Trace Mineral Nutrition Remains Vital Strategy to Combat Poultry & Swine Disease Challenges, Says Novus – INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES

As we have seen recently with the massive outbreak and spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), and the industry’s continued struggles with African Swine Fever (ASF), modern poultry and swine production systems remain very vulnerable to animal health challenges.

These outbreaks have also revealed the devastating economic impact that diseases can have as evidenced by the massive losses incurred by producers and the wider industry. Moreover, the demand for antibiotic-free meat has further complicated this issue, making it harder for producers to fight diseases in their flocks and herds.

In this context, the role of nutrition in supporting animal immunity and resilience has become increasingly important. And as Novus International’s Global Poultry Research Senior Manager Frances Yan, Ph.D., and Swine Technical Services Manager Alex Hintz, DVM, explained to Feedinfo, supplementation with a bis-chelated trace mineral source, like the company’s MINTREX®, remains a vital strategy for supporting poultry and swine health and reducing the impact of various diseases.

In this Industry Perspectives, Dr Yan and Dr Hintz break down this position for us, sharing some of Novus’s research into the efficacy of various trace minerals in optimising monogastric immunity and health. They also talk to us about the interactions of these minerals with other feed additives and the impacts this can have, plus the new avenues that the company is exploring with their MINTREX® technology to further improve animal health and support disease risk mitigation strategies.

[Feedinfo] H5N1 – highly pathogenic avian influenza – and African Swine Fever have been dominating headlines due to their extreme economic impact on poultry and swine operations. What has been Novus’s strategy for helping customers navigate these health concerns? How are you providing them with some peace of mind?

[Alex Hintz]Biosecurity is of the utmost importance for keeping flocks and herds free of damaging and deadly diseases. While there are companies/institutions trying to develop vaccines for these viruses, they aren’t a reality yet and may even prove to be impractical on a commercial farm.

[Frances Yan] Beyond biosecurity, some feed additives can support gut health so animals are better equipped to manage illness. MINTREX® bis-chelated trace minerals are shown to support immunity, particularly in poultry. Broilers fed MINTREX® Cu trace minerals showed improvement in the titers of infectious bursal disease and Newcastle disease virus (Gonzalez-Esquerra et al., 2016). Through our research, we hypothesise that supplementing poultry diets with MINTREX® may enhance the immune system of birds, therefore helping them better cope with H5N1.

[Feedinfo] Now of course there are other diseases that affect poultry and swine outcomes too. In some cases, they might be more immediate threats than ASF and H5N1. What are some of the other challenges that Novus customers around the world have reported and what are the economic impacts from these diseases?

[Alex Hintz] Worldwide, PRRSv and porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDv) impact the production and profitability of swine herds. Recent estimates put the cost of PRRSv in the U.S. over $1 billion. When PRRSv presents on a sow farm, the increased morbidity and mortality there and downstream at the nursery and finisher level costs producers upwards of $15 per pig marketed.

The global annual cost of PEDv is less defined, though it remains an important issue. PEDv infection at a sow farm can lead to multiple weeks of weaning pig loss. PEDv in the nursery and finishing barn leads to increased morbidity and production costs, and decreased profitability of market hogs infected by the virus.

As feed prices and other production costs increase worldwide, the impact of PRRSv and PEDv on hog producers’ bottom lines becomes more detrimental. In response, some countries are committed to stopping these viruses at their borders. For instance, Hungary and Denmark have enacted country-wide PRRSv elimination programmes. The use of an in-feed virus risk reduction strategy can support these elimination programmes to help reduce virus persistence on the farm in all phases of production.

[Frances Yan] For modern poultry production, coccidiosis is one of the most prevalent and costly enteric diseases. Caused by a protozoan parasite of the Eimeria genus, coccidiosis can compromise bird performance and predispose them to necrotic enteritis, another costly enteric disease. The global cost of coccidiosis, including losses during production and the cost of prophylaxis and treatment for the chickens, is estimated to be ~ £10.36 billion (~ $12.8 billion today) at 2016 prices, which is equivalent to £0.16 ($0.20)/chicken produced (Blake et al., 2020).

[Feedinfo] How has the demand for antibiotic-free meat impacted producers’ ability to fight these diseases in their flocks and herds? What should an effective nutrition strategy to safeguard animal immunity look like here?

However, vaccination can result in reduced growth performance. In recent years, more poultry producers have looked to feed additives to help control coccidiosis. This includes using trace minerals, essential oils, probiotics, prebiotics, and other gut health-supporting products that can complement their coccidiosis control programmes. 

[Alex Hintz] In the swine industry, pigs produced with no antibiotics ever or antibiotic-free are becoming more common. Optimising nutrition is necessary to minimise the impact of disease and other challenges these pigs may face, as well as augment the immune response to vaccines. Proper trace mineral nutrition is paramount for immune response and other physiologic processes in animal health. Zinc, copper and manganese all play important roles in the immune system. Of course, the type of mineral makes a difference where effectiveness in the animal is concerned. We have found that organic trace minerals – particularly those bis-chelated with HMTBa – are highly available to the animal (less is excreted into the environment so less can be used in the ration) and work well to support immunity. Organic acids have also demonstrated the ability to reduce the production impact of enteric bacterial challenges on growing pigs. Optimising the intestinal environment and integrity via organic acids and highly available trace mineral sources can improve pig production and profitability when the use of antibiotics is limited or prohibited.

[Feedinfo] Trace minerals make up the smallest part of the ration. How impactful are they really in protecting animal immunity and supporting health? What evidence can you share with us?

[Frances Yan] Zinc, copper and manganese are involved in many physiological functions of the body and play important roles in animal growth, development, and health. Much of the evidence on how trace mineral nutrition can impact the immune system comes from research in human medicine. Zinc and copper play important roles in the immune response to both vaccines and disease challenges. Copper and zinc are implicated in the production and activity of neutrophils and macrophages, two types of immune cells vital in clearing pathogens from the body. They are also important for B-cell differentiation. B-cells are the antibody-producing immune cells in the circulatory system that respond to disease challenges and vaccines. Inadequate copper and zinc status can impact the response of macrophages and neutrophils to pathogens as well as immune cell response to vaccines or disease challenges. Zinc also possesses potent antioxidant properties to help protect cells and tissues from oxidative damage.

Though research is less defined around the mode of action, manganese regulates immunological pathways by serving as a cofactor in various enzymes and plays an important role at the host-pathogen interface. 

As for evidence, in trials, broilers fed MINTREX® Zn trace minerals showed an enhanced immune response to coccidia vaccination with greater antibody production against Eimeria microneme protein and sporozoite surface antigen (Richards et al., 2010). Broilers fed MINTREX® Zn while challenged with Eimeria tenella saw reduced oocyst counts in the excreta (Bun et al., 2011), indicating it could help with oocyst clearance. In broilers, research has shown MINTREX® Cu trace minerals impact the titers of infectious bursal disease and Newcastle disease virus (Gonzalez-Esquerra et al., 2016). In our most recent study, broilers fed low levels of MINTREX® Zn:Cu:Mn while challenged with mixed species of Eimeria had reduced inflammation and improved body weight and feed conversion ratio compared to broilers fed high levels of inorganic trace minerals with tribasic copper chloride (TBCC) (Chen et al., 2022).

In breeders, MINTREX® trace minerals are shown to improve immune response. Maternal supplementation of MINTREX® Zn in breeders saw reduced intestinal inflammation and mucosal immunity in progeny birds (Li et al., 2015). In studies where breeders were fed MINTREX® Zn:Cu:Mn, jejunal inflammation in the breeder and the progeny was reduced, and progeny growth performance was better than those birds fed inorganic trace minerals and/or a mineral amino acid complex (Roque et al., 2022; Bin et al., 2023). These findings highlight the possibilities of MINTREX® trace minerals supporting bird health as they manage the negative impact of disease challenges like coccidiosis.

[Alex Hintz] There’s research from Zhao et al. (2011) on Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae vaccine response in replacement gilts supplemented with MINTREX® Zn:Cu:Mn trace minerals versus replacement gilts supplemented solely with inorganic trace minerals. The gilts fed MINTREX® minerals demonstrated a response to the vaccine at four weeks post-vaccination. It took more than 12 weeks for the gilts supplemented with inorganic trace minerals to show a response to the Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae vaccine.

A study by Sandberg et al. (2019) looked at copper response in finishing pigs. Unexpectedly, the study was interrupted by a late-finish PRRSv challenge and swine influenza outbreak. The results showed lower mortality and less productivity loss in the pigs that received copper supplementation, including MINTREX® Cu trace minerals, in late finish versus those that did not receive copper supplementation in late finish.

These swine studies suggest trace mineral source, specifically bis-chelated organic trace minerals like MINTREX®, makes a difference in vaccine response and growth performance in the face of a viral challenge.

[Feedinfo] Of course, trace minerals are not the only feed additives in the ration. What can you tell us about their interactions with other feed additives and how this impacts animal immunity?

[Frances Yan] Animal diets often contain antagonists such as calcium, phosphorus, and phytate that can interact with and reduce the availability of trace minerals. We found that feeding MINTREX® Zn trace minerals increased zinc availability by 1.6-fold in the control diet without elevated calcium and phosphorus levels, and by 4.4-fold in the presence of elevated calcium and phosphorus (Richards et al., 2015). This finding indicates MINTREX® offers advantages over inorganic zinc as it is less antagonised by the high levels of calcium and phosphorus commonly used in livestock diets. Greater availability means more of the minerals supplemented can be used for growth and the metabolism of host cells – including immune cells – therefore aiding in stronger host immunity.

Our studies in nursery pigs by Ping et al. (2020) showed low levels of MINTREX® Zn trace minerals can improve the efficacy of dietary phytase in degrading phytate-P in comparison to  pharmacological levels of zinc oxide. Nursery pigs fed MINTREX® Zn also showed reduced villus width regardless of phytase, indicating less intestinal inflammation. The trials also showed MINTREX® Cu trace minerals had a synergistic effect with phytase on improving feed efficiency and growth rate over copper sulphate in nursery pigs.

[Feedinfo] The MINTREX® technology is well established, being introduced to the market nearly 20 years ago. Are there any new avenues that you are exploring with the technology to further improve animal health and disease resistance in the future?

[Alex Hintz] Novus has initial studies in multiple species demonstrating the benefits of MINTREX® bis-chelated trace minerals in vaccine response and virus-challenged animals. We are currently working to further evaluate the impact of trace mineral sources and levels on production parameters and biomarkers of immune response.

New research is shedding light on the importance of trace mineral type relating to gut development, which impacts barrier function and nutrient absorption. In this area, we are examining the importance of mineral source in the immediate post-weaning period in the presence and absence of pharmacological zinc, and in the presence of inflammatory challenges in the gut.

[Feedinfo] From a management or biosecurity standpoint, what else can producers do to mitigate the impact of viral diseases?

[Alex Hintz] It is important to return to ground level when discussing biosecurity. Producers can become complacent in their protocols when health challenges are not present. However, these times of good health give producers a chance to revisit the strategies they use to keep diseases and viruses out of the herd or flock.

We recommend looking at all the points of entry in your system – people, animals, feed, supplies, vehicles, etc. Ensure there are protocols in place that consider each of these as possible avenues for disease introduction. From there you can build a robust biosecurity plan that works to close these points of entry.

Beyond the basics, producers should look at including next-level strategies like eubiotic feed additives, specifically ACTIVATE® DA nutritional feed acid, for viral risk reduction in the feed.

Evaluating the farm in this way and taking the appropriate steps through best management practices and powerful feed additives can strengthen a biosecurity plan for the diseases we see today and the diseases that may make their way onto farms in the future.

Published in association with Novus International, Inc.