Feed characterization
LANUPRO provides feed value analyses and expertise for roughage, compound feed, and mixed feed, tailored to the needs of cattle, pigs, and poultry. Our services support farmers and the agri-food sector in optimizing rations for healthy and efficient animal production.
A core competence of our lab is to perform diet analysis, to evaluate the digestive properties of feedstuffs (e.g. fecal and ileal digestibility of nutrients) and to assess the kinetics of a compound in the digestive tract. This is because increasing feed digestion and nutrient efficiency is of paramount importance for cost-effective animal production and for reducing emissions, contributing to sustainable production. The addition of enzymes to feeds for improving the digestibility or reducing the anti-nutritional effect of the fibre, fat and protein fraction may be very useful in this respect, and has been an intense area of research in our group. Novel feed sources, e.g. insect material or seaweeds, are also very topical to enhance sustainability of feed production. In collaboration with other research groups, we have investigated the potential of the Black Soldier Fly as feed ingredient.
| * dry matter and pH |
| * gross energy (bomb calorimetry) |
| * proximate analysis (Weende fractions: crude ash, crude fiber, crude protein, ether extract) |
| * Van Soest fiber fractions (NDF, ADF, ADL) |
| * starch and sugar content |
| * NSP fractions and monomers |
| * short, medium and long-chain fatty acids (chain length from 2 to 24 carbons, various isomers) |
| * lipid peroxidation (peroxide value, iodine value, aniside, hexanal, hydrolytic rancidity, conjugated dienes and trienes, ORAC, etc.) |
| * ammonia |
| * organic acids (formic, acetic, lactic, citric and benzoic acid) |
| * essential oils (cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, thymol, thymol glycosides) |
| * indigestible markers (acid insoluble ash, chromium oxide) |
| * vitamin E |
| * in-vitro digestibility |