Adding fat to ruminants, especially lactating dairy cow diets, can solve the problem of negative energy balance. However, the direct addition of fat will bring about some negative effects, such as affecting rumen fermentation, lowering milk fat percentage and dry matter intake, so the level of addition is limited. In this case, the protection of oil comes into being. The earliest protective oil was made by Scott in 1970 with casein and then treated with formaldehyde. However, because of its high cost, it is difficult to promote in production. Later on this principle, people developed a calcium soap-type protective oil, namely fatty acid calcium. At present, fatty acid calcium is widely used in more than 40 countries such as Europe, America and Japan, and the application research of fatty acid calcium in China is still in its infancy. This article only summarizes the application and research progress of fatty acid calcium in ruminants, especially dairy cow feed, for reference.
The role of fatty acid calcium
When people solve the problem of negative energy balance in high-yield cows, the first thing is to increase the energy concentration by adjusting the ratio of the raw and crude feed. However, this practice has led to a change in the type of rumen fermentation, which has led to a decrease in milk fat percentage and is liable to cause acidosis and other metabolic disorders in dairy cows. Later, people proposed a method of adding oil to the diet, which can increase the energy concentration of the diet without causing acidosis of the cow. However, the addition of unprotected oil has a strong inhibitory effect on rumen fermentation, while the oil is wrapped around the fibers, preventing the contact of microorganisms with fibers, and significantly reducing the digestibility of cellulose. In addition, long-chain fatty acids combine with cations in the rumen to form insoluble complexes, which affect the concentration of cations required for microbial activity, thereby affecting the pH of the rumen environment and lowering the milk fat percentage. These disadvantages limit the application of grease. A large number of experimental studies have shown that the addition of fatty acid calcium can overcome the above drawbacks. The calcium ionization constant of fatty acid is between 4 and 5. When the pH is <6, it can promote its ionization. It is insoluble in the neutral environment of the rumen. When it reaches the true stomach and small intestine, it dissolves and decomposes due to its acidic environment. It is a fatty acid and Ca2+, which prevents fatty acids from interacting with rumen microorganisms, and is fully utilized as an energy source after reaching the stomach and small intestine. It also supplements Ca2+.
Types of fatty acid calcium
Fatty acid calcium can be divided into long-chain fatty acid calcium, medium-chain fatty acid calcium and short-chain fatty acid calcium depending on the length of its saponified fatty acid chain. Long-chain fatty acid calcium is widely used in the dairy industry, and calcium palmitate is the most widely used in foreign countries.
Application effect of fatty acid calcium
Increasing milk production in dairy cows Many studies have shown that the addition of fatty acid calcium to dairy cow diets can significantly increase milk production. According to Schneider et al. (1998), the addition of 4% fatty acid calcium to dairy cow diets resulted in a 4% increase in milk production.
Increasing milk fat percentage and improving milk quality Schauff et al. (1992) added 3%, 6%, and 9% fatty acid calcium to dairy cow diets, resulting in an increase in milk fat percentage of 4.23%, 15.71%, and 17.22%, respectively. . Tests have shown that the addition of fatty acid calcium, although the milk fat percentage has increased, but the milk protein content has a downward trend, but the total milk production has not decreased due to the increase in total milk production.
Improving the reproductive performance of dairy cows Sklan et al. (1991) showed that the addition of 2.6% fatty acid calcium to dairy cow diets significantly reduced the weight of postpartum cows compared to the control group, and in the second to fourth episodes, the fetus The rate was significantly higher than that of the control group (42.6%: 25.0%), and the pregnant cows at 150 days after birth were also significantly higher than the control group. (82.4%: 62.5%).
Effect on other ruminants In addition to improving the performance of dairy cows, fatty acid calcium can also improve the meat production performance of beef and mutton sheep. Japanese studies have shown that adding 200g/d· of fatty acid calcium to the beef cattle diet can increase the daily gain of beef cattle by 0.05kg/d·head, increase the feed remuneration, and significantly increase the content of unsaturated fatty acids in the muscle. The test results of the authors prove that the addition of fatty acid calcium 10, 20, 30 g / d· head in the diet of the feed-fed lambs can increase the daily feed intake of the lambs by 0.11, 0.19 and 0.09 kg, respectively. /d·Head, the daily gain increased by 0.038, 0.034, 0.016kg/d·head compared with the control group, and the content of nutrients such as protein, fat and cholesterol in the mutton increased accordingly.
Factors affecting the role of fatty acid calcium and precautions for use
Effect of Fatty Acid Calcium with Calcium Saponified Fatty Acids The purpose of adding fatty acid calcium is to protect fatty acids so that they can be fully utilized through the rumen to the true stomach and small intestine. However, different fatty acids have different utilization efficiencies, and many factors affect the absorption of fatty acids. For example, the polarity and emulsification of fatty acids, which are determined by the length and saturation of the carbon chain, are related to the absorption and utilization of fatty acids. Tests have shown that long-chain fatty acid calcium is superior to short-chain fatty acid calcium.
Feed factors The crude fiber, crude protein and energy levels in the feed affect the effect of fatty acid calcium. The effect of fatty acid calcium on the milk fat percentage is closely related to the level of crude fiber in the feed. The ratio of energy and protein is an important factor affecting the performance of animals. After adding fatty acid calcium, the energy increases and the energy-protein ratio changes, which affects the animal performance. Tests have shown that the addition of fatty acid calcium has a tendency to reduce milk protein, so the adjustment of feed protein levels should be considered, such as providing high protein containing feed or adding amino acids. The energy level of the diet also affects the effect of fatty acid calcium. Generally, the effect of adding fatty acid calcium in high-energy diets is not obvious, and even has a negative effect.
The physiological condition and environmental factors of animals use fatty acid calcium at the peak of lactation or during summer heat stress. In the late lactation, when the energy is in a positive balance, the effect of supplementation is not obvious. The effective effect of fatty acid calcium is limited to dairy cows with a milk fat percentage of less than 3.5%, which is not effective for high milk fat cows.
In general, the production of fatty acid calcium has a tendency to increase with the increase in the amount of fatty acid calcium added, but the amount of addition is too large, and the effect is not good, so the appropriate amount of addition is very effective for fatty acid calcium. important. At present, the problem of the appropriate addition amount of fatty acid calcium is still inconclusive and needs further study.
Need to further study the problem
The application of fatty acid calcium as a ruminant energy feed additive is relatively common in foreign countries, but the research focuses on the effect of fatty acid calcium on animal performance. However, the research on the influence of fatty acid calcium on animal physiological and biochemical indexes is still rare. Strengthen research in this area. The appropriate amount of addition is also inconclusive, and it is necessary to carry out biological determination of the effective energy value of fatty acid calcium in the future to determine the appropriate level of addition. At the same time, through the comparison test of different kinds of fatty acid calcium, the fatty acid calcium products with stable performance and more suitable for production are screened out.
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