Chelates in Animal Nutrition - Research

Research

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. Sci. 81:161-171. 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

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.