Technology
Extrusion
What are the advantages of using extrusion in equine nutrition?
All our feeds are formulated with raw materials processed in-house according to a special extrusion technique, the result of decades of corporate experience and skills.
This technology specifically combines heat, pressure and humidity, causing an instantaneous rise in product temperature (thermal flash), followed by a cooling phase that prevents denaturation phenomena.
This makes our products extremely digestible and efficient.
Starch digestibility >90%
Heat treatments can strongly affect its digestibility.
At high temperatures, starch loses its ordered structure and turns into a disordered structure with the characteristics of a gel, becoming pre-digested by the animal: this process is called gelatinisation.
Extrusion enables higher temperatures to be reached compared to other technologies, making food extremely digestible and efficient.
In fact, starch digestibility is above 90% and this results in an optimised digestive process in the intestine.
This results in a lower risk of colic, laminitis and diseases related to an inappropriate diet for this delicate animal, as well as the possibility of formulating high energy rations for even the most neurotic horses.
Gelatinisation of starch
Extruded starch
Figure A is the result of tests carried out at our laboratory on products that have not undergone heat treatment: the starch has not gelatinised and will be poorly digested; in fact, the Maltese Cross is clearly visible under the microscope.
Figure B, on the other hand, shows the dissolving of the Maltese Cross structure and thus the complete gelatinisation of the starch in our products: a guarantee of maximum digestibility and proper intestinal function.
Fig.A
Cereal that has not undergone heat treatment
Fig.B
Cortal Horse extruded cereal
NDF digestibility >76%
Including our extruded feed in the horse’s diet naturally increases its digestibility.
Administering extruded feed improves the gastro-intestinal function and its ability to digest NDF, i.e., fibre composed of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin, compared to a conventional feed diet.
NDF digestibility
The result
Naturally digestible products
The specific temperatures, besides making the raw materials more digestible by the horse, also allow the deactivation of all anti-nutritional factors (e.g., linamarin in flax, urease in soya, etc.) further increasing the digestibility of the product.
The extruded raw materials are used to produce pellets and kibble, which, when combined, become feed specially formulated to meet the horse’s needs.
Pellets
Composed of extruded protein raw materials, fibrous raw materials, sources of fat and supplementation. They ensure the simultaneous and consistent intake of all nutrients at each meal
Extruded kibble
Source of gelatinised and therefore fully digestible starch
