Salt and Trace Minerals for Livestock, Poultry and Other Animals
INORGANIC AND ORGANIC MINERALS
Recently there has been a dramatic increase in the potential trace mineral sources that can be fed to animals. For example in the official publication of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO, 289) there were at least 16 different copper sources available to feed manufacturers. There are the traditional inorganic sources, copper sulfate, copper chloride, copper carbonate, copper oxide, etc. and then the organic sources defined by the organic molecule to which they were bound. They are listed as metal amino acid complex, metal amino acid chelate, metal polysaccharide complex, metal proteinate and metal propionate. Deciding which source is most appropriate is a complex issue and the one size fits all approach is not recommended. Miles and Henry (338) have an excellent review on the relative bioavailability of the different inorganic and organic trace mineral sources across all species.
First using a highly available inorganic source will regularly provide the lowest cost per unit of available nutrient. In the majority of situations this is the most cost effective means of optimizing animal health and production. Although there are numerous studies where organic trace minerals have higher bioavailability than traditional sources that does not prove they are more effective. Depending on the experiments chosen, one can find studies that show organic trace minerals to be more, equally, or less effective than their inorganic counterparts. In situations where a deficiency exists or high levels of antagonists bind the inorganic sources, the use of organic trace minerals may be indicated. In most of these cases a mixture of two-thirds inorganic and one-third organic provides the full benefit of the organic source, with less cost. Under the majority of production conditions, using a properly fortified trace mineral salt containing highly available inorganic sources will provide the most cost effective supplementation program.
Copyright: 2006