BY PRARTHANA SHARMA ,
4 th YEAR B.V.Sc & A.H. , CGKV , DURG
WHAT ARE ZEOLITES ?
Zeolites is basically defined as crystalline, hydrated alluminosilicates of alkali and alkaline earth cations, having a potentially infinite , three- dimensional structure. The word zeolite is of greek origin { zein (boiling)+ Lithos (stone) } meaning ” boiling stone” .
Zeolites are well known for their ability to lose & gain water reversibly and cation exchange without showing major changes in structure.
USES OF ZEOLITE IN POULTRY
There are two aspect of using Zeolite in Poultry
- Nutritional aspect
- Managemental aspect
Many research has been already conducted by scientist all around the globe , over the potential use of zeolite in poultry production.
NUTRITIONAL ASPECT
In this category various health benefit of zeolite has been summarised ;
■ Feed efficiency and nutrient utilization →Zeolites slows down rate of passage of food in gut , immobilization of enzyme and also influence gut microflora. there will be more time for absorption of nutrient because of this , Feed efficiency and nutrient utilization increases.
Some experiment also reported improvement in feed efficiency in males.
■ Weight gain and growth rate→ most of the Studies conducted shows slight or no effect on weight gain in case of layer Studies Show use of Zeolites in layer improves feed efficiency but at expense of body weight.
so zeolites can be use to maintain the body weight in layer diet towards the end 9 lay where body weight is usually excessive. and can also use in breeder birds where maintaining critical body weight it’s essential .
whereas use of natural zeolites in Broiler improves the growth rate. the dose should not be more than 2.5 because of dietary dilution effect which causes detrimental effect to growth rate.
■ Feed consumption →Studies conducted in the past shows Zeolites decreases feed consumption when feel at a dose of 7 % or more. If the amount of zeolite use is less than 7% it lead to increase feed intake.
■ Bone Performance →Best effect of zeolite on rickets was shown when the diet feed to bird is low in phosphorus and calcium. Some studies shows that rather than increasing the utilization of dietary calcium , Zeolite decreases phosphorus availability. supplementation of zeolite in a Calcium deficient diet increased bone weight by approximately 7% .
Studies also proved that Synthetic Zeolites also reduces the incidence of Tibial dyschondroplasia. At low phosphorus level (0.5%) the incidence & severity of TDC was much less than at high dietary phosphorus (0.75) , also it increases the aluminium Content of bone at low dose.
■ Water consumption → water consumption & moisture content of litter were found to reduced when zeolites was included in diet of broiler chicken.
■ Egg shell Quality→ Egg shell quality was determined using specific gravity of egg. Most of the studies shows improvement in specific gravity is more when birds are fed Calcium deficient diet. The number of cracked egg & reduction in egg breakage is also noticed during the studies when the level of Synthetic Zeolites used were 1.0 and 1.5 % .
■ Rreduced mortality →Many of the experiment conducted shows improvement in general health and vitality of the chickens on zeolite diets than the controls.
■ Growth promoter and immunostimulant →Clinoptilolite , a natural zeolite , used as a feed ingredient due to its beneficial properties as immunostimulant. This could be due to their action as non-specific superantigen like immunoglobulin (S Ag) .SAg is capable of activating large population of T-cell due to their simultaneous interaction between SAg, T- Cell receptor, and the Major histo compatibility complex (MHC) class Th molecules on the surface of Antigen presenting cells (APC).
■ Antioxidant Capacity → An indirect action of Clinoptilolite on immune System is also achieved by its Antioxidant property. It causes reduced lipid peroxidation processes in the liver and significantly increase the content of Superoxide- dismutase , an antioxidant enzyme. ■ Egg production→No direct evidence of increase in egg production is noticed in layer feed Zeolite containing diet. but one of the studies shows that the adverse effect of heat stress were reversed when control birds which have experienced a drop in egg production were switched to Synthetic zeolite diet, Bird feds diets containing Zeolite prior to heat stress and which were continued in these diets did not experience an egg production drop when subjected to heat stress .
MANAGEMENTAL ASPECT
■ Litter and Manure condition → Moisture adsorption property of zeolite has been widely use to combat litter problems. zedite consumption causes a lower manure and this litter moisture content. fermentation of chicken excreta lead to high ammonia level in poultry house , this may cause conjunctivitis, reduce rate and depth of respiration and increase sensitivity due to irritation of mucus in respiratory tract. Zeolite can absorb ammonia from the air.
■ Heat stress Problem→ During heat stress, use of zeolite led to reduce breathing speed ( panting) which is cause because of high temp. and as a result bird able to sustain heat stress and perform better.
■ Aflatoxicosis→ Aflatoxins are toxin produced by certain species of fungi in the genus Aspergillus , and led to contamination of poultry feed. for overcoming this problem use of nutritionally inert adsorbents , such as zeolite in the diet can be included.
Hydrated sodium Calcium aluminasilicates (HSCAS) , a natural zeolite has most promising aflatoxin binding capacity. it provides almost total protection against aflatoxin B1 when use at a dose of 7.5mg/kg feed in broilers & layers.
■ Parasitic infestation →Zeolites when use at a dose rate of 2g/kg believes to reduce parasitic infestation problem in animal.
USE OF ZEOLITE IN FISHERIES
Zeolite is used in fish farming mainly as a adsorbent of Ammonia. Ammonia is toxic to fish allowed to accumulate in the fish tank. when ammonia accumulates to toxic levels which cause elevation of fish tank pH , fish cannot extract energy from feed effectively , this will cause decrease growth rate and damage to the gills of fish. later on fish will become lethargic & eventually fall into coma and die.
To combat this problem , Synthetic or modified zeolites are used as adsorbent for removal of ammonia from fish farming ponds and transportation tanks.
Zeolites works as cation exchanger for removal of different toxic heavy metals from fresh and sea water culture.
Zeolites have also been used as a feed supplement for fishes to enhance fish growth and studies are done and presented report in favour of this.
OTHER WAYS TO USE ZEOLITE IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
In Animal husbandry , Zeolites can be used in various ways such as to maintain good health of animal , to improve productive performance ( yield and quality of carcass , milk yield ) , to protect the animal from harmful effect of mycotoxins , to remove selective pathogens from animal gut without reducing microbial richness and finally to increase farm profitability.
experiments also gives evidence of protective effect of Zeolite in organophosphorus poisoning in sheep when use at a dose rate of 2g/kg , this effect is mainly due to protection of rumen flora from the organophosphorus compound and preventing the decrease of Cholin esterase activity.
Clinoptilolite (3%) also prevented Cd – induced anemia in Pig by adsorption of Cd.
It also had beneficial effects against nematode larvae infestation in lambs, which ultimately cause increase infeed consumption and body mass . It also proven effective against reducing the excretion of giardia cysts in goat kids.
In-vitro and In-vivo experimental studies also shown that 15% of ruminal NH4+ can be adsorbed by zeolites , thus reducing toxic effects of urea.
Cows receiving 1 kg zeolite/ day for 4 weeks before calving did not experience subclinical hypocalcemia which guard cow against the common metabolic diseases.
In newborns , adding Clinoptilolite to colostrum Improves Intestinal absorption of colostrum globulin, creating a good protection against neonatal diseases.
REFERENCE
- Marc Simona and Tulcan Camelia , Zeolites Applications in Veterinary Medicine.
- M. EVANS AND D.J. FARRELL , ARE THERE ECONOMIC BENEFITS TO ADDING ZEOLITES TO POULTRY DIETS ?.
- MICHAEL EVANS , ZEOLITES – DO THEY HAVE A ROLE IN POULTRY PRODUCTION ?.
- H. Eleroğlu and H. Yalçın , Use of natural zeolite-supplemented litter increased broiler production.
- Farid Shariatmadari , Tarbiat Modares University , The application of zeolite in poultry production.
- Erol Bintaş, Mehmet Bozkurt, Kamil Küçükyılmaz, Ramazan Konak, Mustafa Çınar, Hasan Akşit, Kamil Seyrek & Abdullah Uğur Çatlı , Efficacy Zeolite in Broiler Chickens Subjected to Dietary Calcium Deficiency of Supplemental Natural