CORYNE Methionin production

Background and Objective

Lack of feedstuffs of 100% organic origin with high protein quality is an important problem for the implentation of 100% organic feeding. This is affecting mongastric livestock but especially poultry feeding due to the important role of the essential amino acid Methionin for animal health and animal welfare.

The project’s aim is to produce Methionin for organic monogastric feeding with the help of Corynebacterium glutamicum type KY 10575 in accordance with the Council Regulations EC No 834/2007 and EC No 889/2008.

Approach

The 3-year-project (10/204 - 09/2017) consits of 2 sub-projects. Sub-project 1 is don by e.nema, a company which is responsible for the semi-industrial Methionin production via Corynebacterium glutamicum. Sub-project 2 is managed by Thuenen-Institute of Organic Farming with two organic agricultural advisory services and the University Hohenheim as subcontractors. The Thuenen-Institute is responsible for the (i) official authorisation of the Methionin-substrate appropriate to the above mentioned organic Council Regulations (with the help of the organic agricultural advisory services), (ii) analytical Methionin determination incl. rapid test development and NIRS methods (in interchange with e.nema), (iii) feed value determination for poultry (with the help of University Hohenheim), and (iv) feeding trials with broilers at the Thuenen-Institute’s research farm (with the help of the organic agricultural advisory services).

Results

Unfortunately, the production of Corynebacterium glutamicum with satisfying concentrations of methionine could not be upscaled from the laboratory scale to the semi-industrial scale. Therefore the project was terminated prematurely, and no feeding trials were conducted.