6-GINGEROL AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES AS MONITORING PARAMETER FOR A NATURAL GROWTH PROMOTER NBIOTIC TM PREMIX DURING FEED PELLETIZATION STRESS

Background: Feed is an important input for poultry and swine production, representing 50–70% of the total production costs. Feed processing provides an opportunity to improve poultry and swine performance. Herbal gut function modulators are used in poultry and swine feeds to improve nutrient utilization and efficiencies of biomass production. Nbiotic™ Premix is a phytoformulation of AYURVET LIMITED, INDIA used in poultry and swine as a natural growth promoter (NGP) to effectively replace antibiotic growth promoters (AGP). Pelletization used to prevent wastage of feed, reduce bulk and improve digestibility and palatability. In present work we have assessed the stability of the Nbiotic™ Premix herbal formulation under different pelletization thermal stress conditions. Methods: Formulation was kept under controlled temperature (90oC) and moisture (2.0 % w/w) for different time intervals (0, 5, 10 minutes). Chromatographic techniques (HPLC and HPTLC) and physicochemical properties were used to monitor the formulations stability. Nbiotic™ Premix was stable at all the experimental investigation of pelletization thermal stress. Results: No significant change in the 6-gingerol content (250.0 ppm (± 2.0 % at RT 10.05 minutes) and difference between peak areas and the retention factor (RF) values for the control samples and various thermal stress conditioned samples were observed. A comprehensive study of HPLC and HPTLC measurements have been applied for assessing the stability of Nbiotic™ Premix. Developed methods (HPLC & HPTLC) were found to be rapid, sensitive and reliable in determining its stability. As evident, Nbiotic™ Premix can undergo pelletization process without any degradation. In conclusion, present study will help towards developing appropriate stability monitoring parameters for herbal products which is a major challenge in the nutraceutical industry in current scenario.