Coated zinc oxide in pig nutrition

Pharmacological levels of inorganic zinc (1,500 up to 3,000 ppm of ZnO) are commonly added to piglet’s diets in order to improve nursery performance and control diarrhea. However, if such high levels are fed for more than 5 weeks, toxicity symptoms and mineral deficiencies may appear. 

 

The reason of such a high dosage is that while passing the stomach, ZnO can be converted to zinc chloride (ZnCl2) which is less efficient than ZnO in controlling diarrhea. Additionally, excessive feeding of inorganic Zn leads to an excess of excretion Zn into the environment (mineral pollution).

Excentials´ proprietary coating technology (microencapsulation) has been developed to deliver nutrients to specific sites in the gastrointestinal tract. Excential Zincoat ensures a safe passage of ZnO through the stomach, allowing lower dosage levels (upto 10 or 20 fold less) while achieving identical response on growth performance and diarrhea prevention compared with 1,500-3,000 ppm of ZnO (USA, 2009 Trial Results).

 

Excential Zincoat provides a cost efficient and environmental friendly (reducing ZnO shedding) solution for antimicrobial free diets. Excential Zincoat can lower inclusion costs of zinc oxide by more than 50% without affecting performance.
 

Table 1. Effects of Excential Zincoat in piglets performance (days 24-52)

ADWG: Average daily weight gain; ADFI: Average daily feed intake; FCR: Feed conversion rate; DR: Diarrhea rate