Have you ever heard the words: “Immunity begins in the gut?”. With up to 70% of the immune response centered in the gut, it is no surprise that a lot of emphasis is placed on optimum gut health, maintaining tight junctions, and limiting the negative impact of intestinal inflammation.
Inflammation of the gut not only lowers absorption rates, but also consumes a lot of nutrients, with a negative effect on growth and production. Minerals like zinc, manganese, and copper have been proven to aid this immune response by strengthening the tight junctions in the gut to prevent the absorption of pathogens and their toxins, as well as enhancing the white blood cell population to respond to immune challenges.
In a recent broiler coccidiosis trial, supplementation of Availa-Zn and Availa-Mn resulted in a 22% lower coccidiosis score than that observed in birds fed only zinc and manganese sulphates. In another trial that investigated the effect of a Clostridium perfringens challenge on necrotic enteritis mortalities, broilers fed Availa-Zn, Availa-Mn, and Availa-Cu resulted in 69% lower mortalities than birds receiving sulphates only. The supplementation of these organic performance minerals also resulted in 48% lower mortalities than broilers receiving an antimicrobial treatment. As the use of antibiotics are phased out in the broiler industry, health conditions such as leaky gut and inflammation of the gut will become more prominent.
A healthy relationship between inorganic minerals and organic performance minerals like Availa-Zn, Availa-Mn, and Availa-Cu will ensure optimum gut health, maintain tight junctions, and limit the negative impact of intestinal inflammation in the gut.
Read more about maintaining tight junctions in this article by Dr Marco Rebollo, entitled, ” Improve Poultry Gut Health in Antibiotic-Free Chicken Production“. Dr Rebollo is a lead researcher for poultry at Zinpro, and this article was first published in their newslettter, Essential Feed.