Nutreco (Netherlands)

A meta-analysis was performed to investigate the effects of capsaicin (CAP) on lactational performance and blood chemistry and cell counts in dairy cattle. The database comprised 11 peer-reviewed studies published between 2011 and 2024. The overall effect of CAP, challenge (e.g., ketosis, glucose tolerance, LPS), and dose were considered explanatory variables in the analysis. Lactation performance response variables included DMI, milk yield (MY), ECM yield, feed efficiency (FE), milk components, and BW. Hematological response variables included red and white blood cell counts and blood BHB, total fatty acids, insulin, and glucose concentrations. Data were analyzed using random- and mixed-effect models in the "robumeta" package in RStudio. Milk yield was increased by 2.9% by CAP when compared with control. Capsaicin supplementation increased FE by 3.4% compared with control. Milk fat concentration and yield were also increased by CAP compared with control by 2.6% and 4.0%, respectively. Blood glucose concentrations were decreased 2.5% by CAP supplementation, whereas insulin levels were unaffected. Cows fed CAP during a challenge had higher MY and FE and tended to have lower blood glucose than their control counterparts. Overall, this analysis suggests that CAP supplementation may be directly affecting host physiology by altering glucose metabolism, but further research to define the mechanism is warranted.

Abstract Trace minerals and vitamins are necessary in diets for multiple physiological processes related to structural development, catalytic and regulatory systems in the animal. They become especially important when animals are challenged. These ingredients are commonly added to commercial diets through a concentrated mix, a premix. Unfortunately, vitamins are relatively unstable, and minerals are highly reactive, leading to reduction of the vitamins by the minerals. Feeding a mineral of a different particle size can influence this mechanic, as well as a different source, for example hydroxy trace minerals. The objective of this work was to evaluate vitamin A stability in presence of different sources of trace minerals as well as premix conditions. A microcrystalline cellulose matrix was created by dissolving vitamin A in an organic solvent (IPA). A fixed amount of vitamin MCC mix was added to a sample tube per analysis, containing common premix vitamin and mineral levels. Fixed amount of moisture and antioxidant (BHT) was added to evaluate these effects. Results on the effect of moisture indicated that 10% moisture addition had a large effect on vitamin A stability, reducing it by over 50% after 11 d. Vitamin A loss in premixes containing no moisture showed no difference between MCC mixes containing no mineral and ones containing hydroxy Cu, whereas there was a significant drop in vitamin A with CuSO4. Vitamin A stability was significantly affected by a lower particle size Cu source, with CuSO4 below 75 µm showed almost full degradation after 13 d. Hydroxy Cu showed relatively low degradation for its particle size. Overall, the results showed that moisture and particle size can have a huge impact on vitamin A stability, with BHT or antioxidants only partly being able to reduce this. Feeding a higher quality trace mineral source such as hydroxy trace minerals lead to a less reactive Cu, and hence, a higher vitamin A stability.

Visual examination of visually recognisable substances, including microscopy, focus on targets or contaminants such as particles of animal origin, plant seeds, spore bodies of moulds, sclerotia, packaging material, microplastic and ‘Besatz’ (everything that differs from the norm). The two principal results are counts (numbers) and weights for macroscopic methods, or presence/absence for microscopic methods. The level of detection equals at least the size of one unit, usually with a weight exceeding 1 mg, which is in the range of parts per million (ppm). These parameters do not follow a normal distribution but Poisson (counts), lognormal (weights) or binomial (Booleans) distributions, with effect on the interpretation of validation parameters. As for other domains, examination methods for visual monitoring need to be properly validated and quality control during actual application is needed. In most cases procedures for validation of visual methods are based on principles adopted from other domains, such as chemical analysis. A series of examples from publications show inconsistent or not correct implementations of these validation procedures, which stress the need for dedicated validation procedures. Identification of legal ingredients and composition analysis in the domain of visual examination relies on the expertise of the laboratory staff, therefore validation of a method usually includes the validation of the expert. In the view of these specific circumstances, a Guidance for quality assurance and control of visual methods has been developed, which are being presented and discussed in this paper. The general framework of the Guidance is adopted from ISO standards (17023, 17043, 13528). Part 1 of the Guidance includes the general background, theory and principles. Part 2 presents the actual validation procedures with experimental designs and equations for calculating the relevant parameters, and can be used as blueprint for a SOP in a quality management system. An EURL and NRL network for physical hazards is strongly recommended.

1. From an experiment with 504 laying hens (ISA Brown strain, 18–40 weeks of age), 90 40-week old hens were used for determining digesta mean retention time (MRT) and gut weight development. This experiment comprised 6 dietary treatments according to a 2 × 3 factorial design. Factors were dietary apparent metabolisable energy (AME) concentration (11·8 vs 10·6 MJ/kg), insoluble nonstarch polysaccharides (NSP) concentration (65 vs 134 g/kg), and fine vs coarse particle sizes of added NSP. Titanium recovery in different gut segments was used as an indicator of MRT. 2. Increasing NSP concentration prolonged MRT in the crop (68 vs 34 min) and total foregut (91 vs 57 min) compared with control NSP. Reducing energy concentration prolonged MRT in the colon (26 vs 7 min), and total hind gut (30 vs 9 min), compared with control energy. Overall MRT was not affected by dietary treatments. 3. Increasing NSP concentration increased relative weights of the empty proventriculus-gizzard and its contents by 30% (25·2 vs 19·4 g/kg) and 18% (15·4 vs 13·0 g/kg), respectively, compared with control NSP diets. 4. MRT in the foregut was prolonged as daily insoluble NSP intake increased, and this was more pronounced in hens given coarsely ground NSP, compared with finely ground. A prolonged MRT in the foregut seemed to indicate a higher level of satiety, which may contribute to a lower feather pecking pressure in laying hens.

Generally, fermentation can be described as the modification of biological material using microorganisms with the purpose to obtain a desirable product. Both plant and animal ingredients can be fermented and also the microorganisms used can belong to diverse groups, namely bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi (moulds) (Nout et al., 2005). The origin of fermented foods goes back many thousands of years and fermentation is one of the oldest ways of food processing. Popular fermented products, such as beer, bread, wine and sausages, have been around for centuries Other examples of popular fermented food products are yoghurt, cheese, coffee, tea, alcoholic drinks, soy sauce, sauerkraut and tempe. Fermentation can have diverse roles: (a) enrichment of the diet, through development of a diversity of flavour and texture of food, (b) preservation through alcoholic, lactic acid, acetic acid and alkaline fermentation, (c) nutritional enrichment of the food with vitamins, essential amino acids or fatty acids, (d) detoxification and removal of anti-nutritional factors, and (e) decreased cooking times During the fermentation processes, enzymes that are synthesized by the microorganisms are important, since they carry out reactions, which contribute to the development of specific textures, tastes and aromas. Many fermented products especially fermented soya bean products, find their origin in Asia. Fermented soya bean foods are attractive products and enjoy an increasing interest because of their nutritional and health benefits. One of these products is tempe. Tempe is a collective name for legumes, cereals and other biological materials, fermented by a mould. This technique has its origin in Indonesia. Soya beans are the most commonly used substrate for the tempe production. During fermentation, the soya beans are bound together by the mycelium of the mould into a compact cake in which the macronutrients are enzymatically degraded by the fungal enzymes. In this chapter, firstly a description will be given of the product tempe. Processing, composition and fermentation characteristics will be described. Also different health effects of the product will be discussed with a special focus on the anti-diarrhoeal aspects of tempe. The second part of the chapter will focus on the anti-diarrhoeal aspects in more detail. The mode of action and the chemical characteristics of the bioactive component will be www.intechopen.com Soybean and Health 384 discussed. Finally we will discuss the possibilities for application of the product in food or feed industry.

Adapting Ca homeostasis of dairy cows before calving can prevent milk fever. Rice bran, treated with formaldehyde to prevent ruminal degradation of phytic acid, was fed to heifers to study its effect on Ca homeostasis. For 3 weeks 18 heifers were supplemented 3 kg of two feeds: placebo (PF) and rice bran (RBF), defining three treatments: control (CRT), low dose (LD) and high dose (HD). In weeks 1 and 3, all animals received 3 kg of PF and in week 2: CRT received 3 kg of PF, LD received 1.5 kg of PF and 1.5 kg of RBF and HD received 3 kg of RBF. Treatments did not affect dry matter intake (DMI). Feed intakes and growth rates indicated that all heifers had nutritional requirements that exceeded their Ca intakes. Serum Ca, urinary Ca, calcitriol or hydroxyproline remained unaffected. Urinary Ca was consistently low indicating high renal Ca reabsorption, which is indicative of insufficient Ca supply. Rice bran feed influenced P, Mg and Zn intakes and serum and urine presence of these minerals. Most heifers already presented an upregulated Ca metabolism, being inadequate to study adaptive changes in Ca homeostasis of multiparous dry cows. This metabolic difference can be explanatory to the very low susceptibility of heifers to milk fever, further supporting the induction of homeostatic adaptation before calving to prevent milk fever. Rice bran feed did not reduce DMI, and was not detrimental to P, Mg or Zn status.

Data from the US (Van Amburgh et al., (2001)) suggests that the current UK recommendations for feeding the neonatal calf (˜500g milk replacer/d, at ˜230 g crude protein per kg fresh milk powder) are inadequate to sustain high growth rates in early life. It has been suggested that increasing nutrition during the first 6-8 weeks of the calf’s life will improve lifetime production, health and fertility. An experiment was therefore initiated to investigate the influence of level of milk replacer feeding and the crude protein content of the milk replacer on calf performance during the first 8 weeks of life, under UK conditions.