 Vitamin D contents in the milk Vitamin D3 content μg/100 ml Sample No. milk Comparative ex. 1 Farm I, mixed sample <0.2* Comparative ex. 2 Farm I, mixed sample <0.2* Comparative ex. 3 Farm I, mixed sample <0.2* Comparative ex. 4 Farm I, mixed sample <0.2* Example 1 Farm II, mixed sample 1.63 Example 2 Farm II, mixed sample 1.87 Example 3 Farm I, tank 1 1.91 Example 4 Farm I, tank 2 1.92 Example 5 Farm I, tank 3 1.90 Example 6 Farm I, mixed sample 1.75 Example 7 Farm I, mixed sample 1.83 *below the detection limit

[0086] After a one-year operation according to the method according to the invention, the following other phenomena were able to be observed in comparison with the period before the method was introduced: [0087] the incidence of disease and reproduction rates of the animals dropped, [0088] the farm's veterinary expenditure dropped, [0089] the milk production per animal increased by over 5%.

Examples 8 to 12

[0090] The operation in the two pilot farms was continued as described in Examples 1-7, except that the fluorescent lamps employed in Examples 1-7 for the illumination in the day phase were replaced by luminaires with specific fluorescent lamps with similar illumination intensity in the visible range. During the day, the animals were thus exposed to artificial light with a sunlight-like light spectrum. For generating the light, the full-spectrum lamps used were specific fluorescent lamps with an even higher UV-B component, which contained a mixture of approx. 36% SBPE, approx. 50% SMS, approx. 13% BAC and approx. 1% LAP as fluorescent substances. The fluorescent lamps had the following emission spectrum.

TABLE-US-00003 VIS component (380-780 nm) approx. 90% UV-A component (315-380 nm) approx. 9% UV-B component (280-315 nm) approx. 1% UV-C component (200-280 nm) 0%.

[0091] The illumination was effected daily using 2×58 watt full-spectrum fluorescent lamps arranged approx. 3 m above the floor of the animal house. The fluorescent lamps were IP 65-rated. The fluorescent lamps comprised a lamp cover. The lamp cover was formed from PMMA (Plexiglas 6N from Degussa) with a wall thickness of 3 mm. The FIGURE shows a transmission curve of the plexiglass of this wall thickness. At a wavelength of 300 nm, the degree of transmission was approx. 70%.

[0092] After a habituation phase under this photoperiod, the milk was examined on different days for its vitamin D content (vitamin D3) by means of ELISA (Examples 8 to 12). The milk produced in this manner contained a multiple of vitamin D in comparison with milk from traditional milk production. The vitamin D contents were 2.34 to 2.67 μg/100 ml milk. Table 2 shows the results of the samples in question, which had been taken from the respective milk tanks. The tanks comprise the collected milk of several cows. The average fat content of the milk samples was approx. 4%.

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 2 Vitamin D contents in the milk Vitamin D3 content μg/100 ml Sample No. milk Example 8 Farm I, tank 1 2.67 Example 9 Farm I, tank 2 2.67 Example 10 Farm I, tank 3 2.65 Example 11 Farm I, tank 4 2.55 Example 12 Farm I, tank 5 2.34

[0093] After a one-year operation according to the method according to the invention, the following other phenomena were able to be observed in comparison with the methods used for comparative Examples 1 to 4: [0094] the incidence of disease and reproduction rates of the animals dropped, [0095] the farm's veterinary expenditure dropped, [0096] the milk production per animal increased by over 5%.