Building on the success of the well-received first MetAMINO^® ATLAS, published in 2022, the second version provides the latest research and new scientific insights on the nutritional value of DL-methionine compared to other methionine sources. The ATLAS comprises 144 pages, grouped into 4 sections:

    - Nutritional Value Trials

 

    - Videos

 

    - Amino Acid Recommendations

 

    - Articles & Abstracts

The 2nd edition of the MetAMINO^® ATLAS showcases 19 new nutritional value trials in 12 countries on 4 continents with more than 2 million animals. Trials were conducted under experimental settings in small scale pen research facilities and under practical conditions at large scale commercial farms.

All trials demonstrated significant cost savings and consistent animal performance when 100 units of methionine hydroxy analog (MHA) products were replaced with 65 units of MetAMINO^® in feeds for:

    - Broilers

 

    - Layers

 

    - Ducks

 

    - Turkeys

 

    - Swine

 

    - Aquatic species

These studies impressively reconfirmed that the "65% bio-efficacy concept" of MetAMINO^® is universally applicable – for all MHA products, in captioned monogastric and aqua species, under all nutritional settings, climate and production conditions.

 

The release of the 2nd edition of the MetAMINO^® ATLAS was necessitated by the emergence of new scientific studies on methionine bioavailability, including three review articles featuring meta-analyses on methionine sources in broiler and turkey nutrition, amino acid recommendations, and the latest developments on the sustainability aspects of MetAMINO^® (Carbon Footprint on page 140). This edition reflects Evonik's commitment to providing the most current and scientifically robust information to support the animal nutrition industry's move towards more sustainable and cost-effective practices.

The studies were conducted under a variety of conditions, covering different monogastric farm and aqua species, different nutritional settings, as well as different climate zones and geographic locations.

Various methionine products and their respective precursors including:

    - MetAMINO^® (DL-methionine 99%)

 

    - PROXYMet™ (a mixture of 65% of DL-methionine and 35% calcium carbonate)

 

    - Methionine hydroxy analog free acid (MHA-FA)

 

    - Methionine hydroxy analog calcium salt (MHA-Ca) and

 

    - L-methionine (99%)

The trials were conducted under farm conditions including:

    - Small scale pen facilities

 

    - Large-scale commercial poultry barns.

Several trials reported in the MetAMINO^® ATLAS challenged the applicability of a 65% bioefficacy for MHA-FA relative to MetAMINO^® not only at optimal but also at suboptimal dietary Met+Cys specifications.

Under suboptimal Met+Cys supply, the 100:65-challenge test has higher sensitivity and thus provides an even stronger confirmation. For example, a 12-week trial (Graph 1 and Table 1; ATLAS trial no. 3 and pages 18-19) was conducted with laying hens in Mexico.

 

The performance of the MetAMINO^® treatments (Graph 1) was similar to that of the MHA-FA treatments, while the performance level decreased with the reduced Met+Cys specification.

Another two nutritional value studies comparing methionine and its analogue products in:

    - Low crude protein (LCP) and standard crude protein (SCP) diets and

 

    - Reduced Met + Cys specifications

These studies were conducted with broilers at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Table 2 and Graph 2; ATLAS trials no. 9-10 and pages 32-35). In all diets comprising recommended and reduced Met+Cys specifications in standard and protein-reduced feed formulations, the replacement of MHA-FA by 65% DL-Met revealed the same animal performance (Graph 2).

 

Readers of the MetAMINO^® ATLAS can find another study (ATLAS trial no. 5 and pages 22-23 ) of this kind, conducted in cooperation with Penn State University in Pennsylvania, USA.

It can be concluded that replacing 100 parts of MHA products with 65 part of DL-methionine yields similar broiler growth performance and processing parameters, independent of the dietary Met+Cys and protein levels.

Moreover, trial no. 14 carried out at the Animal Science Research Institute of Iran (ASRI), proves that birds fed MHA-FA containing diets exhibit:

    - No acidifying effects for replacing organic acids to reduce diet costs

 

    - Nor any higher anti-oxidant (microbial) and gut health advantages

No significant differences were found between the two methionine sources and levels regarding the oxidative status, cecal microbial population, GIT sections pH and feed bacterial and fungal count (Table 3 and Graphs 3 + 4 ; ATLAS trial no. 14 and pages 44-45):

 

Besides comparable animal performance, the financial savings are significant when replacing MHA products with MetAMINO in the 100:65 ratio in commercial feed. Several large scale trials prove it:

    - no. 1     Brazil           217,000 mixed-sex Cobb broilers

 

    - no. 8     Germany      408,500 hatched Ross 308 broilers

 

    - no. 16   China           838,000 Cherry Valley ducks

 

    - no. 17   China           212,000 Ross 308 broiler

 

    - no. 18   China           379,300 Cherry Valley ducks

 

    - no. 19   China           120,000 Hy-line brown laying hens

 

 

 

To complement the study results, the MetAMINO^® Calculator App (see download instruction on page 58 in the ATLAS) supports you in calculating your individual saving potential.

 

 

During the trial, it was found that for every metric ton of feed, 2.95/kg of liquid MHA-FA or only 1.92/kg of DL-methionine per metric ton of feed was required, averaged over feeding phases. Assuming a price of € 2.50/kg DLM and €2.00/kg MHA-FA, using DLM saves €1.10 per metric ton of feed (Table 2). This equals an amount of over €10,000 per year for this farm.

Similar savings were observed in the four trials in China:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Methionine is an important ingredient in compound feed and premixes to optimize the economic and ecological aspect of feed and livestock production under a broad variety of regional conditions. Methionine is the first limiting essential amino acid in poultry and many aqua species, and typically third limiting in swine diets. Therefore, much research continues, even though Evonik started commercial production 75 years ago. With the 2nd edition of the MetAMINO^® ATLAS, Evonik contributes to "Sciencing The Global Food Challenge".

Evonik confirms that 65 units of MetAMINO^® achieve comparable performance to 100 units of MHA-FA or MHA-Ca, under any nutritional settings, any production conditions and at any time, while allowing for significant saving when using DL-methionine.

As a sustainability-oriented company, Evonik is committed to planting one tree with "GROW MY TREE" (growmytree.com) for every DOWNLOAD of the MetAMINO^® ATLAS 2.0 to avoid printing paper versions. You can download a free copy at www.metamino.com or by scanning the QR code. Planting trees is one of the most effective solutions in the fight against climate change, as trees pull about ~ 22 kg of CO2 out of the air each year.

Get your free copy of the MetAMINO^® ATLAS 2.0 here:
https://metamino.evonik.com/en.html

 

 

Dr. Pradeep Krishnan – Regional Technical Director Asia Pacific
Dr. Andreas Lemme – Global Senior Consulting Expert - Poultry Nutrition
Nils Niedner – Director Product Management MetAMINO^®