United States Patent:   5,972,910

Assignee:  Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Campbell, AU)

Filed:  July 23, 1997

A delivery system is provided to reduce methane production in animals or to improve the weight gain of an animal. Embodiments include a delivery system comprising a volatile and/or water soluble antimethanogenic agent with cyclodextrin or a cyclodextrin-like compound.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to overcome at least some of the difficulties of the prior art in delivering antimethanogenic agents to animals.

In work leading up to the present invention the inventors recognised the possibility that BMC and related antimethanogenic substances might form inclusion complexes with one or more cyclodextrins although these inclusion complexes had not been produced previously. It was also possible, but by no means certain, that these inclusion complexes might have properties which would enable them to be used as practical antimethanogens for suppressing methane production in animals.

The inventors have now demonstrated that inclusion complexes are formed with a number of antimethanogenic substances and show that these complexes have antimethanogenic properties and physical properties which made them suitable for administration of livestock by several available delivery processes. The BCM-.alpha.-cyclodextrin inclusion complex is shown for example to have properties particularly suitable for administration to livestock either as a feed additive or in a controlled release device, to suppress methane production and to give production benefits in cattle and sheep.

In its broadest form the present invention provides a delivery system for delivering a volatile and/or water soluble antimethanogenic agent to an animal, said system comprising a volatile and/or water soluble antimethanogenic agent with a cyclodextrin or cyclodextrin-like compound such that sustained release of said agent is provided.

Claim 1 of 5 Claims

1. A composition for use in animals comprising a volatile and/or water soluble antimethanogenic agent together with cyclodextrin or a cyclodextrin-like compound such that sustained release of said agent is provided, wherein said antimethanogenic agent is at least partly enclosed in, confined by, or encapsulated by said cyclodextrin or cyclodextrin-like compound.

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