The Process - Micronization
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CEREAL GRAINS AS A SOURCE OF STARCH BASED ENERGY
There is thus the possibility that significant amounts of undigested starches pass through to the caecum or colon (large intestine or hind gut), where they are not welcome, are rapidly fermented by bacterial degradation resulting in lactic acid production, gas, heat and ammonia build up and leading to lower hindgut ph. The resulting acidic environment kills the good bacteria in the hind gut and as these bacteria die they produce endotoxins which can cause all sorts of complications in horses such as acidosis, fatigue, nervous behaviour, gastro-intestinal upsets such as colic, can lead to reduced performance and is known to be one of the major causes of laminitis in horses. STARCHES IN CEREAL GRAINS Oat grain, which has a small starch molecule, is highly digestible in the horse’s small intestine by the enzyme amylase thus making oats the safest grain to feed to horses in its natural form (85% starch digestion in the small intestine – Meyer 1995). The same, however, cannot be said for other cereal grains such as maize, barley or wheat, which, in terms of energy content, equal or exceed that of oats and are therefore highly desirable cereals for use in high energy horse feeds.These grains have large starch molecules which are not easily digested by amylase in the small intestine. This means that one of the goals of feeding high starch (energy) diets to horses lie in maximising the grains digestibility in the small intestine. This is achieved by opening up the starch molecules within the grains and breaking them up into smaller components in a modified structure, making them more accessible to enzymatic absorption. Starch molecules found in cereal grains are complex polysaccharides located in granules embedded in a protein matrix and linked within the granules by hydrogen bonds into a crystalline structure. It is the disruption of these granules that leads to improved enzymatic digestion. Failure to understand the anatomy of the gastro-intestinal tract and the digestive physiology of the horse is more often than not the source of many feeding errors including nutritional management and feed formulation. As most of the goodness in these raw cereal grains is stored in this inaccessible starch structure these must first be processed to make it digestible and beneficial to the horse. Various methods have been used to try and achieve the above objective such as cracking, crimping, grinding, milling, steam heating, flaking and extruding with more or less success and more recently micronizing with great success. The problem with some of these processes is that while digestibility in the small intestine is increased to varying degrees, it is often done at the expense of other nutritional factors such as protein & vitamin absorption. Micronizing on the other hand not only increases the digestibility of cereal grains substantially, but does so without compromising the nutritional integrity of these feeds. THE MICRONIZING PROCESS The aim of feed processing is to change the physical and/or chemical form of the raw cereal starch structure resulting in greater feed availability. Micronization is a patented and advanced processing technique which uses the infrared wavelength as a source of energy. The micronizing process makes use of a narrow band within the infrared spectrum with a wavelength of between 1.7 and 3.4 micronization. (Please note that this is not microwave energy so the process is entirely safe). Travelling at the speed of light, infrared energy is extremely efficient at generating heat in absorbent materials by causing the constituent molecules of the material to vibrate at very high frequencies (80 to 170 million megacycles per second) which causes rapid internal heating and a rise in water vapour. Micronizing is a highly reliable, consistent and short time high temperature process which uses humidity, heat and mechanical pressure (shearing) to achieve the conditions essential for optimum cooking and starch gelatinisation with minimum loss of water. Micronizing is a relatively new technology in the equine feed industry that is set to revolutionize the way we feed horses. Micronizing is a method of processing grains using infrared technology to heat and vibrate the starch molecule followed by a rolling or flaking process. The resulting increase in gelatinisation dramatically improves digestion of barley and maize starch in the small intestine. Increased starch digestion in the small intestine promotes weight gain or growth and reduces the risk of starch overload of the hindgut. It also reduces the need to feed as much grain per meal. Micronized grains are therefore safer to feed due to better absorption and reduced risk of starch overload of the caecum which can cause colic, laminitis, acidosis or diarrhoea. Micronized grains have improved palatability after roasting so horses eat them better. In summary, Micronizing is magic! MICRONIZING AND MICRONIZATION In brief the process entails the following:
FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF MICRONIZATION
The Capstone Horse Feed Range
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