Nano-Mineral Technology in Ruminant Feeding: Progress and Prospects

Nanotechnology is the science of particles at nano-meter scale, which generally possesses unique properties, thanks to their particle size. Of late, in animal nutrition, the use of nano-sized minerals—called as nano-minerals—is gaining importance. Trace minerals, namely, zinc, selenium, copper, cobalt, etc. in nano form are tried and tested in poultry and livestock. Nano-minerals in poultry have shown growth promotion, improved immunity, and better retention of the minerals as compared to inorganic counterparts. In ruminants, notwithstanding the fact that studies are relatively scanty, the available findings reveal improvements in health and production by supplementation of nano-minerals. Specifically, the nano-minerals have shown growth promotion, enhanced immunity, improved fertility, better mineral retention when compared to conventional inorganic mineral salts. Furthermore, nano-minerals also modify the rumen fermentation and associated rumen microbiota. Moreover, owing to its higher bioavailability, the supplementation of nano-minerals aids in prevention of environmental pollution by reducing the excretion of unused minerals, and are known effective at much lower concentrations than inorganic minerals. In addition, nano-minerals are found promising in benefitting reproductive performance as well. Thus, nano-minerals have so far proved instrumental in augmenting animal health, immunity, production, and reproduction. However, more holistic studies warranted for understanding the additional biological effects of nano-minerals. This chapter describes a brief background on nano-minerals followed by zoo-technical responses to feeding specific nano-minerals in ruminant production.