WO2001056401A2

WO2001056401A2 - Process for improving the condition of young poultry

Info

Publication number: WO2001056401A2
Application number: PCT/EP2001/001785
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pierre-André GEREART
Original assignee: Aventis Animal Nutrition S.A.
Priority date: 2000-02-07
Filing date: 2001-02-05
Publication date: 2001-08-09
Also published as: WO2001058277A1; WO2001056401A3; AR027369A1; AU2001235483A1

Abstract

A process for improving the condition of poultry which proces s comprises making available to the poultry for consumption within twelve days from hatching a feed formulation enriched in soyabean fractions and a feed formulation suitable for administration to poultry up to twelve days from hatching said feed enriched in soyabean fractions.

Description

PROCESS FOR IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF YOUNG POULTRY

The present invention relates to a process for improving the condition of young poultry by making available to the young poultry a feed formulation which is concentrated in protein and also to a nutrient feed formulation for young poultry.

It is important to supply the nutritional requirements to hatchling poultry from the time of hatching. The nutritional requirements will, of course, change as the young chick grows. In general, four feeding programmes are used to feed growing chick which involve different nutritional feed formulations over a period of six to seven weeks from hatching. Typically, an initial feed is gi\ en to the chicks in the first two weeks which is a starter feed comprising carb, hydrates, proteins and fats. This feed will be changed each two weeks to meet the changing nutritional requirements.

Chicks in the first week of life are often presented with unusual stress at a time when their digestive and immune system are not fully developed. The risk of death and health problems are high during this early period.

[n general a feed composition will comprise water, protein, digestible carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. US Patent No 5.976,580 discloses a feed composition comprising the aforementioned components. In particular, this patent claims a method of enhancing the health, livability, cumulative weight gain or feed conversion efficiency of poultry by providing to the poultry, a composition referred to as a high moisture material which comprises an additive, at least 20% by weight water, at least 8 % by weight digestible carbohydrates and at least 7 % by weight of an amino acid source based upon the weight of the high moisture material. The preferred material comprises typically 12% by weight protein based on the high moisture material.

We have now found that when the standard feed formulation, given to the young chick, is supplemented with a soyabean fraction and the formulation is given to the chicks within twelve days from hatching, the condition of the chick is markedly improved.

Thus, according to the present invention there is provided a process for improving the condition of poultry which process comprises making available to the poultry, for consumption within twelve days from hatching, a feed formulation enriched in soyabean fractions.

The present invention provides a nutrient feed for young poultry which not only satisfies the nutritional requirements but surprisingly shows improvement in the growth of the chick and results in surprising developments in the feeding behaviour of the chicks. Furthermore, the chicks appear to like the feed of the present invention although surprisingly they appear to need less of the feed to show an increase in growth and weight gain and reach weights higher than untreated chicks or chicks fed on alternative protein rich feeds For the purposes of the present invention the condition of the poultry is defined as livability, weight gain and feed efficiency.

The feed formulation is provided to the poultry for consumption within twelve days from hatching. Preferably, the feed is provided to the young poultry within seven days, most preferably within five days and especially within three days of hatching.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a feed composition suitable for administration to poultry up to twelve days from hatching, said composition enriched in soyabean fractions.

The feed formulation is enriched in the specific protein soyabean fractions, typically soyabean isolate. For the purposes of the present invention enriched is defined as up to 30% by weight of total feed, for example from 0.1 to

30%, preferably from 1 to 20%, especially from 5 to 15% by weight of the total feed.

The soyabean fractions may be introduced into the feed in any suitable form. It is preferred that the feed be introduced in the powder form. It has been found that when the powder soyabean fractions has been obtained from the soluble extract, superior results are obtained. The soluble extract may be prepared by dissolving the soyabean fractions in water, freeze drying the aqueous solution to obtain the powder and introducing this powder to the feed. The soluble extract may be added to the chicken feed in an amount that will provide an equivalent soyabean fractions concentration as indicated above.

The feed formulation may be any standard feed used to feed poultry which typically comprises a digestible carbohydrate, a source of fat, a source of amino acid, vitamins and minerals The carbohydrate may be a cereal or a cereal by-product such as corn, wheat, barley or a mixture thereof or their by-products such as corn gluten meal or wheat by-products. The carbohydrate is the main component in the feed formulation and is suitably present in an amount of up to 80% by weight, preferably up to 60% by weight, especially up to 50% by weight.

Suitable sources of amino acids are essential amino acids such as methionine, tryptophan, threonine, arginine, and lysine. Alternatively, the amino acid source may be selected from non-essential amino acids such as glutamic acid.

Preferably, the amino acid source is methionine or its analogues. The source of amino acid may be present in an amount of up to 1% by weight of the feed.

Suitable vitamins may include vitamin A, B12, biotin, cholinc. folacin, niacin, pantotbenic acid, pyridoxine, riboflavin, thiamin. CD. 25-hydroxy D, E and K. Suitable minerals include selenium, chlorine, magnesium, potassium, sodium, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, and chromium. Suitably, the vitamin and mineral may be present in an amount of up to 5% by weight of the feed.

The source of fat may be of animal or vegetable origin. Suitable sources of fat of animal origin include egg yolk, lard, butter, poultry fat, tallow and fish oil. Suitable sources of fat of vegetable origin include linoleic acid; isolated plant oil such as sunflower, soybean, peanut, canola, rapeseed, olive, linseed and palmkernal. Preferably, the source of fat is of vegetable origin and is suitably present in an amount up to 5% by weight of the feed.

The feed formulation is typically a "dry" feed comprising a small amount of water, for example 5 to 15% water.

In addition to the main constituents, the feed formulation may also comprises minor amounts of additional constituents such as an antioxidant, a source of calcium and phosphorus.

Suitable antioxidants include ethoxyquin, tocopherol, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), vitamin C or glutathione. Suitable compounds for the supply of calcium include calcium carbonate, mono- or di-calcium phosphate. The calcium and phosphorus compound are suitably present in an amount of up to 5%.

The feed formulation may also comprise a small amount of salt as well as additional minor components such as anticoccidial drugs and growth promoters. The feed formulation may be prepared by mixing the dry ingredients and forming the mixed ingredients into any suitable form, for example, the feed may be in the form of pellets, crumbles or mash.

The chicks have free access to the feed composition at all times during the twelve days and in general, at least 400g, preferably at least 300g, especially at least 200g of the feed is provided to a chick during this period.

The present invention will now be illustrated with reference to the following examples where

Example 1 compares the feed formulation of the present invention with a standard feed and a feed enriched in gluten protein (comparative protein).

Example 2 compares the feed formulation of the present invention with a standard feed and a feed enriched in lysine (comparative protein).

Example 3 compares various characteristics of the chicks fed on the standard feed and the feed formulation of the present invention. Example 4 shows effect of nature of soyabean fractions in feed

Example 5 compares the feed formulation of the present invention containing soluble extract soyabean isolate at various concentrations.

The following definitions arc used in the Examples: t = time from hatching in days Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR): amount of feed (g) to provide 1 kg of weight gain.

Example 1

Three feed compositions were prepared as detailed in Table 1 wherein: Feed 1 : Standard feed with no additional protein (Comparative

Example).

Feed 2: Comparative feed with added gluten protein (Comparative Example).

Feed 3: Feed according to the present invention with added soyabean isolate.

A first group of 480 received ad libitum Feed 1 , half up to 5 days and half up to 12 days of age. The chicks were then fed the standard grower diet and finisher diet up to 41 days. A second group of 480 chicks received ad libitum

Feed 2, half up to 5 days and half up to 12 days of age, followed by the same grower and finisher diet over the same period. A third group of 480 chicks received ad libitum Feed 3, half up to 5 days and half up to 12 days of age. They were then fed the standard grower diet and finisher diet up to 41 days.

The increase in body weight, the consumption rate and the feed conversion rate, over the 41 days period were monitored. The results are given in Tables 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and summarised in Table 1.4.

Table 1.1: Body Weight (g per chick)

w

00

63 H υ

©

00

Table 1.4 Summary of Results α.

H υ 0-

n

10

It can be seen from the results given in Tables 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 that the chicks fed on the feed containing the soyabean fractions have an increased weight gain up to 41 days of age. In particular, at an early stage (1-5 days), the chicks have an increased weight gain of 24% and a better feed conversion.

Example 2

Three feed compositions were prepared as detailed in Table 2,1 wherein:

Feed 1 : Standard feed with no additional protein (Comparative Example).

Feed 2: Comparative feed with added lysine (Comparative Example).

Feed 3: Feed according to the present invention with added soyabean isolate.

Table 2.1 : Composition of Feed

Feeds 1 , 2 and 3 were fed to three groups of 64 poultry respectively over a period of 10 days from hatching 11

The increase in body weight, the consumption rate and the feed conversion rate over the 10 days period were monitored. The results are given in Table 2.2 and summarised in Figure 1

It can be from the results that the chicks fed on the diet supplemented with soyabean fractions show an increase in weight gain but require less of the specific feed to achieve this result.

Example 3: Behavoural Aspects

The effect of the feed containing soyabean fractions was studied (a) Amount of Time Spent Eating

Feed 1 : Standard feed with no additional protein as detailed in Table 1 (Comparative Example).

Feed 2: Feed according to the present invention with added soyabean isolate as detailed in Table 1.

The amount of time spent eating the feed was monitored for two sets of chicks comprising 48 chicks (16 cages of three chicks per cage) over a three days period. Time budget was obtained by scanning. The percentage time spent eating is given in Table 3 12

Table 3

The results show that the chicks fed on the feed of the present invention spend less time at the feeder.

(b) Eating Behaviour

Feed 2: Feed according to the present invention with added soyabean isolate as detailed in Table 1

Two groups of 16 chicks were observed by focal sampling on the sixth day from hatching. The results are given in Table 4

It can be seen that the chicks fed on the diet of the present invention spend less time eating and require fewer visits to the feeder suggesting that they are more satisfied with the feed enriched with the sovabean isolate.

(c)Behaviour of Chickens

Feed 1 : Standard feed with no additional protein as detailed in Table 1 (Comparative Example). Feed 2:

Feed 2: According to the present invention with added soyabean isolate as detailed in Table 1. The average behaviour of two groups of 16 chicks was observed by focal sampling during three hours each day during the first three days from hatching. The results, expressed in minutes, spent on the activity are given in Table 5

Example 4: Effect of Soluble and Insoluble Soyabean Fractions in Feed

Feed 1 : Standard feed with no additional protein as detailed in Table 1 (Comparative Example). Feed 2 and 3: Feeds according to the present invention as detailed in

Table 1 with added soyabean isolate in the soluble extract form (S) and the insoluble extract form (1).

The extracts were prepared by dissolving the soyabean isolate in distilled water and centrifuging the solution. The solid layer obtained was freeze dried to provide the insoluble extract. The supernatant was also freeze dried to obtain a powder which was the soluble extract. These two powders were then added to the standard feed at levels equivalent to those obtained with the soyabean isolate and provided to 8 groups of two chicks over two days. The effects were monitored on day 1 and day 2 and the results on weight gain and feed conversion are given are in Table 6. 14

Table 6

It can be seen from these results that the soluble extract shows a superior effect.

Example 5: Effect of Concentration of Soluble Extract Form of Soyabean Fractions

Feeds 2 to 6: Feed according to the present invention as detailed in Table 1 with added soyabean isolate in the soluble extract form, prepared as detailed in Example 5, at concentrations equivalent to 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30% respectively.

The feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion were monitored over three days. The results are given in Table 7.

Table 7

In summary, the results from the examples show that chicks fed with the diet enriched in soyabean fractions require less of the feed, spend less time at the feeder, appear to be more relaxed in that they rest and sleep more and overall show a greater increase in weight than the chicks fed on the comparative feeds.

Claims

I . A process for the improving the condition of poultry which process comprises making available to the poultry for consumption within twelve days from hatching, a feed formulation enriched in soyabean fractions.

2 A process as claimed in claim 1 in which the feed is made available for consumption within seven days of hatching.

3. A process as claimed in claim 2 in which the feed is made available for consumption within three days of hatching.

4. A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the soyabean fractions is present in an amount of from 0.1 to 30%> by weight of the total feed.

5. A process as claimed in claim 4 in which the soyabean fractions is present in an amount 5 to 15 % by weight of the total feed.

6. A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the soyabean fractions is added as the soluble extract.

7. A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the soyabean fractions is soyabean isolate.

8. A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the feed comprises a digestible carbohydrate.

9 A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the feed comprises a source of fat.

10. A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the feed comprises a source of amino acid.

I I . A process as claimed in any one f the preceding claims in which the feed comprises vitamins and minerals.

12. A feed formulation suitable for administration to poultry within twelve days from hatching, said feed enriched in soyabean fractions.