Microbial Protein Synthesis Effect
The amino acids reaching the small intestine are supplied by the microbial protein produced, the undegraded feed protein, amino acids and peptides from feed which escape degradation, and endogenous secretions. The microbes that are produced in the rumen, and then pass down the digestive tract, may supply 60 to 80 percent of the amino acids absorbed from the small intestine. In a horse, protein, which has not been absorbed by the small intestine, "escapes" to the large intestine. There, bacteria produce microbial protein with a high biological value. Microbial protein is the “nearly perfect” protein in terms of its amino acid profile. Unfortunately, only 15% of these microbial proteins can be used efficiently by the horse. Therefore, an increase in the microbial population would convert to more efficiency.
The efficiency of microbial protein synthesis is a major factor affecting the overall amino acid requirement of ruminants and cecum fermenters, and is influenced by a number of factors including 1) energy source,2) supply of nutrients such as nitrogen, sulfur, branched chain fatty acids and 3) environmental characteristics such as dilution rate, pH and microbial species present (Hespell and Bryant, 1979). An average efficiency of microbial synthesis of 17 grams of microbial protein per 100 grams of digestible organic matter was determined for many diets, although values were generally higher for sheep and forage based diets than for cattle and concentrate diets (Bergen et al., 1982). Through a continuous-culture experiments conducted by the University of West Virginia, Amaferm showed about a 14% to 30% increase in the amount of microbial protein available for use.
Caton et al., 1993
Amaferm supplementation has been shown to increase forage intake and increase total, essential, and nonessential amino acid flows to the duodenum in steers grazing cool-season pasture, primarily smooth brome, from June through August. Caton J.S., D.O. Erickson, D.A, Carey and D.L. Ulmer. 1993. “Influence of Aspergillus oryzae Fermentation Extract on Forage Intake, Site of Digestion, In-Situ Degradability, and Duodenal Amino Acid Flow in Steers Grazing Cool-Season Pasture.” J. Anim. Science. 71:779-787).
Campos-Montiel and Viniegra-Gonzalez, 1995
Amaferm has been found to result in a 17.4% increase in cellulolytic bacteria protein biomass, showing an increase in both growth rate and metabolic activity. (Campos-Montiel, R. G. and G. Viniegra-Gonzalez. 1995. Microbial bioassay of fungal compounds that stimulate the growth of a consortium of anaerobic cellulolytic bacteria. Biotechnology Techniques. 9:65-68).
Beharka and Nagaraja, 1998
Amaferm has been shown to increase the growth rate of the fiber digesting bacteria in the rumen, Fibrobacter succinogenes S85 and Ruminococcus albus 7 as well as several strains of the lactate utilizing bacteria Megasphaera elsdenii, Selenemonas ruminantium, and Selenomonas lactilytica. (Beharka, A. A. and T. G. Nagaraja. 1998. Effect of Aspergillus oryzae extract alone or in combination with antimicrobial compounds on ruminal bacteria. J. Dairy Sci. 81:1591-1598).
