Bacitracin determination in feeds: evaluation of methods

Assay of bacitracin activity in feeds is subject to many sources of variation. Bacitracin standards are complex mixtures and may contain various amounts of less active forms of bacitracin. Test organisms may respond differently to these mixtures. Collaborative studies should involve the use of one standard, perhaps USP zinc bacitracin. The use of different types of bacitracin standards (regular or zinc) in a laboratory may contribute to variation in sample potency. The pyridine extraction method is subject to serious operational difficulties. Among the contributing factors are incomplete evaporation of pyridine (causing positive bias), allowing the temperature to increase too much during evaporation (causing negative bias), and the numerous manipulative steps in the technique (causing large variability). Because of these factors and the toxic properties of pyridine, the method finds little use. Methanol extraction offers a better substitute for determining zinc or methylene disalicylate bacitracin in premixes and complete feeds by the plate method.