Zeolite clinoptilolite nanoporous feed additive for animals of veterinary importance: potentials and limitations

Abstract

I n the past two decades many substances of natural or synthetic origin were studied as potential alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) and some of them, particularly immunomodulators (IMs) and nutraceuticals (NCs), have shown to be capable of stimulating functions of the immune system and improving general health. At the same time, they were shown to be harmless for animals and the environment. Promising results have been obtained with natural clay minerals, zeolites among which clinoptilolite (CPL) is the best known as zootechnical and biomedical feed ingredient widely reported in scientific literature and used in farm animal nutrition. CPL has a potential to replace AGP due to its unique anti-bacterial properties, safety and efficacy as dietary supplement in food animals unifying potentials of an IM and NC. Currently, there INTRODUCTIONT he phrase "survival of the fittest" as an alternative to "natural selection" has been adopted and published in 1868 by Charles Darwin (1), and nowadays is becoming so true because of the rapid emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of pathogenic microbes of biomedical, particularly veterinary importance. This is a consequence of non-clinical use and misuse of dietary antibiotics for more than sixty years to prevent bacterial infections and to enhance performance in livestock production, mostly in chickens and pigs (2). Namely, the increased sanitary problems in intensive farming of food animals have been overcome thus far by adding sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) infeed to enhance production efficiency by increasing growth rate, improv- ing feed utilization and reducing mortality from clinical disease is well documented particularly in swine production systems (3). However, the consumers especially in developed countries are becoming increasingly concerned about drug residues in meat and other animal products (4). In addition, it has been suggested that the continuous use of antibiotics may contribute to a reservoir of drugresistant bacteria (5) which may be capable of transferring their resistance to pathogenic bacteria in both animals and humans (6). As a result, many countries have banned or are banning the inclusion of antibiotics in diets as a routine means of growth promotion. The first experience of an AGP ban in Sweden in 1986 indicated a reduction in growth and an increase in morbidity and mortality rates in weaned pigs, which emphasized the importance of antibiotic use in intensive swine production(7). The total ban of dietary AGP in the EU countries since January 1, 2006 (EU Regulation No. 1831 and the elimination of their use in animal feed and water in the USA effective January 1, 2017 (FDA, CVM 2012, VFD Basics 2017) has had a serious influence on both health and performance of food animals underlining the need to develop alternative dietary and non-dietary strategies to evaluate the potential antimicrobial agents for their replacement (8). According to the World Health Organization, most antibiotics will not ...

Effect of natural zeolite on live weight changes, ruminal fermentation and nitrogen metabolism of ewe lambs

“…Feed samples were analysed according to AOAC (1990) for dry matter (DM) (method number 981.10), crude protein (CP) (method number 967.03), and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF), according to Van Soest et al (1991) with a heat-stable amylase included in the NDF, and expressed including residual ash. The Henderson-Hasselbalch equation and ruminal pH were used to estimate the amount of NH 3 and NH 4 + in the rumen to evaluate whether zeolites affected NH 4 + capture (Abdoun et al, 2007;Valpotić et al, 2017).…”

Petrogenesis of a Large-Scale Miocene Zeolite Tuff in the Eastern Slovak Republic: The Nižný Hrabovec Open-Pit Clinoptilolite Mine

“…It is also important both for animal husbandry (cf. Valpotić et al, 2017) and for medical purposes in humans (cf. Colella, 2011).…”

Bovine mastitis: a persistent and evolving problem requiring novel approaches for its control - a review

“…Therefore it is a very interesting compound on the medical market and has recently been approved in the EU as a feed additive for use as a mycotoxin binder in veterinary medicine, particularly in the livestock, swine and poultry industry (VALPOTIĆ et al, 2017a;VALPOTIĆ et al, 2017b;VALPOTIĆ et al, 2018). In addition, recently, ĐURIČIĆ et al (2017) evaluated the effects of dietary clinoptilolite (CPL), a novel vibroactivated and micronized modification (Vibrosorb) of the natural mineral, in lactating dairy cows, on milk composition, SCC and the incidence of subclinical mastitis from the third to the seventh month of gestation.…”