Select Your Trace Mineral Source to Maximize Vitamin Activity
Choice of trace mineral form can affect nutrition supplied to the animal.
When it comes to maximizing vitamin activity in animal rations, not all trace minerals are the same. Research has shown that different trace mineral forms can have dissimilar effects on both vitamin retention and stability. Choice of trace mineral form can also impact nutrition levels supplied to the animal.
“Despite recent shortages and price spikes for vitamins A and E, there is a limit to how much producers can prudently decrease vitamin levels to save cost,” says Terry Ward, global director, research & nutritional services, Zinpro Corp. “Water-soluble vitamins cannot be effectively stored in the body and need to be supplemented daily. However, fat-soluble vitamins can be stored in the body for a certain period, and a reduction in these vitamins in a balanced diet might be considered for a short period with some animals if managed carefully.”
Vitamins A (known as retinol) and E, in addition to vitamin D3, are common examples of fat-soluble vitamins in animal diets. Each plays a critical role in optimal immune function — thus a reduction in their use, or in their viability in a feed formulation, could put animals at greater risk of infection and disease.
“Anything that reduces vitamin activity would be a negative,” says Ward. “For example, a University of Minnesota study (Shurson et al., 2011) showed that inorganic trace minerals degraded vitamin activity during storage, but this same study also showed highly significant vitamin stability advantages with Zinpro Performance Minerals during storage.”
Other trace mineral sources cannot point to similar advantages, as this study shows, or because they weren’t part of this, or any comparable peer-reviewed research on the topic, adds Ward. According to the University of Minnesota study, the addition of Zinpro Performance Minerals “to vitamin-trace mineral premixes significantly reduces vitamin activity losses by 40%-50% during storage of up to 120 days compared to adding inorganic trace minerals and comparable to vitamin losses in a vitamin premix containing no trace minerals.”
Editor’s Note: John Pocock is a corporate communications specialist for Zinpro Corp.