Checking Smartamine™ protection in your feed is important.

Smartamine™'s effectiveness for animal performance, and hence your customer's satisfaction, is dependent on how well the amino acids stay protected. This is particularly important during the introduction period on your market. We therefore strongly recommend:

- Developing your Smartamine™-enriched feeds manufacturing process well ahead of market introduction.
- Analyzing Smartamine™ - protection in the feeds:
- during the development period
- regularly and systematically during full production period

Visual Assessment



Laboratory Analysis
A regular laboratory control should be carried out to check product quality accurately, and, if necessary, identify improvements needed. The analytical method is outlined as follows. More details, including a full analysis method, are available upon request.

Sample Sizes

Two samples are requested:
- A sample sent for analysis should be of 1 kg for organic feeds and 500 g for mineral feeds. It should contain at least 2% of Smartamine™.

- A control sample without Smartamine™ of the same size and feed along with its label is requested as well in order to identify and investigate any possible interference of the feed itself with the test.

Control Assays
In vitro rumen protection measurements
Degree of protection is measured as the difference between the total amino acids content of Smartamine™ (assayed in step 2), and the fraction of amino acids released after 24 hours at pH6, i.e. rumen simulation (assayed in step 1).

• Step 1: A weighed representative sub sample of the Smartamine enriched feed is poured into a glass vessel containing 1,000 ml of a pH6 - buffered solution.
  Content assay realised in duplicate stirred, under standardized conditions, during 24 hours(rumen simulation).
  At the end of this period, a test-portion of the liquid in the vessel is taken and assayed for amino acid contents.
• Step 2: Acidity is lowered to pH1 in the vessel by introducting hydrochloric acid.
  Stirring is continued for 2 hours at pH1, in order to release all the amino acids contained in the Smartamine™ beadlets.
  At the end of this period, a test-portion of the liquid in the vessel is taken and essayed for amino acids content.

In vitro abomasal protection measurement
Degree of release is measured as the ratio between the quantity of amino acids released after 2 hours at pH2, i.e. abomasum simulation (assayed in step 3), and the total amino acid content of Smartamine™ (assayed in step 4).

• Step 3: A weighed representative sub sample of Smartamine™ - enriched feed is poured into a glass vessel containing 1,000 ml of a pH2 - buffered solution.
  Content assay realised in duplicate stirred, under standardized conditions, for 2 hours (abomasum simulation).
  At the end of this period, a test-portion of the liquid is the vessel is taken and assayed for amino acid contents.
• Step 4: idem step 2.
  Determinations of degree of release do not have to be carried out as often as determinations of degree of protection: release is generally not affected by feed manufacturing.

Determination of Smartamine™ content in the feed
Smartamine™ content is assessed as the ratio between the total amino acids content resulting of the mean value of steps 1 and 4 (or directly obtained by stirring a representative sub-sample at pH1 for 2 hours), and the theorical concentration of amino acids in Smartamine™. Determination of amino acids content can be assayed by different methods:

• methionine determination in feeds: the potentiometric method can be used;
• lysine determination in feeds: an amino acid analyser must be used.

Further details available upon request.