Protein digestibility kinetics: A key criterion for discriminating between protein sources in pet food (Part 2)

Hydrolyzed yeasts: A source of highly digestible and quickly absorbed proteins

Yeast is an incredible bioengineering factory and a source of valuable nutrients and functional molecules.
At Lallemand, thanks to our extensive yeast expertise, we have spent years working on the screening of different yeast biomasses and on the optimization of their production processes, both of which led to the development of YELA PROSECURE.

YELA PROSECURE is a specifically designed hydrolyzed yeast that offers highly digestible and functional nutrients supporting animal performance, digestive health and feed appetibility while contributing to the feed-protein balance.

YELA PROSECURE: Kinetics of protein digestibility

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Protein digestibility kinetics: A key criterion for discriminating between protein sources in pet food (Part 1)

YELA PROSECURE's kinetics of protein absorption have been analyzed with an adaptation of the Boisen standard method (Figure 4). The pH during the gastric phase, initially at 2.0, was adjusted at 4.5 to be more in line with the real situation observed in young animals where the digestive tract is not yet mature and gastric enzymes are not at their maximal efficacy, leading to a higher pH.

YELA PROSECURE's protein digestibility starts at 77% at the beginning of the intestinal phase (right after the stomach) to 94% after 48 hours. Moreover, YELA PROSECURE is close to its maximum in vitro digestibility after 3 hours of intestinal digestion meaning 90.5% of the protein content of YELA PROSECURE has flash and fast digestibility kinetics and only 9.5% is slow and resistant. The proteins from YELA PROSECURE are, therefore, highly bioavailable for the animals.

Hydrolized yeasts: What are we talking about?

Hydrolyzed yeasts are obtained through yeast cell digestion by both endogenous and exogenous enzymes that are added during the production process to obtain the desired level of lysis. Proteins and nucleic acids are fragmented into small size peptides through a controlled process, which also ensure a high level of functional ingredients and consistency in terms of composition.

Marketplace

Yang

Yela Prosecure

Optiwall

Melofeed

Alkosel

EFFECT OF YEAST PROCESSING ON THE KINETICS OF PROTEIN DIGESTIBILITY

The protein digestibility kinetics of YELA PROSECURE was compared to a whole-cell inactivated yeast (Figure 5) with a focus on the three first hours of the intestinal phase since the process of digestion is almost complete by then for Young animals.

In whole-cell inactivated yeasts, no lysis process is applied, and most nutrients (including the proteins) are retained in the cytoplasm of the yeast cell making them less accessible. As shown in Figure 5, their protein digestibility is low right after the stomach (46%) and increases slowly, up to 60% after 3 hours.

In comparison, YELA PROSECURE — a hydrolyzed yeast — has 77% protein digestibility after the stomach and more than 90% after 3 hours within the intestinal phase. Due to the oriented and controlled hydrolysis process, proteins and nucleic acids are fragmented into small size peptides offering highly digestible nutrients. We can conclude the yeast lysis process strongly benefits protein digestibility and therefore nutrient bioavailability in the gut.

YELA PROSECURE PROTEIN DIGESTIBILITY COMPARED TO FIVE OTHER FEED MATERIALS

YELA PROSECURE, a yeast-based product, fish meal, soybean meal, potato protein concentrate and few other feed materials were assessed for protein digestibility and kinetics of absorption based on the Boisen method with an adjustment to the gastric pH as previously explained (Figure 6 and Figure 7).

Protein sources are absorbed differently by animals right after the stomach phase:

• YELA PROSECURE's well controlled hydrolysis process makes the protein highly available and quickly absorbed. With a protein digestibility of 77% right after the stomach, we can define YELA PROSECURE as having flash digestibility.

• Fish meal has a digestibility pattern of between 56 to 61%. Soybean meal and whole-cell inactivated yeast have a lower protein digestibility at the beginning of the intestinal phase, with 49% and 46% respectively, while the potato protein concentrate is around 40% digestibility.
  
  

Did you know? Flash digestibility is important for young animals, especially as their gut is not yet mature and still not able to easily absorb and utilize protein fractions from the diet. Supplying young animals with a flash digestible protein source that is rich in free amino acids and small peptides will help them easily absorb and use those nutrients.

Figure 7 shows that the digestibility kinetics of protein is specific to different feed materials:

• Soybean meal protein digestibility increases up to 70% after 3 hours of the intestinal phase.

• The kinetics of protein digestibility for fish meal is between YELA PROSECURE and soybean meal, starting with 56% digestibility after the stomach, increasing to 81% after 3 hours in the intestine.

• The potato protein concentrate appears to have a slower protein digestibility kinetic over time (52% after 3 hours of the intestinal phase). Being rich in crude protein (77%), the potato protein concentrate will contribute to a high amount of non-digested protein in the animal gut.

Compared to these feed materials, YELA PROSECURE shows interesting kinetics of protein digestibility with more than 90% of the protein digested after 3 hours of the intestinal phase.

As a result, there is a negligeable amount of non-digested protein which reaches the lower gut. YELA PROSECURE is therefore, a valuable protein source which can help reduce the risk of gut dysbiosis associated with non-digested protein. In addition, flash and fast protein digestibility is important in terms of protein functionality with direct and indirect benefits for the animals.

Palatability in Pet food

Some free amino acids are also involved in the mechanism of taste and eating behavior including feed intake, therefore playing a role in palatability.

The comparison of average daily feed intake of dogs with YPS diet to dogs with Control diet (Figure 8) shows that the consumption of the YPS diet was significantly higher than the Control diet.

MATERIAL & METHODS

Duration: 4 days

Animals: 2 groups (Control and YPS) of 20 adult medium size dogs

Diet: premium dry petfood

Control - coated with 1% premium digest

YPS - coated with 1% YELA PROSECURE

YELA PROSECURE has shown the potential to enhance petfood palatability, likely related to the high natural content in specific free amino acids.

Conclusion

To meet growing pet food market demand — and to face the current challenges around global health and digestive care of pets — petfood manufactures and nutritionists are looking for alternative functional protein sources. Hydrolyzed yeasts are a promising and innovative functional protein source to consider, mainly due to the free amino acids and the small peptides obtained from the cracking (lysis) process of the protein. When the hydrolysis process is controlled, yeast has a standardized profile of free amino acids, which plays a positive role in the maintenance of pet gut health, contributing to the petfood protein balance and enhancing palatability. This is particularly of interest when applied to the diets of junior animals or in specialty petfood such as hypoallergenic diets.

By: Francesca Susca -Global Pet Product Manager- and Lisa Saibi -Product manager Yeast derivatives & antioxidants-.

Source: Lallemand Animal Nutrition

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