A
minoMax Pro, which is produced locally by leading agricultural services, food
processing and grain commodities company AFGRI, is a worldwide break-through in
plant-based bypass protein feeds used for ruminants
such as cows, goats and sheep, improving milk and
wool production substantially and providing a health
benefit to the animals too.
“AminoMax Pro is a tool that helps farmers and animal
nutritionists to limit the amount of crude protein in
the diet of animals. This helps improve protein efficiency and also reduces the amount of nitrogen excreted,
thus protecting the environment from additional
greenhouse gas emissions,” says Dr Heinri Spangenberg, the Technical Director of AFGRI Animal Feeds.
Manufactured locally by AFGRI Animal Feeds and marketed as Aminomax HPC (High Protein Concentrate)
using a unique process which ensures product quality
and consistency, greatly reduces variability, and produces bypass protein-rich feeds. Aminomax Pro is Patented by Kansas State University in the US and manufactured, by AFGRITech, in Watertown New York State
for the USA market
Spangenberg explains that the uniqueness of ruminants lies in their multi-stomach system, which includes the rumen. “This is a large fermentation sac
containing billions of microorganisms, which break
down the plants consumed by the animal. Volatile fatty acids, the end product of this process, are then absorbed by the rumen as glycogenic and ketogenic nutrients. The microorganisms also degrade a certain
portion of the plant protein itself, which is called rumen degradable protein (RDP), into peptides, amino
acids and ammonia. These substances are then used
by the microorganisms to make microbial protein, a
source of protein in the lower intestine that can be metabolized by the animal – this is known as metabolizable protein. The portion that is not degraded is called
rumen undegradable protein or RUP. RUP is then
passed into the small intestine, where it can still be
converted into metabolizable protein.”
Metabolizable protein supply to the small intestine can
be improved by increasing either microbial protein production or the proportion of dietary protein that is
undegraded in the rumen, but potentially digestible in
the small intestine. Spangenberg says that manipulation of rumen fermentation to optimise microbial protein synthesis has been researched extensively because
it can be an inefficient process, with a loss of expensive
proteins and subsequent high methane and CO 2 production, known as greenhouse gasses.
“Knowing this, optimising rumen processes such as
microbial protein synthesis while restricting undesirable processes such as excessive rumen protein degradation and gas production, is critical, and has resulted in
various techniques being developed for protecting dietary proteins against excessive degradation by rumen
microbes.”
The latest of these is the one used by AFGRI Animal
Feeds for Aminomax Pro bypass protein products, a
highly-controlled process using a blend of specific enzymes, simple carbohydrates, and heat to produce an
extremely high-quality product. “This method increases
the RUP to nearly 80% for soybean meal for example,
while maintaining a high RUP and amino acid digestibility and doing so with superior consistency.”
When it comes to bypass protein sources, the old saying “you get what you pay for” holds true. “Cheap RUP