Stirling Products Limited (ASX: STI) Produces 30 Per Cent Leaner Chicken In Trial Using Beta Agonist Growth Promotion Product Says CEO Dr Calvin London

Chickens with nearly 30 per cent less fat have been produced in a trial using a new animal growth promotion agent.

Perth-based biotechnology company Stirling Products Limited (ASX: STI) www.stirlingproducts.net initiated the study to measure the effects of ST810, the same compound (R-salbutamol) that is the active ingredient used to treat asthma in humans.

“The results are significant because they confirm our belief that this product will have major benefits for both consumers and producers in producing chickens with more lean muscle and less fat in a more efficient and environmentally sound way,” said Stirling Managing Director, Dr Calvin London.

The study was completed at Massey University in New Zealand and follows similar results produced in pig trials.

“These trails confirm ST810 works across a range of animal species and based on data from the United States Department of Agriculture, producers can achieve price premiums of nearly 30 per cent for chickens with less than 20 per cent fat,” Dr London said.

Other significant results from the trial found ST810 increased muscle or lean meat by nearly 11 per cent and improved feed efficiency and carcass recovery by 5 per cent.

The poultry industry is expected to be a major market for the product because the world consumes more than 46 billion chickens each year, with 9 billion of these in the US.

About Stirling Products:

Stirling Products is commercialising patented animal growth promoters that turn fat into protein and improve feed efficiencies in poultry, sheep, pigs, cattle and fish. These products will play a major role in reducing the global use of antibiotics and steroids for animal growth promotion.

About ST810:

ST810 is a beta agonist growth promoter and fine-tunes the metabolism in animals to produce more lean muscle and less fat in a range of animal species. It is considered a viable alternative to the use of antibiotics and steroids, which are being banned in many countries because of disease resistance and human health concerns.

About The Chicken Trial:

The aim of the study was to determine the lowest dose of ST810 that did not produce an effect and compare this to the lowest dose that was commercially viable.

The study was designed to decrease the doses of ST810 in chickens to determine this no-effect dose level. Performed in broiler chickens at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand under the supervision of Dr Ravi Ravindran, 21-day old broiler chickens (120 male and 120 females) were studied for their response to low doses of ST810 in the feed.

The broiler chickens were divided equally (24 birds/group) among five different treatment groups – a control, a group receiving 1 ppm, 2 ppm, or 5 ppm of ST810 and an additional group that were fed a diet containing 5ppm of ST810 supplemented with 100 ppm of zinc bacitracin (an antibiotic commonly used in the poultry industry).

Birds were fed a commercial pellet diet (with or without ST810) from day 21 to day 42. Individual body weights and pen feed intake were recorded weekly and the lean meat and fat content determined at the end of the study.

Results from the study show that ST810 at a concentration of 1part per million (ppm) in the chicken feed is the no-effect dose. In some attributes however, such as increase in leg muscle weight, there were still significant increases (+7%), which demonstrates the high potency of ST810. Responses were significantly improved at 2 ppm, but to varying degrees with different parameters.

The most significant results from this study were the confirmation of the beneficial effects of ST810 at a low dose of 5 ppm. ST810 produced a reduction in feed consumption of up to 5.5% and a massive reduction in body fat of 28.6% in males and 23.5% in females.

Feed represents one of the major cost inputs for poultry producers.

Statistical analysis will be on-going for several months and the results of residue levels in the tissue samples will be processed and reported when they become available.

ENDS

For All Media Enquiries Contact: Managing Director, Dr Calvin London on
T: +618 9480 1480, M: +61(0)400 204616 or W: www.stirlingproducts.net