RUMEN PROTECTED PRODUCTS

Abstract

The present invention relates to a composition for feeding a ruminant comprising i)a core comprising or consisting of a biologically active ingredient selected from the list consisting of i) amino acids, derivatives of amino acids, and/or salts of amino acids and/or of their derivatives, ii) proteins, iii) peptides, iv) carbohydrates, v) vitamins, and substances having similar functions, vi) probiotic microorganisms, vii) prebiotic foods, viii) choline and salts and/or derivatives thereof, and ix) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and salts and/or derivatives thereof, and ii) a coating surrounding said core, wherein said coating comprises one or more layers of a mixture comprising a saturated fat, and a fatty acid, and said coating comprises from 60 wt.-%+/10% to 80 wt.-%+/0% of the saturated fat and from 20 wt.-%+/10% to 40 wt.-%+/10% of the fatty acid, each based on the total weight of the coating, wherein the composition comprises from 5 wt.-%+/10% to 30 wt.-%+/10% of the coating, based on the total weight of the composition.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A composition for feeding a ruminant, the composition comprising: a) a core comprising or consisting of a biologically active ingredient selected from the group consisting of i) amino acids, derivatives of amino acids, and/or salts of amino acids and/or of their derivatives, ii) proteins, iii) peptides, iv) carbohydrates, v) vitamins, and substances having similar functions, vi) probiotic microorganisms, vii) prebiotic foods, viii) choline and salts and/or derivatives thereof, and ix) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and salts and/or derivatives thereof, and b) a coating surrounding said core, wherein said coating comprises one or more layers of a mixture comprising a saturated fat, and a fatty acid, and said coating comprises from 70 wt-% to 80 wt.-%+/10% of the saturated fat and from 20 wt.-%+/10% to 30 wt.-% of the fatty acid, each based on a total weight of the coating, and wherein the composition comprises from 20 wt-%+/10% to 30 wt.-%+/10% of the coating, based on a total weight of the composition.

17. The composition of claim 16, wherein the saturated fat comprises or consists of a hydrogenated fat.

18. The composition of claim 17, wherein the hydrogenated fat is a hydrogenated vegetable oil.

19. The composition of claim 17, wherein the hydrogenated fat comprises or consists of hydrogenated palm oil, hydrogenated soybean oil and/or hydrogenated rapeseed oil.

20. The composition of claim 16, wherein the fatty acid comprises or consists of a C.sub.14 to C.sub.22 carboxylic acid.

21. The composition of claim 16, wherein the fatty acid comprises or consists of a C.sub.16 to C.sub.20 carboxylic acid.

22. The composition of claim 16, wherein the fatty acid comprises or consists of a saturated fatty acid.

23. The composition of claim 16, wherein the fatty acid comprises or consists of an optionally substituted palmitic acid, oleic acid, and/or stearic acid.

24. The composition of claim 16, wherein the coating comprises at least two layers, wherein each of the at least two layers has a different composition of the mixture.

25. The composition of claim 16, wherein a first layer surrounding the biologically active ingredient has a higher amount of the fatty acid than a second or any further layer surrounding the first or any preceding layer.

26. The composition of claim 16, wherein the coating comprises a first layer and a second layer, wherein the first layer comprises from 60 wt.-%+/10% to 90 wt.-%+/10% of the saturated fat and from 10 wt-%+/10% to 40 wt-%+/10% of the fatty acid, based on a weight of the first layer, and the second or any further layer comprises from 60 wt.-%+/10% to 99 wt.-%10% of the saturated fat and from 1 wt.-%+/10% to 40 wt.-%+/10% of the fatty acid, based on a weight of the second of any further layer.

27. The composition of claim 16, wherein a first layer surrounding the surrounding the biologically active ingredient has a higher amount of the mixture than the second or any further layer surrounding the first or any preceding layer.

28. A process for preparing the composition of claim 16, the process comprising: a) providing particles comprising or consisting of a biologically active ingredient selected from the group consisting of i) amino acids, derivatives of amino acids, and/or salts of amino acids and/or of their derivatives, ii) proteins, iii) peptides, iv) carbohydrates, v) vitamins, and substances having similar functions, vi) probiotic microorganisms, vii) prebiotic foods, viii) choline and salts and/or derivatives thereof, and ix) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and salts and/or derivatives thereof in a drum coater, b) providing a mixture comprising from 70 wt.-% to 80 wt.-%+/10% of the saturated fat and from 20 wt.-%+/10% to 30 wt.-% of the fatty acid, each based on a total weight of the mixture, in a reservoir outside the drum coater, c) heating the particles of a) to a temperature in a range of from 20 C. below a lower melting point of the mixture of b) to an upper melting point of the mixture of b), d) heating the mixture of b) to a temperature in a range of from the upper melting point of the mixture of b) to 20 C. above the upper melting point of the mixture of b), to obtain a heated mixture, e) applying the heated mixture of d) onto the particles of c) in a rotating drum coater, to obtain a bed of particles, f) maintaining a temperature of the bed of particles obtained in e) at a temperature in a range of from 20 C. below the lower melting point of the mixture of b) to the lower melting point of the mixture of b), to obtain a composition, and g) cooling the composition obtained from f) or allowing the composition obtained from 0 to cool, to obtain a cooled composition, wherein, if the composition to be prepared has two or more layers, c) to f) or c) to g) are repeated with the composition obtained from f) or the cooled composition obtained from g).

29. A feed, feed material, premix or feed additive for feeding a ruminant, the feed, feed material, premix or feed additive comprising the composition of claim 16.

30. A method of supplementing a diet of a ruminant with a biologically active ingredient, the method comprising providing the ruminant with the composition of claim 16 and/or with a feed, feed material, premix or feed additive comprising the composition.

Description

EXAMPLES

[0160] I. General Procedure for Preparing Coated Products:

[0161] Equipment used: [0162] Drum coater (type SolidLab1 from Within) [0163] Supply for the heated melt (stirred vessel equipped with pump and piping) [0164] Distributor with 3 inlet points for the distribution of the heated melt in the drum coater

[0165] Prior to the coating process itself, the coating material (hydrogenated palm oil, trade name Prefix 125 and optionally the coating additive stearic acid in the desired ratio) was melted in the stirred vessel and subsequently heated to a temperature of 80 C.

[0166] Approximately 400 g of the biologically active ingredient to be coated and present either in granulated or in pelletized form, were filled into the drum coater and preheated. The preheating was carried out with warm ambient air having a temperature of approximately 50 to 60 C. at a slow drum rotation of approximately 3 to 5 rounds per minutes. When the heated particles had a temperature in the range between 20 below the lower melting point of the coating material and the lower melting point of the coating material, the rotation speed of the drum coater was increased to approximately 15 to 25 rounds per minute and the feeding of the melted coating material was started. During the coating the coating material was constantly added to the particles. Further, the inlet temperature and the rotation speed was set so that the temperature of the coated temperature was kept constant and that the movement of the coated product in the rotating drum coater was uniform. After addition of the desired amount of the coating material any further dosing of the melted coating material was stopped and the coated product was allowed to cool down, so that the coating material could solidify.

[0167] II. Preparation of Coated BAI Comprising Products

[0168] According to the general procedure for the preparation of coated products BAI comprising compositions, a multitude of examples according to the present invention and several comparative examples were prepared. The parameters of the individual coating preparations, such as the composition of the coating, the amount of coating in the final product and the biologically active ingredient are summarized in the table 1 below.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 2 Summary of the prepared compositions (GAA = guanidine acetic acid, met-met = methionyl methionine). Biologically 1st coating layer 2nd coating layer Total Total hydrog. Total active BAI in amount hydrog. stearic amount hydrog. stearic coating palm oil stearic acid Comp. ingredient composition in comp. palm oil acid in comp. palm oil acid in comp. in comp. in comp. No. (BAI) [wt.-%] [wt.-%] [wt.-%] [wt.-%] [wt.-%] [wt.-%] [wt.-%] [wt.-%] [wt.-%] [wt.-%] C-L1 lysine 49.8 30 100 0 0 0 0 30 30 0 C-L2 lysine 49.8 30 90 10 0 0 0 30 27 3 L1 lysine 49.8 30 80 20 0 0 0 30 24 6 L2 lysine 49.8 30 75 25 0 0 0 30 22.5 7.5 L3 lysine 49.8 30 70 30 0 0 0 30 21 9 L4 lysine 53.3 25 75 25 0 0 0 25 18.75 6.25 L5 lysine 56.9 20 75 25 0 0 0 20 15 5 L6 lysine 51.5 27.5 80 20 0 0 0 27.5 22 5 L7 lysine 53.5 25 80 20 0 0 0 25 20 5 C-M1 methionine 65.8 30 100 0 0 0 0 30 30 0 C-M2 methionine 65.8 30 90 10 0 0 0 30 27 3 C-M3 methionine 65.8 24 75 25 6 100 0 30 24 6 C-M4 methionine 65.8 24 84 16 6 64 36 30 24 6 M1 methionine 65.8 30 75 25 0 0 0 30 22.5 7.5 M2 methionine 65.8 30 70 30 0 0 0 30 21 9 M3 methionine 70.5 25 80 20 0 0 0 25 20 5 M4 methionine 70.5 25 75 25 0 0 0 25 18.75 6.25 M5 methionine 70.5 25 70 30 0 0 0 25 17.5 7.5 M6 methionine 75.2 20 80 20 0 0 0 20 16 4 M7 methionine 79.9 15 80 20 0 0 0 15 12 3 M8 methionine 84.6 10 80 20 0 0 0 10 8 2 M9 methionine 89.3 5 80 20 0 0 0 5 4 1 M10 methionine 65.8 24 76 24 6 96 4 30 24 6 C-G1 GAA 65.2 30 100 0 0 0 0 30 30 0 C-G2 GAA 69.8 25 100 0 0 0 0 25 25 0 G-1 GAA 69.8 25 75 25 0 0 0 18.75 6.25 0 G-2 GAA 69.8 25 70 30 0 0 0 17.5 7.5 0 C-MM1 met-met 64.5 30 100 0 0 0 0 30 30 0 C-MM2 met-met 69.1 25 100 0 0 0 0 25 25 0 C-MM3 met-met 73.7 20 100 0 0 0 0 20 20 0 MM1 met-met 69.1 25 75 25 0 0 0 25 18.75 6.25 MM2 met-met 73.7 20 80 20 0 0 0 20 16 4 MM3 met-met 73.7 20 70 30 0 0 0 20 14 6

[0169] III. Testing of the Products:

[0170] The products of the examples L1 to L7, M1 to M10, G1 to G2, and MM1 to MM3, and the products of the comparative examples C-L1 to C-L2, C-M1 to C-M4, C-G1 to C-G2, and C-MM1 to C-MM3 were subjected to in vitro tests to simulate the ruminal digestion, in particular to simulate the release rates of the biologically active ingredient in the three different compartments rumen, abomasum and small intestine of the ruminal digestive tract. For this purpose the tests were performed in a three-step incubation procedure: in the first step the conditions in the rumen were simulated by use of the McDougall's buffer, in the second step the conditions in the abomasum were simulated by use of hydrochloric acid and pepsin, and in the third step the conditions of the small intestine were simulated by use of pancreatin and a suitable buffer to adjust a pH of 8. The in vitro tests were performed according to the following procedure:

[0171] For the preparation of the McDougall's buffer the following substances were weighed into a 10 liters bottle:

TABLE-US-00004 NaHCO.sub.3 98 g (1.17 mol) Na.sub.2HPO.sub.42 H.sub.2O 46.3 g (0.26 mol) NaCl 4.7 g (0.08 mol) KCl 5.7 g (0.08 mol) CaCl.sub.22 H.sub.2O 0.4 g (2.7 mmol) MgCl.sub.26 H.sub.2O 0.6 g (3.0 mmol)

[0172] 250 mL of the McDougall's buffer solution were filled into a 1000 mL Schott flask. 5 grams of the test substance, i.e. any of the compositions according to the present invention and any of the comparative products with a specific biologically active ingredient, were added, and the flasks were shaken at 100 rotations per minute in a lab shaker (Innova 40, New Brunswick Scientific) at 39 C. After 6 hours, the flask content was filtered off carefully, washed with 50 mL of cold water and directly transferred to the second flask containing 250 mL concentrated hydrochloric acid with pH 2 and a small amount of pepsin. After 2 hours incubation time at 39 C., the product was again filtered off carefully, washed with 50 mL of ambient water and subsequently transferred to a third flask containing freshly prepared solution containing 14.4 mg tri(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane, 56.2 mg NaCl, 231 mg phosphatidylcholin, 60 mg Triton-X-100, 240 mg Na taurocholate, 300 mg CaCl.sub.22H.sub.2O and 120 mg pancreatin 8 USP lipase units/mg). After shaking for 24 hours, the product was filtered off, washed again with cold water and dried at 40 C. overnight. The residual product was weighted after each of the steps 1 and 3, and the weight loss was considered to be loss in biologically active ingredient (BAI). The calculation of the ruminal release fraction of the biologically active ingredient (BAI) was done with the following formula:

Ruminal BAI release fraction [%]=((initial amount of BAI [g]residual amount of BAI after the 1.sup.st step of the McDougall method [g])/(initial amount of BAI [g]))100%.

[0173] Example: initial amount of BAI=5.0 g [0174] residual amount of BAI=4.2 g

Ruminal BAI release fraction [%]=((5.0 g4.2 g)/(5.0 g))100%=16%

[0175] The rumen protected (RP) fraction of the biologically active ingredient (RP(BAI)) is obtained using the following formula:

RP(BAI) [%]=100%ruminal BAI release fraction [%]

[0176] Example: BAI release fraction [%]=16% [0177] RP(BAI) [%]=100%16%=84%

[0178] The term total digestible BAI fraction [%] is used to denote the percentage of the initial amount of BAI [g] that is subject to digestion in all steps of the McDougall method. It can be calculated with the following formula:

Total digestible BAI fraction [%]=((initial amount of BAI [g]residual amount of BAI after the 3.sup.rd step of McDougall method [g])/(initial amount of BAI [g]))100%.

[0179] Example: initial amount of BAI=5.0 g [0180] residual amount of BAI after 3.sup.rd step=0.5 g

Total digestible BAI fraction [%]=((5.0 g0.5 g)/(5.0 g))100%=90%

[0181] The total digestible BAI fraction [g/kg] can be calculated by using the equation:

Total digestible BAI fraction [g/kg]=total digestible BAI fraction [%]*weight fraction of BAI in product [g/kg].

[0182] The term metabolizable amount of the biologically active ingredient M(BAI) is used to denote the fraction of the biologically active ingredient in grams per kg that has been released from the tested composition in the abomasum and small intestine of the ruminant and thus can be utilized by the animal. Accordingly, the term metabolizable amount of the biologically active ingredient is the fraction of BAI that is available for metabolization and utilization by the animal. It can be calculated according to the formula:

M(BAI) [g/kg]=total digestible BAI fraction [g/kg](1000RP(BAI) [g/kg]) or

M(BAI) [g/kg]=total digestible BAI fraction [g/kg]ruminally relased BAI fraction [g/kg].

[0183] The total digestible BAI fraction [g/kg] is the difference of the initial amount of BAI [g/kg] and the residual amount of BAI after the 3.sup.rd step of the McDougall method [g/kg]. The RP(BAI [g/kg] is the residual amount of BAI [g/kg] after the 1.sup.st step of the McDougall method. The ruminally released BAI fraction [g/kg] is the amount of BAI released in the 1.sup.st step of the McDougall method.

[0184] The results are summarized in Table 3.

[0185] IV. Discussion:

[0186] The products of the examples L1 to L7, M1 to M10, G1 to G2, and MM1 to MM3 provided for better rumen protection BAI fractions as well as for better total digestible BAI fraction and higher metabolizable BAI fractions than the products of the comparative examples C-L1 to C-2, C-M1 to C-M4, C-G1 to C-G2, and C-MM1 to C-MM3.

TABLE-US-00005 Rumen Total Metab- Biologically pro- digestible olizable active tection BAI BAI Comp. ingredient (BAI) fraction fraction Test No. No. (BAI) [%] [%] [g/kg] T-C-L1 C-L1 lysine 96.6 2.8 13 T-C-L2 C-L2 lysine 95.6 7.3 35 T-L1 L1 lysine 76.0 84.0 318 T-L2 L2 lysine 86.0 87.0 372 T-L3 L3 lysine 78.0 98.0 380 T-L4 L4 lysine 81.5 91.1 396 T-L5 L5 lysine 68.7 95.1 372 T-L6 L6 lysine 71.0 88.0 322 T-L7 L7 lysine 58.0 91.0 281 T-C-M1 C-M1 methionine 98.7 5.1 33 T-C-M2 C-M2 methionine 96.0 6.8 43 T-C-M3 C-M3 methionine 99.0 32.0 208 T-C-M4 C-M4 methionine 57.0 91.0 341 T-M1 M1 methionine 84.0 91.0 503 T-M2 M2 methionine 76.0 97.0 485 T-M3 M3 methionine 90.4 34.5 220 T-M4 M4 methionine 92.4 89.6 584 T-M5 M5 methionine 81.9 97.5 563 T-M6 M6 methionine 75.2 84.6 478 T-M7 M7 methionine 38.4 94.4 290 T-M8 M8 methionine 22.0 87.0 162 T-M9 M9 methionine 15.0 93.0 125 T-M10 M10 methionine 98.9 63.0 410 T-C-G1 C-G1 GAA 96.6 35.4 223 T-C-G2 C-G2 GAA 84.1 69.9 409 T-G1 G1 GAA 82.0 83.0 475 T-G2 G2 GAA 87.0 92.0 559 T-C-MM1 C-MM1 met-met 95.7 35.4 219 T-C-MM2 C-MM2 met-met 77.1 62.3 332 T-C-MM3 C-MM3 met-met 69.1 61.8 315 T-MM1 MM1 met-met 86.0 89.0 529 T-MM2 MM2 met-met 68.3 85.6 431 T-MM3 MM3 met-met 83.0 94.0 575 Table 3: Summary of the results of the prepared products and the comparative products (GAA = guanidine acetic acid, met-met = methionyl methionine).