Trace mineral nutrition symposium: Exploring recent developments in swine and ruminants1

Abstract

The Trace Mineral Nutrition Symposium was held at the Joint Annual Meeting of the American Society of Animal Science and the American Dairy Science Association in Indianapolis, IN, July 8 to 11, 2013. The purpose of the symposium was to present recent advances in both basic and applied aspects of trace mineral nutrition in livestock. Fred Steward, President of Micronutrients, opened the symposium with a brief review of major milestones in the development of the science of trace mineral nutrition. In the first formal presentation, M.D. Lindemann discussed “The role of trace minerals in feed stability and swine production” (Lindemann, 2013). He first discussed the fact that whereas minimum levels of minerals needed to avoid deficiency symptoms have been established, much less research has focused on defining optimized levels for immune function and growth. In addition, certain essential trace minerals act as pro-oxidants when supplemented to diets, can reduce stability of vitamins and enzymes, and can promote oxidation of lipids. Chemical properties of various trace mineral sources are very different and, therefore, can affect the stability of nutrients and enzymes in diets. Sulfate forms of trace minerals are hygroscopic and highly reactive whereas hydroxy and chelated forms of trace minerals are significantly less reactive.