NO118344B - - Google Patents

Description

Animal feed.

The present invention relates to new premixes for achieving optimal growth in animals. More particularly, the invention relates to the incorporation of pre-additives which will promote a more efficient use of the nutrients in normal food.-

In accordance with the present invention, it has been found that certain amines provide useful effects when incorporated into animal feed... The amines supply the nitrogen necessary for animal nutrition. Although the present amines are useful for non-ruminants, e.g. in poultry and pig feed, they are particularly useful in f Sr for ruminants, such as sheep and cattle.

The additives used in the implementation of the present invention are a special class of aliphatic amino compounds, which, when added to the feed, produce beneficial effects in the rumen juice, including weight loss and pre-efficiency, and are represented by the following structural formula:

where x is an index from 2 to 20, and R is a divalent aliphatic hydrocarbon radical having from 2 to *+0 carbon atoms.

From Swedish Patent No. 1^-7. 288, it is known to incorporate aliphatic amines in animal feed, and where the animal feed also contains vitamin A. The Swedish patent is particularly aimed at a two-component additive consisting of specified primary aromatic amines with at least 8 carbon atoms together with vitamin A. Furthermore, from Danish patent no. 92,996 known to use a combination of an alcohol and a synthetic nitrogen compound. This nitrogen compound is essentially composed of urea or urea derivatives.

As can be seen from the above formula, the present invention relates to an animal feed, to which is added an amine of a special, more specifically specified type, and which is not previously known in this connection and which has quite special and surprising effects, as is evident from the following examples, among other things. In contrast to the above-mentioned patents, the described amines can also be advantageously used without additions of other substances, although this of course provides certain advantages in connection with added vitamins.

Representative aliphatic amines corresponding to the aforementioned groups that can be used in premixes according to the present invention include those as examples below, but are not limited to these:

The above-mentioned amines are useful additives for animal feed, and particularly ruminant feed over a large concentration range. Considerable reactions in the animals are observed at levels of incorporation of amines from approx. 0.0001% by weight of the sheep to approx. 0.1$. Preferred applications are usually from 0.0005% by weight of the feed to about 0.05 weight #.

A frequent component in grape ruminant feed is the cellulose filler component. The term "cellulose filler" is intended to indicate any food component that contains a significant amount of fiber, e.g. 5%. The fiber is basically cellulose which can also contain lignin, chemically bound to it. Typical fiber-containing feed components include hay, straw, cotton husks, cotton molt waste, beet pulp, silage forage, ground corn cobs, corn stalks, oats, barley, corn bran and grain waste. One or more of these cellulosic filler components are usually balanced in ruminant feed, and at least 2% by weight is usually included, but as much as 60% or more may be used. In some areas, however, cattle are fed with diets containing large amounts of barley and/or oats or mainly with these types of grain with a high fiber content.

Animal feed may contain natural oils, including animal fats, such as beef tallow, sheep tallow; fish oils including eel, herring, other herring species, mackerel sturgeon and salmon oil, as well as whale oil. The vegetable oils are usually of a higher unsaturated fatty acid content, e.g. soybean oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, safflower oil, corn oil, peanut oil, cottonseed oil, rice oil, millet oil, wheat germ oil and palm oil. Any of these can be included in the foret.

An optional component of animal feed is a non-toxic antioxidant. These substances tend to preserve the vitamins and the unsaturated acids by preventing the oxidation that normally occurs during the production, storage and use of animal feed. In premixes, the use of from 0.001 to 0.1% by weight of non-toxic antioxidant has been found to enable the stabilization of the unsaturated components, and to preserve the nutritional value of the feed. Preferred use involves the addition of from 0.005 to 0.05$ of the non-toxic agent.

Completely balanced for can contain, if desired, in addition to cellulose filler, natural oils and antioxidants other components, e.g. minerals such as bone meal, salt and the various trace minerals, including salts of zinc, copper, manganese, magnesium, cobalt, iodine and iron. Antibiotics, steroids, anthelmintics and other drugs can be used. Different vitamins, especially A, B and D complexes can be added to prevent deficiencies of these vitamins, which are due to the choice of the different components in the fSret. Style instructions are

another optional component. Other basic nutrients, e.g. protein, such as casein, soybean meal or other natural by-products, and synthetic chemicals, such as urea, can

used if desired or if necessary to satisfy the requirements for the complete lining.

A typical premix is as follows:

The value of the animal feed has usually been determined directly by feeding the animals. In the course of the last few years, the changes that occur in the forage caused by microorganisms are easily measured by in vitro rumen juice samples, and have been used with great accuracy for the assessment of forage. This technique involves the use of an apparatus in which the animal's digestion process is carried out and studied in vitro. ■ The animal feed, rumen juice inoculum and various growth-promoting substances are introduced into the apparatus and taken out from a laboratory unit under carefully controlled conditions, and the changes that take place are studied critically and progressively during the use of the feed by the microorganisms. The results obtained using the aforementioned transplanted rumen juice technique have been confirmed in vivo by actual animal feeding.

Various parameters have been used in the aforementioned in<y>itro test methods to determine the effectiveness of the active growth-promoting material. In the following examples, the parameters used in the evaluation of the aliphatic amine supplements are the change in the propionic acid content of the rumen juice. An increase in the propionic acid content of the rumen juice indicates that a desired result in the digestive effect has been produced by the amine supplements in the premixes. These in vitro observations have been determined by in vivo test methods, in which the rumen juice fluids are analyzed after the expiration of several days and by long-term in vivo feeding of ruminants for several months, in which weight loss and pre-efficiency are measured. The results of long-term in vivo feeding studies show a reliable correlation between propionic acid increases in the rumen fluid and improved animal development. •In the examples according to the present invention that follow below, the evaluations of the aliphatic amine-containing animal premixes are carried out by feeding the ruminants with a normal ration without aliphatic amine supplements (control animals), and conventional rations containing the various aliphatic amine supplements. In many of the examples, a modified in vivo process is used whereby the rumen fluids are analyzed after seven days of feeding. The rumen juice fluids are analyzed using a gas chromatographic method to determine the change in propionic acid content. The change in the propionic acid content is expressed as a percentage of the propionic acid content found in the rumen juice of the control animals, i.e. ruminants receiving the usual premix without the aliphatic amine supplements. In other examples, long-term in vivo feeding studies are used to show the connection between propionic acid in the rumen juice fluid and improved animal development.

In the following examples, in which all parts and percentages are given by weight, unless otherwise stated, further advantages of the invention are illustrated:

EXAMPLE 1

5 groups of sheep were fed with a common premix containing approx. 0.005$ of amine of the group represented by the formula

where R is a divalent aliphatic hydrocarbon and x is an index from 2 to 20. As a control, a further group received the same basic diet, but without amine addition. At the end of seven days of feeding, the rumen juice fluids were analyzed for propionic acid content by gas chromatography. Results and further details are given below in Table 1, where R denotes the number of carbon atoms in the divalent aliphatic hydrocarbon:

EXAMPLE 2

Three groups of sheep were given essentially the same basic ration as

in example 1 i & k days. The rations for two of the groups contained 0.0025$ and 0.005$, respectively, of the reductive polymerization product of dimer linoleylnitrile with a molecular weight of 8000, and the ration for the other group contained no aliphatic additive. The average daily weight loss and pre-efficiency observed for each level of application and for sheep fed the normal ration without the polymeramine are shown below in Table 2:

EXAMPLE 3

By substantially repeating the procedure according to example 2 using the same additives in ration feed for heifers, the following weight data were observed:

The premixes according to the present invention can be prepared by

to incorporate the aliphatic amine supplement in different ways into one or all components of normal diets for the type of animal in question. The amines can be added to the dietary rations as pure compounds as a stabilized concentrate, whereby the amine is covered with a protective material, such as gelatin or gelatin and sugar, as an adsorbate on silica gel, wheat flour, soybean oil flour, ion exchange resin, as a simple mixture with diluent which corn flour, and oil flour and stabilizers, or in solution in a vegetable oil, such as peanut oil, soya oil, sésniroljo etc., and preferably including a stabilizer. An oil solution can be sprayed on the basic ration. Optionally, the aliphatic amine supplements can be mixed with other pre-supplements, such as vitamins, antibiotics, minerals and other materials of this nature in a pre-supplement that is fed to grain mills or to pre-manufacturers who then incorporate them into the finished diet to be given to the animals to be used eix.— The mixing of such material can be carried out in apparatus of the type usual for the manufacture of dry precursors. For young animals, the aliphatic amines can be incorporated into liquid or semi-liquid feed, or mass in the form of a suspension or dispersion of the active material. An emulsion or dispersion in peanut oil, soya oil, etc. can be produced, and these are particularly suitable for liquid mixtures, including drinking water. The aliphatic amines

can be given alone to the animals, but it is more appropriate and effective to use the active material in animal premixes.

Claims (1)

Animal feed, characterized in that it consists of a common animal feed component and from 0.0001 to 0.1 weight$ of the total feed of an aliphatic amine with structural formula where x is a number from 2 to 20, and R is a divalent aliphatic hydrocarbon radical of 2 to ^0 carbon atoms.