In this part, we share Q&A with customers in enzyme applications.
Please contact us if any questions.
Q1:
I am confused when using high temperature phytase and compound enzymes, what kind of high temperature can enzymes withstand? If enzymes can withstand high temperature, can it play its best role in the intestines of livestock and poultry?
A1：
- The theoretical limit of heat stability of the enzyme is 130 ° C. Of course, this means only the possibility of the presence of a thermostable enzyme, not to say that all current feed enzymes can be heat-resistant.
- Ordinary 6-phytase is the most unstable one in feed enzymes, and its heat resistance and stability are much worse than xylanase and glucanase;
- The 3-phytase has very good heat resistance and stability, which can withstand high temperatures of 94 °C.
- It is hard to say that the coated enzyme products with heat stability are definitely good. Some poor manufacturers only produce to cater to the market.
- Naturally high temperature resistance, good enzyme activity under animal conditions, and great enzyme production capacity are the three major direction for enzyme strains’ research and development.
Q2:
What is the theory basis for the addition of compound enzymes? Can it be understood as: Based on the type and quantity of anti-nutritional factors in the feed formula, we accordingly decide the type and quantity of the compound enzymes to remove the anti-nutritional factors?
A2:
- The componud enzymes of different manufacturers have different basis for their formula. The method that we recommend is to consider the amount of the most fundamental anti-nutrition factors to be solved in the diet, then, consider the proportional of adding the amount of compound enzyme to solve such anti-nutrition factors. (According to the definition of enzyme and enzyme activity and the addition amount, theoretically, it is possible to calculate the time needed for the enzyme to decompose the substrate)
- Although some NSP compound enzymes are formulated according to the type and quantity of anti-nutritional factors. Personally, the understanding of NSP is not scientifically enough. For example, the amougt of xylan in the corn is not small, but its dissolution rate is very low, so the viscosity effect is greatly weakened. Therefore, xylanase is not the main but auxiliary enzyme in this case. Similarly, although the content of mannan in the soybean meal is not high, the mannan glycosyl group has a strong stimulating effect on the intestinal tract. So mannan should be decomposed even if the amount is small. Therefore, mannase should be added with larger portion.
- In conclusion, the concept we agree is that different types of diets use different compound enzymes. One of the enzymes in the compound enzyme is to take the main effect while and the rest are auxiliary. So we only need to increase or decrease according to the main antinutritional factor. For example, wheat enzymes should design according to the amount of xylan, and corn-soybean-type diets should be designed according to the amount of mannan.
Q3:
What is the standard of enzyme activity? How to select? How much activity will be lost during the production process,esp.pelleting? Is there any synergy or antagonism effect for these indidual enzymes mixing together? Are these enzymes applicable in different regions and different equipment?
A3:
The problem of enzyme activity standard is mainly about the temperature, PH, and reaction time, as well as calculating method for defining an enzyme unit in terms of reaction time and reaction product amount. Through the enzyme activity definition, we can simply convert and compare the enzyme activities between different suppliers. For example, the same enzyme activity, which defined by ug is 180 times higher than the value defined by umol (xylose is 150 times). It is best to choose a reasonable test method by buyers themselves. If possible, you can use the simulated gastric fuid, simulated intestinal fluid and heating devices to measure the change of enzyme activity.
Regarding the same enzyme, fermented products of different strains differ greatly in storage stability, processing stability, gastrointestinal stability. The good stability product, they have more than 90% retention rate in the intestines. But about the poor, it may be wiped out.
There is generally little antagonism between common feed enzymes, and NSP enzymes have some synergistic properties. The only risky enzyme is protease, because most enzymes are composed of proteins. Under normal circumstances, digestive enzymes are not recommended personally.
There are many types of enzymes. In addition to phytase, currently, NSP enzymes are widely used in feed. These enzymes are mainly related to diets and I don’t know how the regional factors will influence the NSP. In my opinion, the major problem for processing equipment is influence on enzymes’ stability. However, stablibity is mostly decided by the development of high-stability enzyme strains. The problem of enzyme activity standard is mainly about the temperature, PH, and reaction time, as well as calculating method for defining an enzyme unit in terms of reaction time and reaction product amount. Through the enzyme activity definition, we can simply convert and compare the enzyme activities between different suppliers. For example, the same enzyme activity, which defined by ug is 180 times higher than the value defined by umol (xylose is 150 times). It is best to choose a reasonable test method by buyers themselves. If possible, you can use the simulated gastric fuid, simulated intestinal fluid and heating devices to measure the change of enzyme activity.
Regarding the same enzyme, fermented products of different strains differ greatly in storage stability, processing stability, gastrointestinal stability. The good stability product, they have more than 90% retention rate in the intestines. But about the poor, it may be wiped out.
There is generally little antagonism between common feed enzymes, and NSP enzymes have some synergistic properties. The only risky enzyme is protease, because most enzymes are composed of proteins. Under normal circumstances, digestive enzymes are not recommended personally.
Q4:
The detection of temperature and pH specified by the industrial enzyme activity detection method don’t adapt to the animal body. For example, the industrial xylanase activity detection temperature is 50 ° C and the pH is 5.3, while the animal body temperature is about 40 ° C. The enzyme catalyzing part in the body is the small intestine whose pH is about 6.0. Therefore, if the feed enzyme detected by the current industrial enzyme assay, it may affect the lateral comparison of the enzyme activities of different brand enzymes. Therefore, the product tested as the max enzyme activity under the industrial enzyme detection method will not be necessarily the best in the digestive tract of the livestock and poultry.
A4:
This is true. Therefore, when choosing an enzyme, you should understand the definition of the enzyme activity of the product, such as the temperature is 37 ° C or 50 ° C, the defined time is minutes or seconds, the amount is umol or ug, and the reaction time. In addition, manufacturer should provide: the activity changes under different pH values, the retention rate after pepsin and trypsin treatment, the natural storage loss of enzymes or the storage stability in the premix.
Q5:
How to improve the stability of the product for high-temperature pelleting and the stability to gastric acid? How to properly add enzyme preparation according to the type of livestock and poultry, the age of livestock and the composition of the diet?
A5:
Screening and improving the strains is the most convenient and reliable method to improve the enzyme stability. Secondly, it can be treated by coating, which needs high process requirements.
The addition of NSP enzymes to monogastric animals can be mainly based on the type of diet. Of course, what kind of enzymes should be used for certain diet types is still controversial. Personally, for corn-wheat diet or miscellaneous diets, mannanase is preferred and for the wheat-abundant diet, xylanase should be considered with priority. The addition of non-NSP type enzymes needs further research, which is in academic dispution.
Q6:
I want to ask about the complex enzyme and stability of the enzyme, the digestive problem in the animal digestive tract and which part of the digestive tract will enzymes be decomposed, how the enzyme is coated and what substance will be used for coating in the production process.
A6:
The stability of the enzyme mainly includes the following aspects:
1. Stability in the gastrointestinal tract, including acid resistance, gastric trypsin, bile acid tolerance, high enzyme PH property match with intestinal pH.
2. Natural storage stability and storage stability in premix or concentrated feed. Naturally, some xylanases loss large enzyme activity after storing for 3 months. Inferior quality phytase has even worse performance.The stability of the enzyme mainly includes the following aspects:
3. In the process of pelleting, mixing and transportation, most enzymes are not heat-resistant.Some poor quality phytase may lose activity during transportation.
Better strain is the only way to solve these stability problems. Coating may be helpful for storage, processing, and stomach tolerance. However, coating realibity is low due to technique problems, and the problem of trypsin and bile acid salt tolerance cannot be solved. Furthermore, coating has some problems,like imperfect coating rate, release point and release rate.
Enzymes function in an environmrnt with water, substrate, suitable pH and temperature. Different enzymes function in different parts, which are mainly related to their adaptability of PH. Usually, feed enzymes play a role in the intestinal tract.
Coating processes are diverse. There are simple mixed coating, fluidized bed spray coating, spray drying coating and phase separation coating. Most of the stomach coating is lipid-based.
Personally, it is more reliable and low cost to find products with good natural stability.
Q7:
How to judge the quality of the enzyme. How to choose differently priced enzymes. The determination of enzyme activity. What kind of additive can be used together with enzymes.
A7:
How to judge the enzymes: It is best to carry out animal trial experiments.Then, it is necessary to test the stability (testing the changes of enzyme activity in high temperature, simulated gastric fluid and simulated intestinal fluid).
How to choose the enzymes: It is not the price or the equipment of the factory. It is mainly the manufacturer’s R&D background and technical strength. Good strain brings lower prices and higher stability; How to judge the enzymes: It is best to carry out animal trial experiments.Then, it is necessary to test the stability (testing the changes of enzyme activity in high temperature, simulated gastric fluid and simulated intestinal fluid).
How to evaluate the enzymes activity standard: It is necessary to understand the specific enzyme activity definition of each manufacturer. Different definition of enzyme activity is incomparable.
What kind of additive can be used together with enzymes: As long as the additive is not a target or an inhibitor to the enzyme, usually, it can be used in combination. And there are few cases of incompatibility in actual production. The following are two examples that are not compatible. Mannanase can decompose glucomannan which exist in some feed products, so you can only choose one of them as feed additive. Additionally, α-galactosidase can decompose oligosaccharides such as raffinose and stachyose, so above oligosaccharides cannot be added when α-galactosidase is added.
Q8:
Is the liquid enzymes better than the powder enzymes in metabolic energy improvement and feed cost reduction.
A8:
First of all, enzymes, whether liquid or powder, produced by the same strain and process fermentation, have the same theoretical effect. Post-spray technique of liquid enzymes relieve some non-heatstable powder enzymes from enzyme activity loss in pelleting.
Q9:
How to choose an enzyme manufacturer? How to choose enzymes?
A9:
At present, there are many enzyme manufacturers, but they can be divided into following categories:
1. Self-developed strains, self-produced, and self-selling(few manufacturers);
2. Buy strains to produce, self-selling (domestic large-scale enzyme manufacturers);
3. Purchase single enzyme to formulate, self-selling (most domestic small enzyme companies);
4. Self-developed strains, self-production, commissioned sales (mainly because some foreign companies do not pay attention to feed enzymes, so let some animal nutrition company to do this part);
If you choose an enzyme preparation, you can refer to the following points:
1. The ability to develop strains – this means that the enzymatic properties of products may be more suitable for feed enzymes. Manufacturers with research and development capabilities, their subsequent product upgrades are faster.
2．Production process and management – this is not about the size of the fermentation tanks or the computer control display. It is their strictness and standard in management and production.
3. Totoally buy single enzyme for formulating, or totally or partially produced by the manufacturer.
In terms of phytase selection, it is recommended for complete feed to use natural heat-stable phytase, then followed by postspraying or coating heatstable phytase. The powder complete feed better use starch-substrate phytase or granular phytase. Premix and concentrate feed are best to use granular type and starch-carrier phytase. Generally, after reducing 0.1% of available phosphorus in formula, if no problem for animals, the enzyme can be considered as effective.
Q10:
How to add so that the enzymes can be mixed evenly?
A10:
At present, the lower enzymes dosage in the market are usually above 50g. Enzymes can be mixed evenly as long as firsty mixed with fine grains or other stable raw materials, and then directly put into the mixer in the middle of the feeding. Of course, the uniformity of the mix machine must meet the requirements. If the mixer is poor, you need to use enzymes with larger dosage (500-1000 grams.