WO2007112822A1

WO2007112822A1 - Capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants

Info

Publication number: WO2007112822A1
Application number: PCT/EP2007/002089
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gerardo Caja Lopez; Juan Jose Ghirardi Quinodoz; Joan Francesc Vilaseca Vintro
Original assignee: Rumitag, S.L.
Priority date: 2006-04-06
Filing date: 2007-03-09
Publication date: 2007-10-11
Also published as: EP2001283A1; ES2311341A1; BRPI0710607A2; ES2311341B1

Abstract

Capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants, designed to be orally administered and retained in the second stomach of the animal, said capsule being constituted by a body preferably of ceramic material and provided with a cavity which contains a data exchange device, where the specific gravity of the capsule is between 3 and 4 and the volume of the capsule is between 5 and 7 ml, if the capsule should be administered to sheep, and between 15 and 25 ml if it applies to cattle. A capsule of this type can be administered at very early ages, even at the time of birth.

Description

D E S C R I P T I O N

"Capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants"

Technical field of the invention

The present invention relates to a capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants, designed to be orally administered and retained in the second stomach of the animal (reticulum), constituted by a body of non-porous material, provided with a cavity which contains a data exchange device, said material comprising a compound of a non-ferrous element resistant to the animals' gastric juices.

Background of the invention

Knowing the importance of the electronic identification of ruminant animals (sheep and cattle) with the purpose of guaranteeing their traceability from early ages until they are handled in the slaughterhouses, capsules have been developed, designed to be retained in the second stomach of said animals, which comprise a hollow body of an inert material, which must be resistant to the gastric juices present in the stomach, wherein an electronic data exchange device is housed, such as a transponder, wherein the data of interest of each one of the animals is recorded (identification number, activities, diseases, etc.).

These capsules, which should preferably be of a ceramic material to not create interference with the electromagnetic fields used for the reading of the electronic devices which they contain, have to be retained in the second stomach or reticulum of the ruminants, i.e. they should not be regurgitated or eliminated with the animal's faeces. Therefore, the most suitable physical parameters to ensure retentions over 98% have been studied for a long time.

For a long time it was considered that the most important parameter to ensure the retention was the specific gravity of the capsule. The specific gravity is defined as the relation existing between the weight of an object and the weight of its volume in distilled water.

Document WO 2005002329 discloses a capsule for the identification of ruminants in the form of a cylinder with rounded edges, constituted by a ceramic material which comprises a compound of a non-ferrous element with density equal to or greater than 4 g/cm³, with a specific gravity equal to or greater than 3 and with a weight and dimensions (length and diameter) that ensure the retention, whether administered in small or large-sized animals and at different ages thereof. In this document, the inventors demonstrated that, despite the fact that a specific gravity over 3 being essential to ensure the retention, the dimensions of the capsules also intervened in the prediction of the retention rates which should be expected, reaching situations of compromise between the weight of the capsule which avoids regurgitation (the greater the weight the less the regurgitation) and the dimensions thereof, especially lengths which ensure that the capsule does not pass through the reticulo-omasal orifice to follow the typical route of the faeces in the digestive apparatus (the greater the length the less the loss by defecation).

Nevertheless, to be able to administer a capsule to an animal as early as possible, although it is little probable after its birth, the dimensions of the capsules should be reduced to enable their oral administration. Nevertheless, the minimum weights which permit guaranteeing that the capsules cannot be regurgitated cannot be renounced, nor can other parameters that do not ensure retention when the animal becomes an adult, for example high dimensions which avoid the passage of the capsule from the second stomach to subsequent segments of the reticulo- omasal orifice. These conditions result in numerous occasions which are difficult to perform since although it is possible to achieve a high weight that avoids the regurgitation of the capsule, being of small dimensions to facilitate its swallowing, it encourages, in compensation, its elimination via the faeces.

Surprisingly, the inventors have determined that in addition to the capsule weight, its volume is also a critical physical parameter to ensure retention in the second stomach. With this, they have located a selective combination of physical parameters which enable producing capsules of reduced volumes, therefore applicable from the birth of the animal and which ensure a retention of around

100%, specifically 99.5%, which greatly exceeds the demands of the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR).

Explanation of the invention

As a result of the research of data from prior studies and the performance of experiments carried out to locate those parameters and ranges thereof to predict the retention of the capsules for the identification of ruminants, a capsule is presented which is constituted by a body of non-porous material, provided with a cavity which contains a data exchange device, which surprisingly has a high retention rate and also a volume which makes it applicable to animals of different size and ages within the same species.

Thus, an object of the present invention is a capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants, particularly for sheep, characterized in that the specific gravity of the capsule is between 3 and 4; the volume of the capsule is between 5 and 7 ml; and the weight of the capsule is between 20 and 25 grams.

Preferably, the capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants, particularly for sheep, is constituted by a body of ceramic material, the specific gravity of the capsule being equal to or greater than 3.8.

The capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants, particularly for sheep, is characterized in that the weight thereof is equal to or less than 23 grams.

Another object of the present invention is a capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants, particularly for cattle, also constituted by a body of a non- porous material which contains a data exchange device and designed to be orally administered and retained in the second stomach of the animal (reticulum), characterized in that the specific gravity of the capsule is between 3 and 4; the volume of the capsule is between 15 and 25 ml; and the weight of the capsule is between 65 and 80 grams.

According to another characteristic of the capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants, particularly of cattle, it is constituted by a body of ceramic material, the specific gravity of said capsule being equal to or greater than 3.8.

The capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants, particularly of cattle, is also characterized in that it has a weight that is equal to or less than 75 grams.

Detailed description of the drawings

Below, two examples are shown of capsules for the identification of ruminants, which have retention of at least 99.5% when they were applied to sheep and cattle respectively. Example 1 : Capsule for sheep.

Example 2: Capsules for cattle

To achieve the selection of parameters indicated in Example 1 , experiments were performed with more than twelve types of capsules in 1 ,477 sheep of different species and productive destination, to which were administered, among other capsules, a series of micro-capsules whose weight was between 5.2 and 28.5 g and where their specific gravity was between 2.16 and 3.91.

The retention values reached 100% for the capsules of greatest size, as was predictable, and the success of the retention conforms to a regression model taking into consideration as independent variants the weight of the capsule W and its volume V, the resulting expression being the following:

RR(%) = 100

0.504F - 0.163W

1 + 1.139 * e

Wherein W is the weight (g) and V is the volume (ml).

Isolating the expression parameters, for a retention over 99.5%, higher than the 98% retention recommended by the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR), the dimensions that satisfy the models attained for the sheep can be obtained from the equations:

W = 10.89 + 1.48 V SG = 10.89/V + 1.48

With this, and with the experiments performed, the combination of parameters object of the invention has been selected which give rise to capsules selected such as those shown in Example 1 , which reduce to a minimum the volume of the capsule even exceeding the minimum recommended retention levels of the capsules in the animals. It should be highlighted in this regard that diameter of the capsules can even be less than the diameter of the reticulo-omasal orifice in adult sheep, as indicated by the data of Example 1 , whose estimated diameter from a sample of the population of sheep used in the study was between 23.12 ± 0.11 mm and 21.83 ± 0.13 mm (in accordance with previously published studies, wherein the diameter is estimated at 24 mm), for which, reason the volume of the capsule, as overall variable, and not only the length thereof, is especially relevant in the retention of small-sized capsules in sheep.

Fig. 1 has represented the combinations of weight and volume which allow a retention over 99.5% (shaded area) according to the specific gravity of the capsules and in adult sheep. In accordance with the alloys recommended or capsules of ceramic material, which exclude ferrous materials, and thinking of their administration to young animals, optimum dimensions and weights can be selected for a capsule within an area of special interest (marked with a cloud of points), such as those of Example 1 , which means that its retention is still guaranteed even when the parameters recommended to date are not met. The capsules can also be constituted by other combinations of non-ferrous materials, such asplastics enriched with materials of greater density in variable proportions.

With respect to the selection of parameters which gives rise to the capsules shown in Example 2, experiments were performed with two series of different capsules administered to a total of 1 ,203 animals. The first series was administered to 576 animals and was formed by ten different types of capsules with the same external dimensions (21mm in diameter and 68 mm in length) but with different weight (from 11 to 75 g) and specific gravity (from 0.63 to 3.36). The second series was administered to 627 animals and was formed by three types of types of different prototype capsules and five commercially available capsules constituted by different ceramic materials with different exterior dimensions (from 15 to 21mm in diameter and from 39 to 78mm in length; between 20 and 73 g in weight; and from 3 to 3.387 in specific gravity).

The capsules were administered to cows of between 2 to 5 weeks old, to determine the anatomical limit for the swallowing of the capsules, whilst the size of the reticulo-omasal orifice was checked in the slaughterhouse for 90 males and 62 females.

Despite the fact that the success in the retention of the capsules is 100% in the first and second series of capsules for large capsule volumes, a significant difference in the retention success is observed in relation to the weight of the capsules, the retention being greater in the second series of capsules for similar weights (e.g. for 20 g: 5.3% for the first series and 69.7% for the second series), the negative affect of the capsule volume being reflected in its reflection in the second stomach or reticulum of the animals.

As in Example 1 , the success of the retention conformed to the same regression module taking into consideration the weight of the capsule W and its volume V, the resulting expression being the following:

RR(%) = ^⁰

, , _*„ 0.267^ - 0.160^ 1 + 1.427 * e

Wherein W is the weight (g) and V is the volume (ml).

Isolating the expression parameters, for a retention over 98%, the retention recommended by the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR), the dimensions that satisfy the models attained for the cattle can be obtained from the equations:

W = 27.14 + 1.513 V SG = 27.14/V + 1.513

From these expressions it is gathered that the retention ratios for the second series of capsules (between 69.7 and 100%), with a specific gravity of 3.1 to 3.6, that precisely the specific gravity is not the only factor to be taken into consideration to achieve the total retention success. Furthermore, when the specific gravity of the capsule is over 3, neither is the retention success is guaranteed as had been concluded in recent studies, without the capsule dimensions playing a relevant role in the retention of the capsule in the second stomach or reticulum of the animal.

Fig. 2 has represented the combinations of weight and volume which allow a retention over 99.5% (shaded area) according to the specific gravity of the capsules and for cattle. In accordance with the alloys recommended or capsules of ceramic material, which exclude ferrous materials, and thinking of their administration to young animals, optimum dimensions and weights can be selected for a capsule within an area of special interest (marked with a cloud of points), such as those of Example 2, which means that its retention is still guaranteed even when the parameters recommended to date are not met. The capsules can also be constituted by other combinations of non-ferrous materials, such as plastics enriched with materials of greater density in variable proportions.

The aforementioned combination of parameters enables, in sheep and cattle, respectively, selecting optimum combinations seeking the minimum volume threshold without renouncing the maximum efficacy with regard to their retention in the animal. This reduction in capsule volume permits, in addition to being able to administer said capsules to younger animals, saving material and, therefore, reducing the manufacturing costs of large series of capsules, which can ultimately affect the end user.

Claims

C L A I M S

1.- Capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants, particularly for sheep, designed to be orally administered and retained in the second stomach of the animal (reticulum), said capsule being constituted by a body of non-porous material provided with a cavity which contains a data exchange device, said non-porous material comprising a compound of a non-ferrous element resistant to the animals' gastric juices, characterized in that:

- the specific gravity of the capsule is between 3 and 4; - the volume of the capsule is between 5 and 7 ml; and

- the weight of the capsule is between 20 and 25 grams.

2.- Capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants according to claim 1 , characterized in that it is constituted by a body of ceramic material and in that the specific gravity of said capsule is equal to or greater than 3.8.

3.- Capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the weight thereof is equal to or less than 23 grams.

4.- Capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants, particularly for cattle, designed to be orally administered and retained in the second stomach of the animal (reticulum), said capsule being constituted by a body of non-porous material provided with a cavity which contains a data exchange device, said non-porous material comprising a compound of a non-ferrous element resistant to the animals' gastric juices, characterized in that:

- the specific gravity of the capsule is between 3 and 4;

- the volume of the capsule is between 15 and 25 ml; and

- the weight of the capsule is between 65 and 80 grams.

5.- Capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants according to claim 4, characterized in that it is constituted by a body of ceramic material and in that the specific gravity of said capsule is equal to or greater than 3.8.

6.- Capsule for the electronic identification of ruminants according to any one of preceding claims 4 to 5, characterized in that the weight thereof is equal to or less than 75 grams.