Chelates in animal nutrition

Zinc sample

Chelates in Animal Food

Chelates (che·late) [kee-leyt] within the context of animal nutrition refer to organic forms of essential trace minerals like copper, iron, manganese, and zinc. These organic forms are favored in animal nutrition because they are more bioavailable; that is, they are absorbed, digested, and utilized more efficiently by animals compared to their inorganic counterparts.

Advantages of Chelated Minerals

• Enhanced Absorption: Chelated minerals are better absorbed in the digestive tract, which means animals require lower dietary concentrations.
• Environmental Benefit: Due to their efficient absorption, animals excrete fewer chelates. This results in reduced mineral excretion and consequently, decreased environmental contamination.
• Health and Welfare: Providing animals with chelated minerals can lead to improved overall health, potentially reducing the incidence of diseases and enhancing animal welfare.

Brief History of Chelates

Animal feed supplementation with essential trace minerals like copper (Cu), iron (Fe), iodine (I), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn) began in earnest during the 1950s. Originally, inorganic salts were used for this purpose. However, as genetic enhancements in livestock became prevalent in the 1960s, there arose a heightened demand for these nutrients. To meet these evolving needs, chelated minerals were introduced in the 1980s and 1990s. Research has since established that chelated minerals are superior to inorganic ones in fulfilling the dietary requirements of contemporary farm animals.

Error creating thumbnail:

Caption describing the image

Role and Source of Minerals

Trace minerals are paramount in staving off an array of deficiency diseases. They play vital roles in several metabolic processes, predominantly acting as catalysts for enzymes and hormones. This makes them indispensable for ensuring optimal health, growth, and productivity in animals. For instance:

• They aid in bone development, growth, and appetite regulation.
• They influence feather quality in avians and improve hoof, skin, and hair quality in mammals.
• They are crucial for enzyme structure and functionality.

From the 1950s to the 1990s, inorganic minerals were the primary source of trace mineral supplementation, successfully mitigating many deficiency-related ailments in farm animals. However, the transition to organic forms like chelates further improved animal health outcomes.

For instance, in dairy cattle, the significance of minerals, particularly zinc, for fertility and disease prevention is evident. Organic forms of zinc are better retained in the body compared to inorganic forms. This has implications for preventing diseases like mastitis and lameness.

Poultry and nutrition

Sources of essential minerals

In recent decades, global food animal production has intensified and genetic potential for growth and yields has improved. As a result commercial tendencies have been to increase trace mineral supplementation,in order to allow for the greater mineral requirements of superior stock reared under industrial conditions. Increasing the concentration of inorganic minerals in animal diets has led to several problems.

The use of high Cu in swine and poultry rations has caused accidental Cu poisoning in more sensitive animals, such as sheep grazing pastures fertilised with pig or poultry manure SCAN (2003a) Opinion of the Scientific Committee for Animal Nutrition on the use of copper in feedingstuffs. Secondly, inorganic minerals may form insoluble complexes with other dietary agents resulting in low absorption. In addition, it is thought that the positive charge of many inorganic minerals reduces access to the enterocytes due to repulsion by the negatively charged mucin layer and competition for binding sites.

Finally, the poor retention and high excretion rates of inorganic minerals led to environmental concerns during the 1980s and 1990s, especially in Europe .Opinion of the Scientific Committee for Animal Nutrition on the use of zinc in feedingstuffs]. The European Union is concerned about possible detrimental effects of excess supplementation with trace minerals on the environment or human and animal health, and so in 2003 legislated a reduction in permitted feed concentrations of several trace metals (Co, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn).

Research in trace element nutrition has led to the development of more bioavailable organic minerals, including trace minerals derived from chelates. Chelates allow a lower supplementation rate of trace minerals with an equivalent or improved effect on animal health, growth and productivity . Some samples of natural minerals at the Wikimedia Commons:

Particular types of Chelates

They are in summary;

• Chelates, are organic molecules, normally consisting of 2 organic parts with an essential trace mineral occupying a central position and held in place by covalent bonding.
• Proteinate, are a particular type of chelate, in which the mineral is chelated with short-chain peptides and amino acids derived from hydrolysed soy proteins,. In proteinates, minerals are bound to various amino acids with different levels of stability
• Amino-acid complex, such as glycinates or methionates, are other particular types of chelate, in which the mineral is chelated with an amino acid. Based on one single type of amino-acid, the product is pure (there is only one type of bond or chelation between minerals and the ligand) and it is therefore easier to work on stability and ensure a full chelation. Moreover, depending on the size of amino acid, it is also possible to increase the metal content

Research

Zinc sample

Error creating thumbnail:

Copper sample

Some notice concluded that the utilisation of organic Cu from a copper chelate or copper lysine were higher than that of inorganic Cu sulfate when fed to rats in the presence and absence of elemental Zn or Fe. The data suggest that, unlike inorganic Cu, organic Cu chelates exhibit absorption and excretion mechanisms that do not interfere with Fe. Copper chelate also achieved higher liver Zn, suggesting less interference at gut absorption sites in comparison with the other forms of Cu

Effect of organic zinc sources on performance, zinc status and carcass, meat and claw quality in fattening bulls. Livestock Prod. compared a Zn chelate, a Zn polysaccharide complex and ZnO (inorganic zinc oxide) in bull beef cattle, and concluded that the organic forms resulted in some improvement in hoof claw quality.

Compared the bioavailability of Cu and Zn chelates in sheep with the inorganic sulfate forms, at "low" and "high" supplementation rates. Copper and Zn chelates at the lower rates caused significantly greater increases in blood plasma concentrations than the corresponding treatments with Zn sulfate (p<0.05) and Cu sulfate (p<0.01). In addition, Zinc chelate supplementation resulted in significantly greater hoof horn Zn content than did Zn sulfate (p<0.05). At the "low" supplementation rate Zinc chelate achieved better hoof quality than Zn sulfate (p<0.05). The data suggest that Cu and Zn chelates are more readily absorbed and more easily deposited in key tissues such as hooves, in comparison with inorganic Zn forms.

In weaned piglets evaluated various supplementation rates of organic Zn in the form of a chelate or as a polysaccharide complex and compared these with ZnO, zinc oxide, at 2,000 ppm. Feeding lower concentrations of organic Zn greatly decreased the amount of Zn excreted in comparison with inorganic Zn, without loss of growth performance.

Studied a Copper chelate in weaned pigs in comparison with inorganic Cu and sulfate. Piglet performance was consistently better with organic Cu at 50 to 100 ppm, in comparison with inorganic Cu at 250 ppm. In addition, organic Cu increased Cu absorption and retention, and decreased Cu excretion 77% and 61% respectively, compared with 250 ppm inorganic Cu

Error creating thumbnail:

Magnesium sample

The effects of an Mg chelate in broiler chickens in comparison with magnesium oxide and an unsupplemented control group. Diets for fattening chicken are not normally supplemented with Mg, but this study indicated positive effects on performance and meat quality. During the first 3 weeks of life, the Mg chelate improved feed efficiency significantly in comparison with both the inorganic MgO and the negative control group (p<0.05). Thigh meat pH and oxidative deterioration during storage were also studied. The Mg chelate increased thigh meat pH in comparison with the negative control (p<0.05). Mg supplementation significantly reduced chemical indicators (TBARS) of oxidative deterioration in liver and thigh muscle (p<0.01), with Mg chelate significantly more efficient than MgO (p<0.01). The data suggest that organic Mg in the form of a chelate is capable of reducing oxidation, and so improve chicken meat quality

A Zn chelate supplement was compared with Zn sulfate in broiler chickens.Weight gain and feed intake increased quadratically (p<0.05) with increasing Zn concentrations from the chelate and linearly with Zn sulfate. The relative bioavailability of the Zn chelate was 183% and 157% of Zn sulfate for weight gain and tibia Zn, respectively. The authors concluded that the supplemental concentration of Zn required in corn-soy diets for broilers from 1–21 days of age would be 9.8 mg/kg diet as Zn chelate and 20.1 mg/kg diet as Zn sulfate,respectively.

The effect of replacing inorganic minerals with organic minerals in broiler chickens. One group of chickens received inorganic sulfates of Cu (12 ppm), Fe (45 ppm), Mn (70 ppm) and Zn (37 ppm) and their performance was compared to a similar group supplemented with chelates of Cu (2.5 ppm), Fe, Mn, and Zn (all at 10 ppm). There were no differences in performance between the birds fed the high inorganic minerals and the birds fed the low organic chelates. Faecal concentrations of Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn were 55%, 73%, 46% and 63%, respectively, of control birds fed inorganic minerals.

A broiler study reported also compared inorganic and organic mineral supplementation in broiler chickens. Control birds were fed Cu, Fe, Mn Se and Zn in inorganic forms (15 ppm Cu 15 from sulfate; 60 ppm Fe from sulfate etc.),and compared with three treatment groups supplemented with organic forms. Apart from improved feathering, most likely associated with the presence of organic Se, there were no significant performance differences between birds fed inorganic and organic minerals. The authors concluded that the use of organic trace minerals permits a reduction of at least 33% in supplement rates in comparison with inorganic minerals, without compromising performance.

Conclusion

The introduction and subsequent popularization of chelated minerals in animal feed have paved the way for better livestock health, more sustainable farming practices, and reduced environmental impact. As research continues, it's anticipated that the application of chelated minerals will further expand, offering even more benefits for both livestock and the environment.

References

topics of the works

• SCAN (2003a) Opinion of the Scientific Committee for Animal Nutrition on the use of copper in feedingstuffs.
• SCAN (2003b),Opinion of the Scientific Committee for Animal Nutrition on the use of zinc in feedingstuffs.
• Commission Regulation (EC) No 1334/2003 of 25 July 2003 amending the conditions for authorisation of a number of additives in feedingstuffs belonging to the group of trace elements. 26.7.2003 EN Official Journal of the European Union .
• E. McCartney (2008) Trace minerals in poultry nutrition–sourcing safe minerals, organically? World Poultry
• D. Wilde (2006). Influence of macro and micro minerals in the peri-parturient period on fertility in dairy cattle. Animal Reproduction.

External links

• europa.eu
• europa food
• poultry.net
• eur-lex europa
  
• Portal:Food | Glossary of healthy eating | UK Foods | US Foods | Dietary Supplements | Nutrition values of foods
• Encyclopedia of nutrition | Calorie Finder | Nutrition Database | Glycemic Index of Foods | Protein rich foods list

External links

Nutrition lookup (USDA)

Portions of content adapted from Wikipedia's article on Chelates in animal nutrition which is released under the CC BY-SA 3.0.