Feed Enzyme

Animal feed is composed of plant material, cereals and vegetable proteins, which cannot be fully digested and utilised by animals. However, feed utilization and digestion can often be increased by the addition of external enzymes to the feed.
Many cereals have a proportion of their energy in the form of non­starch polysaccharides (NSPs), more commonly known as fibre. Enzymes are to break down these NSPs, which lead in increase of metabolisable energy and protein utilisation.
In some cereals, a large part of the NSP is soluble and causes high viscosity in the small intestine of a monogastric animal. As a result, digestion becomes impaired. Selected microbial enzymes can partially degrade this NSP, lowering viscosity in the intestine and improving feed utilisation.
Many vegetable protein sources, such as soybean meal, also contain NSP. The addition of selected microbial enzymes can be used to break down the NSP and make it available to the animal. Just as with cereals, the metabolisable energy and protein utilisation for vegetable protein sources can be improved by using the correct combination of amylases and proteases.
In almost all plant material used for animal feed, a large part of the mineral phosphorus is bound in the form of phytic acid, which cannot be degraded by monogastric animals. Phytase liberates part of the bound phosphorus and makes it possible to reduce the phosphorus content of the feed by 25-30%. The R & D center at Maps has successful produced phytase, and soon shall be commercially launched.