- Zeolites are eco-friendly adsorbent which has high affinity to nutritional compounds.
- Zeolites help in retention of digesta in the tract which improves absorption of nutrients.
- Reduces the toxicity due to mycotoxins
- It helps in improving the pelletability of the feed.
Aquaculture provides half of all fish for human food. This share is forecasted to rise to 62% by 203 as catches from wild capture fisheries will level off (FAO 2014). On the other hand, due to concerns of the detrimental effects of aquaculture practices on the environment and increased regulations on aquaculture effluents, the aquaculture industry is focused on the development of new methods to minimize the toxic contaminants in aquaculture waters in recycling systems and waste waters in aquaculture ponds. One of the promising approaches to treat waste water toxins, feed toxins and the growth improvement can be obtained using eco-friendly adsorbents such as natural zeolite. Other than treating waste water system, zeolite plays a major role as feed additive in animal feed. This is attributed b beneficiary effect of zeolite on weight gain and growth performances, gut microflora development, nutrient digestion, enhanced pancreatic enzyme activity and reduced absorption of toxic products, slower passage rate of diet through the intestines and more efficient utilization of nutrients. The zeolites are found to have antibacterial property and mycotoxin and aflatoxin binding capability. The use of zeolites in a wide range of industrial and agricultural applications and particularly in animal nutrition is possible because of these properties.What is Zeolite?Zeolites are crystalline, hydrated aluminosilicates of alkali and alkaline earth cations, consisting of three-dimensional frameworks of Sio and AIO tetrahedral linked through the shared oxygen atoms. Both natural, synthetic zeolites and porous materials, characterized by the ability to lose and gain water reversibly, to adsorb molecules of appropriate diameter and to exchange their constituent cations without major change of their structure. This property signifies the use of zeolites in a wide range of industrial and agricultural applications and particularly in animal nutrition. It has been reported that zeolites contains a lot of major and trace elements which are essential for the growth of aquatic animals, livestock and poultry. These micro elements are essentially helping in many metabolic purposes in body helping other nutrient utilization. Generally these elements are in an ionic state and can be released to these animals for improving their health conditions.
Source : Aqua International