Antioxidants

Oxidation of feed fats causes rancidity spoiling the taste and flavor of the feeds thus a process known as lipid per-oxidation or autoxidation these rained fat containing diets impart undesirable off flavor in the milk and milk products.

Oxidation also causes much loss to carotenes; vitamin A and vitamin D.

The uses of antioxidants limit this oxidative spoilage.

Oxidation negatively affects odor, taste and nutritive value of the food, as well as

produces harmful by-products.

The addition of antioxidants map up the free radicals

Antioxidants may be natural and synthetic.

Natural ones are

1. Vitamin E (tocopherol)

2. Ascorbic acid.

The most common synthetic antioxidants are

1. Ethoxyquin, butyrate

2. Hydroxyanisole (BHA)

3. Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT).

BHT and BHA tend to be more effective in preventing oxidation of animal fats

than of vegetable oils

Ethoxyguin is most effective in protecting both animal fats and vegetable oils.

Mycotoxin binders:

These chemicals are harmful to animals and humans. The major mycotoxin producing fungi are

Aspergillums,

Fusarium

Penicillium

The major toxins are aflatoxins,

Zearalenone,.

Trichothecenes,

Fumonisins,

Ochratoxin A, etc.

Mycotoxin binding agents include

Activated charcoal,

Yeast cell wall products,

Synthetic zeolites

Mined mineral days such as alumino-silicates, sodium betonies.

Anti-caking agents:

These are substances that can pick up moisture without themselves becoming wet.

They are added to dry mixes to prevent the particles clumping together and so hup the product free flowing.

Anti-caking agents include:

Calcium star-ate,

Calcium phosphate

Ferrous ammonium citrate,

Yellow prussiate of soda,

Potassium or sodium ferrocyanide,

Magnesium oxide,

Kaolin,

Ball clay,

Sodium aluminum silicates,

Hydrated sodium calcium allumino-silicate (HSCAS),

Calcium aluminum silicate, etc.

Flavoring Agents

Flavors are used to improve palatability and thus food appeal. Palatability and FCR are interdependent. Flavors include species and sweetness. Taste and odor are important properties of a food or feed by which they are recognized and enjoyed. The four basic taste qualities are salt, sour, sweet and bitter.Commercial flavoring agents only try to influence sweetness. Flavoring compounds are nonvolatile water soluble substances which have little or no taste of their own, but modify or potentiate the flavor of a product, e.g.

Esters, Alcohols, Terpenes, etc.

Flavor in Poultry Feed

Chicken possess a sense of taste but a very limited ability to small. Yet poultry accept or reject feed according to their preference. Flavors help to improve sedimentary taste perceptions, aid in sedimentary salivary secretions, help to regulate water intake and help to overcome stress.

Hence flavors increase feed intake, improve feed efficiency and reduce mortality , e.g. monosodium glutamate (MSG) at 0.2%. Meat, cheese, mint, anion and garlic flavors are used in feeds for pets at less than 0.1%. Yeast products are also used at 0.25% in combination with MSG for the improvement of dry dog food. Capsicum, red pepper, MSG, fennel, fenugreek seed, and ginger are examples of spice and seasoning.

Pigments

Yolk color is improved by the addition of either dried alfalfa leaf meal at 2 to 3%, if yellow maize is not the part of the ration or synthetic carotenoid pigments.

Most yellow and red pigments synthesized in vegetable materials are a closely related group of chemical compounds known as carotenoids.

Green leafy materials are excellent sources of xanthophylls.

Alfalfa carotenoids produce yellow pigmentation of the skin and fat of chickens also.

Under normal feeding conditions, 70% of the yellow color of egg yolk is due to xanthophylls, and most of the reminder is due to zeaxanthin.

The biological availability of xanthophylls from various feed sources is variable i.e.

Corn gluten meal 47 to 89%,

Dehyhated alfalfa 37 to 65%.

Xanthophylls are not stable compounds and can be lost from poultry feeds by oxidation which can be protected by adding antioxidants.

Pellet binders

Lignin is the most widely used feed binder in the world today.

Advantages being improved pellet quality, greater pelleting efficiency, improved press capacity and die life, lower power consumption, lower production costs, less feed rejections Less dust in the mill.

Sodium benonite can be used @ 2.5%.

The other binders are

Molasses 5-10%,

Calcium aluminates 0.6-1%

Gnar meal 2.5-5%.

Buffers

Feeding high grain diets to meat the energy requirements of high yielding i.e. over 35 kg milk/h/d, cow’s leads to changes in rumen pH and rumen fermentation pattern.

Buffers are used to correct these changes.

Sodium bicarbonate @200g/cow/d or 1.5% of grain ration, as well as other buffers like

Magnesium oxide, Calcium carbonate, Sodium bentonite can be used.

Salt level under these conditions may be reduced to half normal.

Magnesium oxide plays a major role in the synthesis of milk fat.

Dietary requirement is = 0.23% of DM intake.

Sodium bentonite prevents milk fat depression when fed @5% of the grain ration.

However, bentonite reduces availability of other minerals in the rumen and also increases rate of passage.

Sodium bicarbonate for poultry

It is being used to improve weight gain, FCR, live ability and processing yields under stressful conditions.

For broilers used @ 1.8-2.7 kg/ton continuously.

For layers @ 1 to 1.8 kg/ton.

In layers it improves shell quality and better litter conditions. During heat stress the dose is 3.6 to 4.5 kg/ton. Part of sodium bicarbonate can be given via water.

Emulsifiers

A substance which aids in the formation of a stable mixture of two otherwise immiscible substances (e.g. fat and water) is called an emulsifier.

It should have one group with and affinity for water and another with an affinity for fat

e.g. Lecithin, Glycosides esterifies with acetic acid, lactic acid, citric acid, Glycerol monostearate, Propylene glycol monostearate.

Methane Inhibitors

Methane production could be inhibited by fatty acids, particularly unsaturated FAs.Other methane inhibitors are

Chloroform, Carbon tetrachloride, Chloral hydrate, Sulphites and nitrites, etc

Defaunating agents

Copper sulphate, Sodium lauryl diethoxy sulphate, Sodium lauryl sulphate, Oil rich in pufas Dioctyl sodium sulpho-succinate

Keratosis controlling agents

Sodium propionate, propylene glycol

Black controlling compounds

Poloxalene (blast gnard) @10-20g/day

Microbial growth factors

Niacin, Thiamin, Branched chain fatty acids (isobutyric acid, 2-methyl butyric acid, and

isovaleric acid)

Straight chain fatty acids (n-valeric acid).

Sweetening agent

Molasses, dextrin, Sugar

Tranquilizers

Hydrozyzine hydrochloride- 1-2 mgs/d, Reserpine- 5-10 gm/d mi

Preservatives:The aim of preservatives is to prevent microbial spoilage. e.g.

Nisin, Benzoic acid, Methyl-4-hydroxybenzoate, Cthyl-4-nitrate, Prop-ionic acid, Sorbic acid Sulphur dioxide.

Antifungal agents:

Sodium propionate, Sodium benzoate, Nystatin, etc