Agri Kultuur March/ Maart 2016 | Page 66

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