ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE July 2022 29 Environmental impact of the trace mineral source Any trace metal that is consumed by the animal but not absorbed is quickly excreted by the animal, negatively impacting environmental compliance. This becomes increasingly important where the practice may be to simply overfeed inorganic trace minerals sources well above requirements to compensate for the uncertainty. The value for you and your animals An increasing body of research has been able to demonstrate that cheaper, inorganic trace mineral sources (sulphates, oxides, etc.) have a significant number of hidden costs that impact their total cost of use. What appears to be a lower initial purchase cost can quickly become a much more expensive source of trace mineral supplementation when all associated negative side effects are taken into consideration. TWO IMPROVED TRACE MINERAL CATEGORIES Recognition of these hidden characteristics and their negative impact on animal productivity has led to the development of a long list of “improved” trace minerals sources. While the list of individual products is long, it can be shortened into two primary categories organic trace minerals, which have been present in the market for some time and IntelliBond® trace minerals which delivers the newest trace mineral supplementation technology. Organic trace mineral sources Organic trace minerals are categorized as organic based on their metal being attached via covalent bonds to one or more carbon containing molecules (amino acids, polypeptides, polysaccharides, organic acids, etc.). Research shows that the combination of the metal and its organic chaperones provides organic trace minerals with a higher level of stability, less reactivity and improved bioavailability when compared to conventional inorganic trace mineral sources. When considering the selection criteria highlighted above most organic trace mineral products would offer animals an improved source of essential trace metal absorption. Their primary drawback continues to be their higher, initial cost relative to inorganic sources, ranging from 6 to 10 Figure 1: Effect of metal source on upper GI tract solubility* *Caldera et al., 2019, J.Anim. Sci. 97:1852-1864
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