For table-top NIR instruments, the company has introduced new calibrations for various insect and seafood meals as well as for cattle feed.
When asked why these recalibrations were necessary, Dr. Ingolf Reimann, Head of Analytics in the Animal Nutrition division of the German company company
“Insect meals are playing an increasingly important role in the animal feed industry. Marine products are most relevant to the aquatic feed industry. The quality of these products is very variable due to different types and production systems, which leads to significant differences in the nutrient composition. By using AMINONIR, the nutritional composition of each raw material batch can be analyzed quickly and reliably and data can be used to optimize the feed. “
Reimann weighs the advantages for the industry, according to Reimann, that customers benefit from efficient use of raw materials, fewer fluctuations in feed quality and animal performance and ultimately lower safety margins, less waste and lower costs.
The new calibrations, he said, support meals made from the Black Soldier Fly (BSF), silkworms, earthworms and mealworms.
“With our marine species calibration, shrimp meal, squid meal and krill meal can be analyzed. The cow feed calibration is suitable for energy and protein concentrates that are fed to cattle and dairy cows. All relevant raw nutrients are covered. “
Nutritional composition of new protein sources
Will this development help increase the feed industry’s access to new protein sources?
“With insect meal as an upcoming feed raw material, knowledge of the nutrient composition is essential. Without this knowledge, the integration of such alternative feed raw materials would not be possible. Not knowing the exact nutrient composition would lead to high safety margins and to economic and ecological inefficiencies. “
The calibrations for raw materials such as corn, fish meal and soybean meal have also been updated.
“Evonik continuously monitors the performance of all AMINONIR calibrations and updates them regularly with the latest global samples from the market. This allows new processing conditions, genotypes and the latest influences of climatic conditions to be taken into account. In this way, the most robust and most suitable calibration is provided, ”says the head of analytical services.
In addition, the company has added new functionalities such as faster initial setup and scanning of samples as well as integration options for barcodes and geodata in the AMINONIR Portable App. The idea, according to Reimann, is to make processes easier by reducing manual work for the user in critical process steps. “Examples of this are that we offer applications in 14 languages to choose from and with additional functionalities we give customers the option of scanning barcodes instead of entering data and using geospatial data, which reduces the need for manual entry.”
