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VGNKI develops a project of standard for activity control of enzyme feed additives

The researchers of Federal State Budgetary Institution «The Russian State Center for Animal Feed and Drug Standardization and Quality» (FGBU VGNKI) have conducted a comparative study of methods for determination of endo-в-glucanase ferment activity in feeds with enzyme additive. The findings resulted in the development of GOST. The research article was published in the «Veterinaria» journal after receiving the results of the comparative experiment.

Enzyme feed additives are used in animal husbandry to improve nutrient absorption. Additives that break down in feeds such non – starch polysaccharides (NSPs) as cellulose and hemicellulose play a great role in the cultivation of farm animals. NSPs are considered as anti-nutrient substances, because in normal conditions they are resistant to digestion by endogenous digestive enzymes of animals and result in reduced nutrient absorption. The use of enzyme feed additives cleaving non-starch polysaccharides has a good effect on the cultivation of young-stock, especially animals that have a non-ruminant digestive system (e.g., pigs and horses).

In recent years State Standards of the Russian Federation (GOST R) 54905-201254905-2012 and Russian Interstate Standards (GOST) have been introduced to control the quality of enzyme feed additives. However, these standards do not include all manufactured enzyme feed additives. There is no single standard method for determining the activity of feed additives with NSPs enzymes, which have recently become popular with many manufacturers. The VGNKI researchers have also compared the existing methods of measuring the activity of endo-в-glucanase feed additives, such as OSTWALD and Geppler viscosimetric methods and colorimetric method.

It was found that the Ostwald method for determination of endo beta-glucanase activity is direct (in units of increased fluidity) and the most sensitive one. Therefore, it is suggested as a reference method (control method for the proposed new GOST). A colorimetric method is the least time-consuming and it can be regarded as an alternative and express method.