The first edition of the MetAMINO® ATLAS displays the results of 15 performance trials investigating the relative bioavailability of supplementary methionine sources in animal diets. Performance trials investigate the relative nutritive value of DL-methionine vs. liquid MHA-FA and MHA-Ca.
“For cost-effective purchasing, feed formulation and animal production, precise knowledge about the relative nutritive value of DL-methionine compared with liquid MHA-FA and MHA-Ca is essential,†says Dr. Jan-Olaf Barth, head of the Efficient Nutrition product line at Evonik. “With the MetAMINO® ATLAS, we want to support our business partners in making knowledge-based purchase decisions for sustainable and economical livestock operations.â€
The trials were conducted in eleven countries on five continents under different climatic, geographic and farm conditions – in experimental settings as well as at commercial farms with broiler chickens, laying hens, swine and aqua species.
“Across all trials and all species, we found that comparable animal performance criteria were achieved when 100 units of MHA-products were replaced with 65 units of MetAMINO®,†says Nils Niedner, product manager MetAMINO®.
The MetAMINO® ATLAS 2022 further includes a selection of latest scientific articles, conference abstracts and peer reviewed publications regarding the bio-efficacy of the commercially available methionine forms. Interested parties can access the complete paper via barcode or link. The report can be downloaded under www.metamino.com and myamino.evonik.com
The report covers 15 performance trials, covering broilers and layers, swine and aquaculture. Across all trials and all species comparable animal performance criteria were achieved when 100 units of MHA products were replaced with 65 units of MetAMINO® resulting in a relative bioavailability ratio of 65% when comparing MHA-FA to MetAMINO®. All 15 experiments provide evidence that DL-Met is considerably more efficient than hydroxy analogues not only with respect to weight gain and feed conversion but also in terms of protein retention. For practical application in least cost feed formulation this bioavailability should be reflected in the nutrient matrix of ingredients as well as the product purchasing price ratio of the respective methionine sources.
Fish study on carp in China
The fish study investigated the effects of MetAMINO® – Evonik’s DL-methionine (DL-Met) – (DL-Met, 99 percent) and methionine hydroxy analog calcium salt (MHA-Ca, 84 percent) on growth, feed utilization, and taurine synthesis in common carp (Cyprinus carpio). The trial was designed and carried out in collaboration with Professor. Ye Chaoxia from South China Normal University.
Results showed the following:
- Diets deficient in methionine negatively affected growth performance and feed utilisation of common carp. Dietary DL-Met and MHA-Ca supplementation significantly improved the body weight and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of common carp. DL-Met produces better growth, body weight, FCR and protein efficiency than MHA-Ca (P < 0.01).
- Cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) and cysteine sulfinate decarboxylase (CSD) are the two key
enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of taurine from cysteine via cysteine sulfinic acid
and hypotaurine production. DL-Met fed fish exhibited higher expression CDO and CSD genes in the liver compared with the MHA-Ca fed fish (P < 0.05), indicating higher taurine synthesis by DL-Met than by MHA-Ca.
The conclusion was that both MetAMINO® and MHA-Ca supplementation improved growth performance, feed utilisation and taurine synthesis in common carp, however, the former showed better effects than MHA-Ca. Multi-exponential regression analysis showed that MHA-Ca was less utilised by common carp than MetAMINO® with bioavailability values being 42% to 52% on a weight-for-weight basis depending on performance parameters. (Extracted from the MetAMINO® ATLAS).
