Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Plant material is basic ingredient other than extract,...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-02
2001-07-10
Sayala, Chhaya D. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Plant material is basic ingredient other than extract,...
C426S656000, C426S658000, C426S807000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06258399
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a food composition for young chicks, in particular day old chicks.
In A. K. Zubair et al, World's Poultry Science Journal, Vol. 52, 1996, pp. 189-201, it is described that improvements of the quality of the nutrition of broilers have provided the possibility of increasing their growth rate in modern broiler strains. The increased growth is reflected in either an increased weight of the grown up chicken, or in a reduction of the period of time required for obtaining a grown up chicken. The growth rate of a young chick has been found to vary with its age. Thereby, the most dramatic growth rate increase is manifested primarily in the first four weeks after hatching, when the young chick has to change from endogenous nutrition through the yolk sac of the egg, to exogenous nutrition. An increased growth rate in these first four weeks has been found to involve an increased weight of grown up broilers at the age of 42 days or more, that are ready for consumption. Namely, a correlation seems to exist between the weight of a young bird at an age of 6 days and the weight of the corresponding grown up chicken after 4 to 6 weeks, when it is ready for consumption.
In “The handbook of poultry farming”, Beekbergen, The Netherlands, 1994, p. 181-183, it is disclosed that, in order to achieve an increased growth rate, the nutrition of young chicks on the first days after hatching has to be seriously reduced. Thereto, the young chicks do not receive any or hardly any food in the first days of their life. It is namely believed that after chicks have been deprived of nutrition during their first days of life, they show compensatory growth when they receive food in a subsequent stage. Compensatory growth can be defined as an abnormally rapid growth relative to the age of the animal.
It is also believed that young chicks, should be deprived of food until they have resorbed their yolk sac in order to speed up its resorption, and that exogenous food may only be supplied after resorption of the yolk sac. It was namely believed that only the young bird starts growing only after resorption of the yolk sac.
This way of feeding young chicks however has the disadvantage of still involving an undesired mortality amongst the chicks, especially during the first week of their life, and thus a loss of production efficiency.
In JP-A-0 6209719 it is disclosed to feed single-stomach domestic animals such as chickens, during the period from the newborn stage through the weaning stage with a feed composition so as to prevent diarrhoea glutamine-containing and promoting the growth. The feed composition further comprises corn, wheat flour which are generally known to contain small amounts of maltose. There is however no teaching in JP-A-06209719 that maltose would have any growth enhancing effect.
It is the aim of the present invention to provide a food composition with which the above described undesired mortality of young chicks can be reduced.
This is achieved according to the invention in that the food composition for day old chicks contains an amount of a monosaccharide, a disaccharide, oligosaccharide or a mixture thereof.
The food composition of the present invention is especially meant for feeding young chicks during the first four to five days after hatching. Thereafter, they can switch to the usual food for chickens.
The monosaccharide, disaccharide, oligosaccha-ride or mixture thereof may for example be supplied as a glucose syrup, maltodextrins, in the liquid phase or in the dehydrated solid state. The disaccharide may for example be &agr;-maltose, &bgr;-maltose, cellobiose, or a mixture thereof, or any other disaccharide generally known to the man skilled in the art. Glucose syrup mostly contains mono-, di-, tri- as well as oligosaccharides and maltodextrins. The saccharides of this invention are meant to include those saccharides that can be metabolised by the young chick, and used for the development and growth of its body. The saccharides of this invention are not meant to include those saccharides. that can only be absorbed by the intestinal flora and used by these micro organisms for their own development.
By feeding day old chicks on their first hours and during the first days after hatching with the food composition of the present invention, the mortality degree of the chicks during the first 4-6 weeks of their life can be reduced with about 40%. After the young chicks have been fed with the food composition of the present invention during the first four to five days of their life, they are ready to receive and capable of digesting the commonly used food that is supplied to chickens to grow them in the appropriate way.
It has namely been found that with the food composition of the present invention, the resorption of the yolk sac can be accelerated. Since the growth of the young chick only starts after the yolk sac has been resorbed, by feeding day old chicks with the food composition of the present invention an earlier initiation of the growth can be obtained. It is thus not necessary anymore to await the resorption of the yolk sac before feeding young chicks with exogenous food. The earlier start of the growth of the young chicks is moreover reflected in an increased weight of the grown up chicken. Also, the enhanced resorption of the yolk sac is involves a decrease of the mortality of the chicks due to infection of the yolk sac during the first days of their life.
By feeding day old chicks with the food composition of the present invention the transition from the rather simple nutrient source of the yolk sac, mainly fat, to the much more complex usual exogenous food is facilitated. The intestinal track of the day old chick namely appears to be capable of splitting disaccharides to monosaccharides and of splitting oligosaccharides to disaccharides, which than in turn may be split to the corresponding monosaccharides. The wall of the intestinal tract of the young chick is capable of absorbing the monosaccharides, which involves an earlier onset of the carbohydrate digestion mechanism, an earlier start of the functioning of the intestinal tract and thus a facilitated and earlier start of the functioning of the metabolism of the young chick.
Through the early activation of the carbohydrate metabolism, the production of growth stimulating hormones by the hypophysis, and thus the growth of the young chicks, is stimulated at an earlier stage. This results in an advanced onset of the growth of the young birds, which in turn is reflected in an increased weight of the grown up chickens. This is in contrast with the generally accepted theory, that a young chick should be deprived from nutrition in the first days of its life in order to enable it of exhibiting compensatory growth.
The advanced start of the carbohydrate digestion mechanism indirectly involves an advanced development of the immune response system of the young chicks. In that way the formation of leukocytes is stimulated, which results in an improved immune response system, and a decreased mortality degree amongst the young chicks. When depriving the one day old chick from food, as is done according to the state of the art, the immunity of the young chick after hatching is limited to the maternal immunity, which is often insufficient for protecting the young chick from diseases.
Furthermore, by feeding the young chicks immediately after hatching with the food composition of the present invention, the growth rate of the young chicks can be increased. Whereas according to the state of the art after 14 days, approximately 50% of the broilers have a body weight of between 365 and 390 gram, this can be increased to a body weight of between 440 and 465 gram by feeding the day old chicks with the food composition of the present invention, during the first four to five days of their life. Thereafter, they can be fed with the usual food for chickens. According to the invention the number averaged weight of the chickens at an age of 14 days can be increased with 15%, as compared with the state of the art. This incr
Keereman Patrick
Vermeersch Germain
Sayala Chhaya D.
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
VITAMEX
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