The trace minerals zinc, copper, manganese, and selenium are components of a wide variety of enzymes and proteins that support metabolism, growth, production, and reproduction. Trace mineral supplements are added to dairy cattle rations to prevent mineral deficiencies, and supplementation has traditionally been provided in the form of inorganic salts. When these inorganic salts dissociate in th...

Trace mineral nutrition has been a neglected area of pig nutrition. There is little recent information on the trace mineral requirements of modern pig genotypes and it has become customary to provide levels in the diet much higher than those recommended. Some minerals, such as copper and zinc, are added at 'pharmacological' levels to increase growth, to enhance immunity and to reduce diarrhoea ...

Research on which NRC trace mineral requirements are based was done with inorganic transitional minerals and purified and semi-purified diets. Research with organic trace minerals and standard rations have demonstrated that requirements are much lower than the levels set by NRC, due to the greater availability of these organic minerals. Further, not all organic minerals are the same. Pullets fr...

A host of nutrients are needed by cattle to support functions associated with life, and to grow, reproduce, and nourish their offspring (i.e., produce milk). A vast amount of resources have been expended to quantify the amounts of specific nutrients needed to perform these function so that economically efficient diets can be formulated. Feeding diets that provide adequate, but not excessive, am...

Background Copper is one of the most critical of the essential trace minerals required by animals. It is vital in the body as a component of (or cofactor for) enzyme systems involved in iron transport and metabolism, red blood cell formation and immune function. Included in almost every trace mineral premix (blended to provide mineral supplementation to animal rations) is enough copper to satis...

Minerals can be divided into two main categories, 1) macro-minerals and 2) micro or trace minerals. Macro minerals are minerals that are needed/required in relatively large amounts in comparison to micro or trace elements which are needed/required in relatively small amounts. In general macro minerals are required at concentrations greater than 100 ppm of the diet and are often expressed as a p...

Trace minerals have critical roles in the key interrelated systems of immune function, oxidative metabolism, and energy metabolism in ruminants. To date, the primary trace elements of interest in diets for dairy cattle have included Zn, Cu, Mn, and Se although data also support potentially important roles of Cr, Co, and Fe in diets. Trace minerals such as Zn, Cu, Mn, and Se are essential with c...

The trace mineral nutrition of grazing cattle is complicated by several factors among which are the impacts of trace mineral antagonists in grazed forage and the reliance on predictable, uniform intake of free-choice mineral supplements. Numerous options are available to assist in the management of trace mineral nutrition of grazing cattle. In recent years, significant research efforts have bee...

Major advances in the field of trace mineral nutrition occurred in the twenty century. All of the trace minerals recognized as being important in ruminant nutrition were first shown to be essential in the 1900's with the exception of iron. Between 1920 and 1960 naturally occurring deficiencies of iodine, copper, cobalt, manganese, selenium, and zinc were first reported in cattle. Today it is co...

Dietary trace mineral sources and levels were fed to developing gilts to evaluate their performance responses during the growth phase, but treatments were continued into the reproductive phase in which subsequent reproductive responses were evaluated. In Exp. 1, three groups of gilts (n = 216) were used in a 2 x 2 factorial in a randomized complete block design (6 replicates) with treatment die...