Could Your Trace Mineral Program Be Doing More Harm Than Good

摘要

Although trace minerals are one of the smallest components of the diet, they are also one of the most important. Copper, zinc, and manganese are vital to animal health and well-being due to their involvement in immunity, fertility, metabolism, and production. Trace mineral supplementation started with oxide forms in the 1930s and moved to the more available sulfate forms in the 1950s when World War II technology advances allowed for more efficient sulfate production. To further improve bioavailability and effectiveness, organic trace minerals were introduced in the 1970s. While many organic trace minerals delivered improved results, their high cost meant producers only replaced a small fraction of the animal's total trace mineral requirement. Hydroxy trace minerals (IntelliBond) were developed in the 1990s as a more cost-effective improved trace mineral source. The differences in trace mineral sources and their effectiveness mainly lie in the type of chemical bond that binds the metal to its ligand(Figure 1). Sulfate trace minerals contain a metal ion bound to a sulfate ion via an ionic bond. This ionic bond breaks apart easily in an aqueous environment, releasing a free metal ion at liberty to interact with other nutrients or microbes in the rumen. Organic and IntelliBond trace minerals contain stronger covalent bonds that protect the metal from being released too early in the feed or digestive tract, giving them an advantage in diet stability, palatability, digestibility, and bioavailability over sulfate trace minerals.