Animal feed compositions
The present invention relates to uses of at least one carbohydrase in combination with an animal feed with a defined A/X fiber fraction, to an animal feed with a defined A/X fiber fraction and comprising at least one carbohydrase in an amount determined suitable to the A/X fiber fraction of the feed and methods of making thereof.
1 . A method of composing an animal feed comprising corn and at least one carbohydrase and has an A/X ((mass of arabinoxylans)/(mass of xylose)) corn ratio greater than 0.70, greater than 0.705, greater than 0.71, greater than 0.715, greater than 0.72, greater than 0.725, greater than 0.73, greater than 0.735, greater than 0.74, greater than 0.745, greater than 0.75, greater than 0.76, greater than 0.77, greater than 0.78, greater than 0.79, or greater than 0.80, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
A) subjecting a sample of animal feed to:
A1) near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to obtain an NIR spectrum;
A2) matching the absorption intensities at the respective wavelengths or wavenumbers in the NIR spectrum obtained in A1) with a calibration graph or equation;
A3) a quantitative analysis of the arabinoxylans and xylose in the sample; and
A4) a determination of the A/X corn ratio in the sample of animal feed;
B) quantitative evaluation of the BWcFCR factor using Equation 2:
Effect of Carbohydrase on BWcFCR vs NC(Body Weight corrected Feed Conversion Ratio versus NC(negative control))=6.127216113+0.1347057461*Carbohydrase dose-15.9027776*A/X corn ratio−0.189932808*Carbohydrase dose*A/X corn ratio+10.264604897*(A/X corn ratio) 2 , wherein
Carbohydrase dose is mg of carbohydrase/kg animal feed, and wherein Effect of Carbohydrase on BWcFCR vs NC is the calculated FCR (feed conversion ratio) when animals are fed a diet with addition of carbohydrase compared to animals fed the same diet without addition of carbohydrase, and
C) adding an amount of at least one carbohydrase to the animal feed in the amount determined to achieve a lower BWcFCR using Equation 2.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step A2) further comprises the step of generating a calibration graph or equation by following the steps of:
A-i) subjecting a sample of an animal feed as in step A) of claim 1 to near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy;
A-ii) matching the absorption intensities at the respective wavelengths or wavenumbers in the NIR spectrum obtained in step A-i) with the corresponding parameters and their values determined in claim 1 wherein the sample is subjected to
a1) a quantitative analysis of the A/X corn ratio in the sample and
a2) a determination of the A/X corn ratio in the total amount of the animal feed; and,
A-iii) plotting the matching of step A-ii) as a calibration graph and/or expressing the parameters determined in steps al) and a2) in a calibration equation as a function of the absorption intensities at the respective wavelengths or wavenumbers matched in step A-ii).