【Megazyme】High Quality Reagents for Animal Feed Analysis

High Quality Reagents for Animal Feed Analysis

Xylazyme & Xylazyme AX

The universal methods for the measurement of xylanase

Megazyme has recognised the need for simple and specific enzyme assay kits and reagents for the measurement of enzymes, carbohydrates and anti-nutritional components in animal feeds.

NUTRITIONAL QUALITIES OF FEED

Grains and legume seeds are major components of feed formulations and contain a range of anti-nutrients.

Examples include phytic acid and dietary fiber components such as β-glucan, arabinoxylan, cellulose, resistant starch and raffinose-oligosaccharides (ROS). These anti-nutrients are detrimental to the optimal digestibility of feed by animals and need to be measured accurately. The addition of appropriate enzymes to feed degrades these anti-nutrients, thereby improving the digestibility of the feed and increase its nutritional value.

Megazyme has developed accurate and specific methods and substrates for the measurement of the nutrients, anti-nutrients and key enzymes in feed.

ENZYMES

Megazyme is revolutionizing how enzymes are measured with the launch of its new range of colourimetric oligosaccharide substrates.

In the past, enzyme measurement was performed using reducing sugar enzyme assays (eg. DNSA) employing polysaccharides as substrates. In the 1980s, reducing sugar assays in the feed industry were replaced with procedures involving Megazyme’s dyed polysaccharide substrates (Xylazyme, b-Glucazyme, Amylazyme etc).

Tablet tests are extremely useful for the rapid, convenient and accurate assays of important enzymes such as xylanase, β-glucanase, α-amylase etc.

Despite the huge advantages of tablet tests, enzyme measurements obtained with them must always be related back to the benchmark ‘reference method’ which is based on reducing sugar assays.

Megazyme’s new XylX6 assay for the measurement of xylanase will surely become the new industrial ‘reference method’ given its many advantages over the traditional reducing sugar method.

XylX6 advantages:

Bespoke chemical structure:

Specific for endo-xylanase √

Analysis of crude extracts √

Analysis of purified enzymes √

Control standards included √

Chemically-defined substrate:

No variability between substrate batches √

Suitable for automation √

Quantitative assay, high sensitivity √

Thermal stability up to 50˚C √

XylX6 ASSAY CONDITIONS:

1) Incubate 50 μL of XylX6 reagent solution with 50 μL of xylanase extract (0-100 mU/mL of extract) in buffer at 40˚C.

2) Terminate incubation after 10 min with 1.5 mL of Tris buffer (2% w/v, pH 10).

3) Read absorbance at 400 nm which is directly related to xylanase activity

Better still!

Megazyme have developed similar assay kits for all of the important polysaccharide degrading enzymes found in animal feed.

• a-Amylase (K-CERA, K-AMYLSD)

• b-Glucanase / Lichenase (K-MBG4)

• endo-Cellulase (K-CellG5)

• endo-Xylanase (K-XylX6)