This study explores the potential application of rice bran (agro waste) to nano-encapsulate phytase, which is a thermally unstable biologically active enzyme. Rice bran was converted to nanofibers (20-50 nm in diameter) using electrospinning. After optimizing the pH, viscosity, voltage and the distance between electrodes for electrospinning, phytase enzyme was encapsulated and the fibers were c...

A 43-yr-old male presented with a 6-month history of episodes of coughing, shortness of breath and fever. He suffered from dyspnoea on minor exertion. The patient worked in a cattle feed factory and noticed that he had more complaints after his working hours. His symptoms could be ascribed to hypersensitivity pneumonitis due to contact with phytase, an enzyme added to cattle feed to strengthen ...

A bacterial isolate derived from soil samples near a cattle farm was found to display extracellular phytase activity. Based on 16S rRNA sequence analysis, the strain was named Bacillus sp. T4. The optimum temperature for the phytase activity toward magnesium phytate (Mg-InsP6) was 40°C without 5 mM Ca(2+) and 50°C with 5 mM Ca(2+). T4 phytase had a characteristic bi-hump two pH optima of 6.0 to...

OBJECTIVE Phytase is a phosphatase derived from Aspergillus niger that enhances phosphate bioavailability in the gut, and therefore has been increasingly used as an animal feed additive since the early 1990s. The aim of this study was to assess whether work related respiratory symptoms among workers in a so called premix factory producing animal feed additives, could be due to type I (mediated ...

Two studies investigated the effect of a thermo-tolerant E.coli-derived phytase (QuantumTM) on performance and bone parameters of broilers fed diets varying in content of available phosphorus (AP), metabolizable energy (ME) and total lysine (TLYS). A 48-day floor pen trial used 80 pens of 16 male broilers fed corn/soya/meat-bone meal based diets formulated to commercial averages (AS) or below. ...

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor Moench) is the fifth most produced cereal worldwide. However, some varieties of this cereal contain antinutritional factors, such as tannins and phytate that may form stable complexes with proteins and minerals which decreases digestibility and nutritional value. The present study sought to diminish antinutritional tannins and phytate present in sorghum grains. Three di...

The effects of phytic acid and 2 sources of exogenous phytase (bacterial vs. fungal) on the flow of endogenous amino acids at the terminal ileum of broilers were assessed using the enzyme-hydrolyzed casein method. Phytic acid (as the sodium salt) was included in a purified diet at 8.5 and 14.5 g/kg, and each diet was fed without or with a fungal (Aspergillus niger-derived) or a bacterial (Esche...

During the past decade, the inclusion of microbial phytase in poultry diets has increased remarkably, mainly in response to heightened concerns over phosphorus (P) pollution of the environment. The capacity of this feed enzyme to release phytate-bound P and reduce P excretion is now well documented. Effectively, phytase is an alternative, economical P source and, as global phosphate reserves ar...