Lutein is a carotenoid widely found in vegetables, flowers, fruits and other plants. Marigold flowers mainly contain flavonoids, carotenoids, cyanidin, amino acids, vitamins and other substances. They are the main raw materials for extracting natural lutein and have broad market prospects. my country has used it as a natural colorant in feed additives. In recent years, with the expansion of breeding scale and the use of artificial compound feed, the color of fish began to appear abnormal, which reduced the value of aquatic products. The addition of lutein in special aquatic feed not only has an effect on fish coloring, but also shows the effects of promoting growth, improving the activity of digestive enzymes and reducing fat accumulation to a certain extent. It can also be used in poultry products, such as improving the skin of broilers, and at the same time added to chicken feed  to improve the nutritional value of eggs. It is expected to become a new functional feed additive and be used in feed.

Feed-grade natural lutein  is a natural carotenoid coloring agent extracted from marigold flowers. The product is in the form of yellow powder. It has excellent coloring performance and effect. It is widely used in poultry skin, fat, leg and egg yolk coloring, and can also be used in Coloring of trout, salmon and shrimp.

Products are natural colorants, compared to synthetic colors:

1. Low cost, safer, reliable and healthy;

2. High degree of saponification, good absorption and coloring effect;

3. After anti-oxidation and coating treatment, the quality is stable and efficient.

Application of lutein in farming:

Through continuous technical improvement, the coloring effect of the product is continuously improved, which can significantly improve the quality of poultry and aquatic animals and improve economic benefits. It is a natural pigment extracted from marigold flowers by scientific methods. The main component is lutein. The product has bright color and strong coloring power. It is widely used in food, medicine, cosmetics, feed and other industries.

We all know that poultry cannot synthesize lutein by themselves, so lutein in feed is the main source of egg yolk color. The deposition regularity of different levels of lutein in the yolk in the diet will affect the production performance. The color of the egg yolk will become more attractive, which can meet the needs of the market and improve the quality of eggs to a higher level, thereby achieving a good profit margin.

Lutein in feed is the main source of skin color. The rate at which lutein enters the bloodstream peaks after 12 hours (Hamilton). It takes 10-15 days for broiler chickens to start eating lutein until the skin turns yellow. Therefore, lutein additives are generally carried out in the middle and late stages of broiler breeding.

Yellow corn soybean meal-based rations contain 10-12mg/kg of natural lutein, and the chromaticity of chicken legs can reach 4-5 degrees of Roche color fan (RYCF value). If corn gluten powder or leaf lutein is added to the ration Flour, etc. can make the lutein content reach 20mg/kg, and the chroma can reach more than 6 degrees. When the lutein level in the diet was 58.36mg/kg, it could significantly improve the fat color of chicken legs, carcass and abdomen. Marigold extract can significantly improve the coloring of broiler shank, and with the growth of time, the chromaticity value is extremely significantly increased, but the chromaticity growth rate is extremely significantly decreased with the increase of time.

The application of lutein in fish, the coloring agent can improve the body color of farmed fish, shrimp and ornamental fish. It can be directly deposited in scales, skin, fat tissue and eggs, such as pond fish, Chinese soft-shelled turtle, etc.; it can also be converted into astaxanthin and then deposited in tissues, such as Atlantic salmon, goldfish, etc. Fish can synthesize melanin by themselves, but cannot synthesize carotenoids de novo, so different sources of carotenoids must be obtained from the feed.

Because of the above-mentioned important functions, the economic value of lutein is quite high, and in the long run, the demand space is very large, and the situation of short supply in the future is likely to appear.

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