Amino Acids for Plants: Disadvantages of Chemically Hydrolyzed Amino Acids

• Most Southern European producers, including Spain and Italy, work with by-products (collagen) from the tannery so it can be stated that the source material does not come from a clean production process. To obtain free amino acids from these collagen products, they must be chemically hydrolyzed to obtain amino acids in a free form. There is no discussion about this. You must chemically process to obtain free amino acids in an acceptable percentage. See image:

• There are companies that claim to enzymatically or thermally hydrolyze collagen, but in this case, the % of free amino acids will be very low (which is also why this is often not mentioned on analyses).
• During chemical or alkaline hydrolysis, all proteins are racemized and lose their original source material and part of their phytohormonal activity, and free amino acids in a D-form are also formed which can have a negative impact.
• The % of nitrogen says nothing about the quality of the product, but the % of L-a-amino acids and oligopeptides is relevant for these types of products (the higher this %, the better) and the absence of amino acids in a D-form. The question is therefore what the L-a-amino acids and oligopeptides % and the D-amino acids % in these products are. This allows you to make an honest comparison. Always ask for an analysis from an independent lab.

Advantages of Our Enzymatically Hydrolyzed Amino Acids

• Our amino acids are obtained through enzymatic hydrolysis, a pharmaceutical and clean process that is a strictly controlled process.
• Our amino acids are obtained through an enzymatic hydrolysis (no racemized proteins) whereby the amino acids of proteins are broken down into L-a-amino acids and oligopeptide amino acids via a natural process, which are plant-relevant amino acids, and no D-amino acids are formed during this process.
• Our amino acids are incomparable with products obtained from the tannery industry or manufactured from skin scraps because both the quality of our source material, the production process, and the % of relevant L-a-amino acids and oligopeptides are much higher and there are no D-amino acids present. In addition, our amino acids have a high free and balanced L-amino acid pattern.

Amino Acid Pattern Contains 20 Types of L-Amino Acids

L-amino acids - also known as free amino acids - consist of various amino acid elements. All these amino acid elements together form the so-called amino acid pattern. An amino acid pattern consists of 20 elements. Each amino acid element has an important and specific function for the development of a plant.

The 20 free L-shaped amino acids are; alanine, arginine, aspartic acid, cystine, glutamine, glycine, histidine, hydroxproline, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, taurine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, valine.

In the overview below, it is clearly shown which type of L-amino acid is responsible for which function in the plant.

What Happens If You Use Too Many Amino Acids? Do the Plants Die?

Too much is never good. Too much salt gives you high blood pressure, too much fat gives you a heart attack, too much sun gives you skin cancer, etc.

It's no different for plants, too many fertilizers poison the soil and then the plants, too many pesticides cause harm to humans, the environment and plants, and too much sun causes burning and drying out.

Biologically active amino acids (L-amino acids) are not aggressive like fertilizers or pesticides, so the chance of damage from an overdose of L-amino acids is negligible.
BUT...
Amino acid products can contain D-amino acids, auxiliary and/or ballast substances such as salts (especially sodium and to a lesser extent chloride salts) and heavy metals that can indeed cause damage.
Just as there are thousands of different types of wine that differ in composition and quality (e.g., depending on the raw material, in this case, the quality of the grape), there are also many different amino acid products that are better or worse. To get the best from amino acid products, it is advisable to pay careful attention to the quality of the amino acid product.

Different Amino Acids on the Market, with Much Quality Difference. So Pay Close Attention to What You Buy.

There are many amino acid products on the market that are certainly not all the same. The raw materials, auxiliary substances, additives, ballast substances, and production process differ per product. In general, the following applies:

Raw materials are of animal or plant origin, or a mixture thereof. Most amino acid products are made from collagen-containing substances (hoof, horn, bone, skin, blood vessels, gelatin) and some from waste streams (fermentations, pharmaceutical processes). Animal products contain higher concentrations of amino acids than plant products.

Amino acids from collagen are predominantly obtained through chemical transformations (hydrolysis). This is necessary to break down the hard collagen material. The disadvantage of chemical hydrolysis is that many amino acids are broken down in the production process, which ultimately results in a product with only a few amino acids in higher concentrations. This can be seen by making an amino acid profile. During chemical hydrolysis, about 50% D-amino acids are also formed, which plants cannot use. Finally, the concentrations of ballast substances (heavy metals, salt) can be relatively high in chemically hydrolyzed products.

Enzymatically obtained products predominantly consist of L-amino acids that can be used by the plant and have a broader, more varied amino acid profile because no destruction of amino acids occurs during hydrolysis.

The raw materials suitable for enzymatic hydrolysis generally contain fewer ballast substances, but some producers then add salt as a preservative or as a fertilizer. A simple EC measurement can indicate the salt level in a product. Aminocore products have an EC value of less than 25 mS/cm, while the EC value of a product on the market made from similar raw materials showed a value above 185 mS/cm. The latter is then to be considered more as (expensive) fertilizer rather than a pure amino acid product.

Finally, a word about the difference between plant and animal amino acid products. There is absolutely no difference between the structure or function of the same type of amino acid from plants or animals. The societal debate is mainly about the production process (chemical hydrolysis versus enzymatic) and the risk related to the raw material (microbes, ballast substances, and prions). Non-collagen-related animal amino acid products that are enzymatically hydrolyzed and contain low levels of microbes and ballast substances are at least as safe as plant products. The presence of prions in animal material is known from the BSE crisis, but what is not so well known is that prions have also been detected in plants, soil, yeasts, and manure. Moreover, animal by-products are now much more strictly controlled than plant products.

As a raw material for our amino acid products, 100% enzymatically hydrolyzed material is used, from which a human medicine is first extracted. This gives an indication of the safety of our raw material. Of course, we also guarantee low levels of ballast substances and microbes.