Zeólita na dieta de bovinos de corte

The assessment of zeolite addition to diets with or without urea on some productive and physiological indicators in Awassi lambs

BACKGROUND

Interest is growing in the search for alternatives to traditional feed additives, so this study aimed to investigate the effect of adding zeolite to the concentrate diets of Awassi lambs with or without urea on growth performance, nutrient digestion, and health status. A total of 45 Awassi lambs similar in weight (24 ± 2 kg) and age (3 months ± 4 days) were divided into three groups: the first group (G1) fed on a concentrate diet supplemented with 1% urea; the second group (G2) fed on the concentrate diet supplemented with 1% urea and 3% zeolite, and the third group (G3) fed on a urea-free diet supplemented with 3% zeolite.

RESULTS

The results showed a significant increase (P ≤ 0.05) in final live weight, daily and total weight gain for group G2 compared to groups G1and G3, with a significant superiority (P ≤ 0.05) of group G3 over the control group G1. Significant improvement (P < 0.05) was also observed in feed consumption and feed conversion ratio in diets supplemented with zeolite for groups G2 and G3 compared to the control group G1. Additionally, there was a significant increase (P ≤ 0.05) in nutrient digestion and nutritional value in the diet of group G2 containing urea with added zeolite compared to groups G1 and G3. Zeolite did not affect the levels of glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, and albumin in the blood, but a significant increase (P ≤ 0.05) in total blood protein level and a significant decrease (P ≤ 0.05) in blood urea level were noted for groups G2 and G3 compared to the control group G1.

CONCLUSIONS

Adding zeolite to urea-containing concentrate diets improved growth rates and nutrient digestion, of Awassi lambs. In diets without urea, zeolite improved growth rates without affecting nutrient digestion coefficients, in both types of diets, zeolite increased total protein levels and decreased blood urea levels, with all physiological indicators in lambs blood remaining within normal limits.

In Vitro and In Vivo Assessment of Dietary Supplementation of Both Natural or Nano-Zeolite in Goat Diets: Effects on Ruminal Fermentation and Nutrients Digestibility

This study aimed to evaluate in vitro and in vivo dietary supplementation with different levels of natural or nano-zeolite forms on rumen fermentation patterns and nutrient digestibility. In the in vitro experiment, a basal diet (50% concentrate: 50% forage) was incubated without additives (control) and with natural zeolite (10, 20, 30 g/kg DM) or nano-zeolite (0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 1.0 g/kg DM) for 24 h to assess their effect on ruminal fermentation, feed degradability, and gas and methane production using a semi-automatic system of in vitro gas production (GP). The most effective doses obtained from the in vitro experiment were evaluated in vivo using 30 Barki goats (26 ± 0.9 SE kg body weight). Goats were allocated into three dietary treatments (n = 10/treatment) as follows: control (basal diet without any supplementations), natural zeolite (20 g/kg DM diet), and nano-zeolite (0.40 g/kg DM diet). The in vitro results revealed that only the nano-zeolite supplementation form quadratically (p= 0.004) increased GP, and the level of 0.5 g/kg DM had the highest GP value compared to the control. Both zeolite forms affected the CH₄ production, linear, and quadratic reductions (p < 0.05) in CH₄ (mL/g DM), consistent with linear increases in truly degraded organic matter (TDOM) (p = 0.09), and propionate molar proportions (p = 0.007) were observed by nano zeolite treatment, while the natural form of zeolite resulted in a linear CH₄ reduction consistent with a linear decrease (p = 0.004) in NH₃-N, linear increases in TDOM (p = 0.09), and propionate molar proportions (p = 0.004). Results of the in vivo experiment demonstrated that the nutrient digestibility was similar among all treatments. Nano zeolite enhanced (p < 0.05) the total short-chain fatty acids and butyrate concentrations, while both zeolite forms decreased (p < 0.001) NH₃-N compared to the control. These results suggested that both zeolite supplementation forms favorably modified the rumen fermentation in different patterns.

Influence of zeolite (clinoptilolite) supplementation on characteristics of digestion and ruminal fermentation of steers fed a steam-flaked corn-based finishing diet

Four Holstein steers (328 ± 14 kg) with ruminal and duodenal cannulas were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design to examine the effect of level of zeolite supplementation (0, 10, 20 or 30 g clinoptilolite-Ca/kg of diet) in a steam-flaked corn-based finishing diet on the characteristics of ruminal fermentation and nutrient digestion. Zeolite was top-dressed with the basal diet at time of feeding; therefore, intake of organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), starch and N was equal in all treatments. Zeolite supplementation did not affect site and extent of digestion of N or NDF. Zeolite linearly decreased (P < 0.01) NH3-N flow to duodenum, but did not affect duodenal flow of microbial N, feed N, or microbial efficiency. Inclusion of zeolite linearly increased (P = 0.02) ruminal OM digestion and tended (linear, P = 0.08) to increase ruminal digestion of starch. Zeolite supplementation increased (linear effect, P < 0.01) faecal excretion of ash, resulting in decreased total tract DM digestion (linear effect, P = 0.04). However, total tract digestion of OM tended to increase (P = 0.06) with increasing zeolite supplementation. Thus, dilution of the diet with zeolite did not depress dietary digestible energy. There were no treatment effects on ruminal pH. Total ruminal volatile fatty acid concentration tended (P = 0.08) to increase as zeolite increased. Zeolite supplementation decreased ruminal molar proportion of acetate and increased molar proportion of propionate (linear effect, P < 0.01), resulting in decreased (linear effect, P < 0.01) of acetate: propionate ratio. Supplementation with zeolite at levels of up to 30 g of zeolite/kg of diet may enhance ruminal OM digestion, largely due to the tendency of increased ruminal starch digestion. Zeolite supplementation altered ruminal volatile fatty acid molar proportions (decreased acetate : propionate ratio), and therefore may have an positive impact on energy efficiency.