The role of macro and micro minerals in calcite and calcium carbonate as livestock feed supplements

Abstract

In India, feed industries widely use limestone or calcium carbonate as a cheap source of Ca and other mineral supplements without considering the sources, variability, and limitations of using it as feed. Calcium carbonate and calcite power are potential mineral concentrates for livestock feeding. However, In contrast to calcium carbonate, calcite powder is not adequately studied as a source of mineral supplements for animal feeding. This being the case, this study was conducted to evaluate calcite powder as an alternate source of Macro minerals, Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium and Potassium and trace minerals like Manganese, Copper, Zinc and Iron for dairy cattle feeding. Both calcite powder and calcium carbonate were collected from various parts of India, i.e. Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The samples collected were thoroughly mixed, processed and subjected to laboratory chemical analysis in triplicate. The results showed that the total ash content of calcite and Calcium carbonate was 96 and 99%, respectively, indicating that limestone (Caco3) and calcite powder, collected from different parts of India, were potential mineral supplementary feed sources. The results also showed that calcite powder was superior to calcium carbonate in calcium content 40.03 ±0.27 and 39.17± 0.39, respectively, showing that the calcium content of calcite powder was not significantly higher than that of calcium carbonate. Calcite powder was also. Superior to calcium carbonate in Phosphorus content, 0.47 ±0.18 and 0.14 ± 0.03, respectively, show that the Phosphorus content of calcite powder was not significantly higher than that of calcium carbonate. Calcite powder was comparable with manganese, zinc and iron contents. Magnesium and Copper contents in Calcite powder are higher than in calcium Carbonate. However, the magnesium level in both calcite powder and calcium carbonate is above the recommended level, especially magnesium in calcite powder is very high, so it should be reduced when feeding animals. The percentage composition of iron was very low in calcium carbonate and calcite powder. The phosphorus level in both sources is below the recommended level; the animals should be supplemented from other sources. The mean Acid insoluble ash (AIA) content in calcite powder and calcium carbonate was 2.84 and 1.42 % of DM composition, respectively. As a high level of AIA lowers the utilization and palatability of nutrients, in our study, calcite powder will lower the utilization and palatability of nutrients more than calcium carbonate. Considering the research outcome, both sources of minerals (Calcium carbonate and Calcite powder) can be used safely to supplement dairy cattle and other domestic animal diets. However, further study into the toxic element content of calcite powder and Calcium Carbonate is required before its large-scale use in feed industries.