Iron

• Plants, animals, and human beings require iron to make DNA, which encodes all life. Animals and humans also need iron to make hemoglobin, which delivers oxygen to the body.
• Iron also carries carbon dioxide out of the body, which plants need to function. Humans also need iron to make myoglobin in muscles.
• Iron is vital for almost all living organisms by participating in a wide variety of metabolic processes, including oxygen transport, DNA synthesis, and electron transport.

 

 

Iron is an essential nutrient, and iron supplementation has been shown to reduce the incidence of abomasal bloat in lambs. 

• Iron is an essential nutrient, and iron supplementation has been shown to reduce the incidence of abomasal bloat in lambs.
• Additionally, iron deficiency is linked to pica, which may increase uptake of Eimeria oocysts. Coccidiosis in sheep, caused by Eimeria spp., is an important infection, leading to reduced welfare and economic losses.

 

 

Manganese

• Manganese (Mn) is an important trace mineral (required in very small quantities).
• It is involved in many aspects of both plant and animal life, primarily as an enzyme activator.
• One of the most common deficiency symptoms is reduced growth or abnormal growth and development.
• Manganese is involved in activating the enzymes responsible for the production of mucopolysaccharides and glycoproteins which form the organic matrix of bone and cartilage. Therefore a deficiency of Mn may result in shortened or malformed bones.

 

 

Calcium

• calcium plays a major role in the absorption of nutrients (modification of the cell permeability), as well as in blood clotting.
• It is a key mineral for egg-shell formation in poultry laying flocks.
• Calcium helps animals to grow strongly by encouraging good bone development.

 

 

ZINC

• The need for Zn by most animals is based on :
• its influence on enzymes and proteins and their activities:
  that are linked to vitamin A synthesis, carbon dioxide (CO2) transport, collagen fiber degradation, free radical destruction, membrane stability of red blood cells, metabolism of essential fatty acids, carbohydrate metabolism, protein synthesis, metabolism of nucleic acids, among others.
  
• the presence of Zn at the cellular level is essential, for instance, in the gonads, where cell growth and division, occurs continuously .
• the presence of Zn at the cellular level is essential, for instance, in the gonads, where cell growth and division, occurs continuously .
• Consequently, a Zn deficiency could seriously affect reproductive events in most species.
• For instance, in males, it could affect the espermatogenic process, as well, as primary and secondary sex organs development, and in females, it could affect them in any phase of the reproductive processes (estrus, gestation or lactation).
  Zn also plays a key role in maintaining the integrity of the epithelia of the reproductive organs, which is necessary for embryo implantation besides, adequate concentrations of Zn in the serum and in the diets, are vital for uterine involution, tissue repair, after parturition, and particularly, the return to estrus.
• Zn also plays a key role in maintaining the integrity of the epithelia of the reproductive organs, which is necessary for embryo implantation besides, adequate concentrations of Zn in the serum and in the diets, are vital for uterine involution, tissue repair, after parturition, and particularly, the return to estrus.

 

 

Copper

• Copper is a mineral element that activates several enzyme systems, and though in less numbers than Zn, it is considered an essential.
• However, sheep and goats are not tolerant to high Cu levels in their diets, and it is thus considered a toxic element .
• The physiological role of Cu in the organism is related to several functions, which include:
• cellular respiration.
• bone formation, connective tissue development.
• and essential catalytic cofactor of some metallo-enzymes.

 

 

Potassium

• Is the major cation of intracellular fluid, and regulates intracellular osmotic pressue and acid-base balance.
• Like sodium, potassium has a stimulating effect on muscle irritability.
• Potassium is also required for glycogen and protein sysnthesis, and the metabolic breakdown of glucose.

 

 

Cobalt

• Cobalt is an essential trace mineral for ruminant animals such as dairy and beef cattle, sheep and goats.
• The main function of cobalt in ruminants is to be a component of vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin.
• Vitamin B12 is an essential cofactor for the function of two enzymes in animals which are:
• Methionine synthase
• Methylmalonyl–CoA mutase .

 

 

Magnesium
Biological function:

• The principal biological functions of magnesium may be summarized as follows;
• Magnesium is an essential component of bone, cartilage and the crustacean exoskeleton.
• Magnesium is an activator of several key enzyme systems, including kinases enzymes that catalyse the transfer of the terminal phosphate of ATP to sugar or other acceptors), mutases (transphosphorylation reactions), muscle ATPases, and the enzymes cholinesterase, alkaline phosphatase, enolase, isocitric dehydrogenase, arginase (magnesium is a component of the arginase molecule), deoxyribonuclease, and glutaminase.
• Through its role in enzyme activation, magnesium (like calcium) stimulates muscle and nerve irritability (contraction), is involved in the regulation of intracellular acid-base balance, and plays an important role in carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism.
• The latter function(2) of B12 is vitally important to the energy metabolism of both the rumen microbes and the host ruminant animal.
• The major source of vitamin B12 in ruminants for both the rumen microbes and the host animal’s requirements come from B12 synthesis by certain rumen microbes, themselves provided adequate cobalt is supplied in the diet.

 

 

selenium

• Selenium and vitamin E are essential in sheep diets. Selenium is a trace element which works with vitamin E to prevent and repair cell damage in the body.
• Selenium and vitamin E both play a role in immune function and are vital for growth, reproduction, and preventing white muscle disease.

 

 

What are the signs of selenium and/or vitamin E deficiencies?
Signs of deficiency include:

• poor growth + arched back
• apparent lameness + reluctance to move
• sudden deaths + stiff gait

 

 

L-Lysine

• Lysine is an essential amino acid used in poultry diets to help ensure balanced nutrition and flock performance.
• Lysine deficiency could reduce the body weight up to 40 to 45% because of lysine being used mainly for muscle protein production in broilers .
• The breast meat contains high levels of lysine, and reduction of lysine in the diet has been reported to affect the breast meat accretion.

 

 

Dl- methionine

• Met is a methyl and sulfur donor and an important factor for antibody response.
• alleviates the negative effects of heat stress.
• increases protein synthesis and decreases fat synthesis.
• improves the amino acid balance and consequently promotes growth performance by enhancing feed efficiency.
• Methionine improves the immune response through :

Direct effects
(protein synthesis and breakdown).

Indirect effects
(derivatives of methionine).
Dl-Met is also a precursor of important intermediates, such as metabolic pathway components and glutathione, which have antioxidant characteristics, and which also decrease oxidative damage caused by lipid peroxidation.

 

 

N.B:

• Methionine deficiency in poultry can result in growth inhibition, cannibalism, and increased susceptibility to disease .