METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE PRODUCTION OF NON-RUMINANT ANIMAL FEED

Abstract

A method for the production of non-ruminant animal feed from plants and/or plant parts of the family of Poaceae includes the steps of: harvesting plants and/or plant parts; extracting protein and fructan from said plants and/or plant parts; separating protein for feeding non-ruminant animals; and separating fructan for feeding non-ruminant animals. The fructan stimulates bacterial growth and protein production in the large intestine of the non-ruminant animals and reduces the concentration of amino acid catabolites in the large intestine.

Claims

1. A method for the production of non-ruminant animal feed from plants and/or plant parts, the method comprises the steps of harvesting plants and/or plant parts; extracting a mixture of protein and fructan from said plants and/or plant parts: separating protein from said mixture for feeding non-ruminant animals; and/or separating fructan from said mixture for feeding non-ruminant animals, wherein more than 20 wt. % of the dry solid content of the plants and/or plant parts is extracted as protein and/or fructan, wherein the fructan stimulates bacterial growth and protein production in the large intestine of said non-ruminant animals and reduces the concentration of amino acid catabolites in the large intestine.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plants and/or plant parts are of the family of Poaceae.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the fructan comprises fructooligosaccharides (FOS).

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plants are from agricultural grass lands.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein more than 25 wt. % of the dry solid content of the plants and/or plant parts is extracted as protein and fructan.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of feeding animals with a feed combination of the separated fructan and/or protein.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the feed combination further comprises protein from other sources.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein a part of the separated fructan is treated to produce nutrition supplements for humans.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the non-ruminant animals are selected from the group consisting of poultry, pigs, fish, dogs, and cats.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extraction step is performed within a time period of 12 hours from the harvesting step.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extraction step is performed at or close to a harvesting location.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extraction step is performed at or close to a feeding location of said non-ruminant animals.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the extracting step is performed with a mobile extraction system without the need to concentrate minerals and other components required for soil fertility, before returning these components to the harvesting location.

14. An animal feed for non-ruminant animals, wherein the animal feed is comprised of fructan obtained from plants and/or plant parts of the family of Poaceae and wherein the fructan stimulates bacterial growth and protein production in the large intestine of said non-ruminant animals and reduces the concentration of amino acid catabolites in the large intestine.

15. The animal feed according to claim 14, wherein the animal feed is obtained according to a method comprising the steps of: harvesting plants and/or plant parts; extracting a mixture of protein and fructan from said plants and/or plant parts: separating protein from said mixture for feeding non-ruminant animals; and/or separating fructan from said mixture for feeding non-ruminant animals, wherein more than 20 wt. % of the dry solid content of the plants and/or plant parts is extracted as protein and/or fructan, wherein the fructan stimulates bacterial growth and protein production in the large intestine of said non-ruminant animals and reduces the concentration of amino acid catabolites in the large intestine.

16. The animal feed according to claim 14, wherein the animal feed is dried in order to store said feed for at least one month.

17. An extraction device for extracting protein and fructan from plants, the system configured for performing the method according to claim 1.

18. A mobile extraction system comprising an extracting device according to claim 17.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plants and/or plant parts are of the family of Poaceae, wherein the fructan comprises fructooligosaccharides (FOS), and wherein the extraction step is performed at or close to a harvesting location.

20. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of feeding animals with a feed combination of the separated fructan and/or protein, wherein the plants and/or plant parts are of the family of Poaceae, wherein the fructan comprises fructooligosaccharides (FOS), wherein the extraction step is performed at or close to a harvesting location, and wherein the animal feed is comprised of fructan obtained from plants and/or plant parts of the family of Poaceae and wherein the fructan stimulates bacterial growth and protein production in the large intestine of said non-ruminant animals and reduces the concentration of amino acid catabolites in the large intestine.

Description

[0041] Further advantages, features and details of the present invention are elucidated on the basis of preferred embodiments thereof, wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings, and examples in which:

[0042] FIG. 1 schematically shows a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention; and

[0043] FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a mobile extracting system of the invention.

[0044] Extraction method 2 (FIG. 1) starts with harvesting step 4. Harvesting step 4 provides harvested plant material 6 to extraction step 8.

[0045] In extraction step 8 protein and/or fructan is extracted from the plants. The separated protein and/or fructan 10 is provided to preparation step 12.

[0046] In preparation step 12 fructan and protein is combined in the desired amounts to produce animal feed 14. In feeding step 16 feed 14 is preferably provided to non-ruminant animals such as pig and poultry.

[0047] Optionally, a fraction 18 of the separated FOS is provided to treatment step 20 that treats the FOS and produces a further product 22, for example a nutrition supplement for humans. Also optionally, in preparation step 12 an additional amount of protein 24 from a further protein source is added to the separated protein and/or fructan 10 from extraction step 8.

[0048] Mobile system 26 (FIG. 2) comprises trailer 28. Harvested material is provided to trailer 28 with the aid of lift 30. In the illustrated embodiment lift 30 is also capable of measuring the weight of the harvested material. In trailer 28 the supplied harvested material enters supply system 32 as part of pretreatment subsystem to process the harvested leaf material 34 to open the plant cells/cell walls. Pretreatment subsystem 34 further comprises washing basin 36. Acidification tank 38 is part of extraction subsystem 40 that extracts and separates protein and fructan.

[0049] Precipitation tank 54a in subsystem 50 is used for the coagulation of phosphates using Ca(OH).sub.2. Tank 54b serves as a buffer for the deproteinized and conserved juice.

[0050] Subsystem 40 comprises filter 42, steam injector 48 and protein drier 44. Freshly pressed juice is heated using steam injector 48 and then the heat-coagulated protein is filtered off in filter 42. The dewatered protein is led to the protein drier 44 which uses heat from the cooling system of the generator to further dry the protein concentrate to 85% dry matter. Subsystem 40 further comprises a buffer tank 46 and additive tank 48.

[0051] It will be understood that trailer 28 is further provided with airlets and outlets and generator and fuel tank or other energy source.

[0052] Mobile system 26 can be transported to a desired harvesting location. This enables a relatively fast treatment of the harvested material. This also enables returning minerals from the process to the harvesting location.

[0053] In an experiment grass leaves (10 kg) were macerated and pressed to obtain a green juice having approximately 8% w/w solids. The temperature during the maceration and pressing did not exceed 35 C. Sodium bisulphite (0.5% w/w) was added to the juice. Then, the green juice was heated to 80 C. using steam injection. The coagulated proteins were filtered off and dried at a temperature of 70 C. After drying, 320 grams of protein concentrate was obtained. The protein concentration was 45% w/w. The dry proteins were used as the protein component in chicken feed.

[0054] The filtrate was treated with 3 g/l Ca(OH).sub.2. The resulting precipitation was allowed to settle, and the supernatant was removed. About 4% of the fluid volume was precipitation. The phosphate concentration in the supernatant was reduced by 90%. The solids were used as a fertilizer.

[0055] The supernatant was concentrated using a cascade of ultra- and nanofiltration. The ultrafiltration membrane used in this experiment was a Pentair/X-flow F4385 and the nanofiltration membrane was a Trisep XN-45. The combined retentates of ultrafiltration and nano filtration has a dry weight concentration of 15% w/w. A concentrate having 15% w/w solids consisting of fructose, glucose and FOS. Depending on the moment of cutting and the grass cultivar, the polyfructose content is about 35% w/w of the total carbohydrate content. The permeate after nanofiltration mainly comprises amino acids and minerals and has a dry matter content of 2% w/w and was used as a liquid fertilizer.

[0056] Grass juice was used as a component in a liquid feed formula for pigs. Because of the polyfructose ingestion, the pigs showed a better health and a lower pig mortality was observed (30% reduction). Therefore, this experiment showed advantageous effects of the method according to the present invention.

[0057] Cooling is not necessary for precipitation. However, performing a cooling step may contribute in the preservation of the proteins.

[0058] Furthermore, experiments showed that the method for the production of non-ruminant animal feed from plants and/or plant parts obviates the need for the use of hazardous additives and/or obviates the need for the use of large amounts of additives which are hard to recover.

[0059] The present invention will be further detailed in the following examples wherein:

EXAMPLE 1

[0060] 4 tonnes of fresh, late season grass harvested not longer than 4 hours before processing was weighted, washed and grinded to open the grass leaf cells. In this process, the temperature of the grass did not exceed 35 C. The pulp was pressed and the fibrous material was discarded. The resulting juice was heated to 85 C. by steam injection in order to deactivate the enzymes and coagulate the proteins present in the juice. The feed composition of the resulting juice was analysed to contain 20 g/l protein and 25 g/carbohydrates of which 35% w/w fructose oligo saccharides (FOS). The weight average degree of polymerisation of the FOS was determined to be around 15 by HPAEC (high performance anionic exchange chromatography).

EXAMPLE 2

[0061] 5000 piglets were fed with liquid feed during 35 days (Table 1). Half of the piglets were fed using feed in which all of the soy protein was substituted by grass juice. This grass juice was isolated as described in Example 1. The protein content of both feeds was 17% w/w.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Initial Final body Damaged Number Body Feed weight tail (after of days weight (kg) conversion (kg) 35 days), % Control feed 35 5.9 2.71 19.8 8.2% Feed with 35 6.0 2.73 20.0 3.3% grass juice

[0062] The group being fed on the grass juice mix showed a better health, especially regarding the amount of diarrhoea and healthy, uninfected tails. The following feed compositions were used:

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Grass mixture Grass-juice mixture DS % Total, kg Premix barley/wheat 34.78 169.1 DA-meal 14.00 63.57 grass-juice 6.00 74.17 visprovet 33.00 13.08 water 0.00 37.91 TWM speen 13% Van Gorp 96.30 13.00

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Soy mixture Standard mixture DS % Total, kg Pre mix barley/wheat 34.78 114.51 DA-meal 13.00 54.46 visprovet 45.00 9.67 water 0.00 148.39 barley grinded 87.10 13.31 TWM speen 12% Van Gorp 94.82 12.00 wheat grinded 86.80 11.36 Soya 49/3 grintled 87.30 5.05

[0063] The examples show an effective production of non-ruminant animal feed from plants and/or plant parts, preferably of the family of Poaceae, to produce animal feed for non-ruminant animals. More specifically, the examples show that more than 20 wt. % of the dry solid content of the plants and/or plant parts is extracted as protein and/or fructan, wherein the fructan stimulates bacterial growth and protein production in the large intestine of said non-ruminant animals and reduces the concentration of amino acid catabolites in the large intestine.

[0064] The present invention is by no means limited to the above described preferred embodiment thereof. The rights sought are defined by the following claims within the scope of which many modifications can be envisaged.