Vitamins are organic nutrients needed in small quantities to perform specific functions.

• Vitamins are organic nutrients needed in small quantities to perform specific functions.
• They do not provide energy but are necessary in the use of energy.
• Vitamins aid an animal by helping regulate body functions, keeping the body healthy, and promoting resistance to diseases.
• The deficiency of a vitamin can lead to disease or death.
• Vitamins are classified as fat soluble and water soluble.

 

Fat-Soluble Vitamins

• Fat-soluble vitamins are vitamins stored in the fat and released as they are needed by the body.
• Fat-soluble vitamins can be stored for extended periods.
• They include vitamins A, D, E, and K.
• Vitamin A helps maintain internal and external linings and is necessary for a healthy reproductive tract. Vitamin A is not readily available in most feeds. A lack of Vitamin A affects the eyes. Carotene is a precursor of vitamin A. Carotene is found in plants; the body transforms it into vitamin A. The amount of vitamin A in a roughage is typically indicated by the degree of greenness. Vitamin A deficiency is the most common deficiency in cattle. Signs of a vitamin A deficiency include watery eyes, a rough hair coat, and a reduced growth rate.
• Vitamin D regulates the absorption of calcium and phosphorus. Animals make their own vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.
• Vitamin E promotes good health. A lack of vitamin E causes failure in the reproductive system. Alfalfa is a good source of vitamin E.
• Vitamin K is important in blood clotting. Vitamin K is typically not necessary in the diet, as bacteria in the digestive system produce it.

 

 

Water-Soluble Vitamins:

• Water-soluble vitamins are vitamins dissolved by water.
• As water passes through the body, it carries out water-soluble vitamins. Thus, these vitamins need to be consumed every day by monogastric animals.
• Water-soluble vitamins are made by microorganisms in the rumen of a ruminant animal and by fermentation in the cecum of the horse.
• Water-soluble vitamins include Vitamin C and the B vitamins.
• Vitamin C is synthesized in animal tissues. Therefore, it is not necessary to add it to feed rations.
• B vitamins are classified into two groups.
• Group I B vitamins include thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and pantothenic acid. Group I B vitamins are involved in the release of energy from feed nutrients.
• Group II B vitamins include folic acid and vitamin B12. Group II B vitamins control the formation of red blood cells.

 

 

Minerals are inorganic elements found in small amounts in the body

• Inorganic means that the substance does not contain carbon.
• To prevent mineral deficiencies, minerals are included in livestock feed rations and are provided through free access to mineral and salt blocks.
• Mineral deficiencies can result in poor weight gain, poor feed efficiency, and poor reproductive traits. Minerals are classified as macrominerals or microminerals.

 

 

Vitamin A:

• Is a fat-soluble vitamin, vitamin A can be efficiently stored in the liver and yolk of birds, and it plays a role in both the biology of the adult bird and embryo development.
• Vitamin A is required for normal growth, reproduction and maintenance of epithelial cells in good condition (skin and the linings of the digestive, reproductive, and respiratory tracts).
• Vitamin A is necessary for support of growth, health and life of all major animal species. In the absence of vitamin A, animals will cease to grow and eventually die.
• Vitamin A and its derivatives, the retinoids, have a profound influence on organ development, cell proliferation, and cell differentiation.

 

 

Vitamin A has many functions for animal health:

• helps feather grow.
• Beta-carotene also acts as an antioxidant, protecting cells from free radical damage.
• promotes antibody responses to T-cell–dependent antigens.
• increases protective antitumor immunity through mechanisms such as induction of cell differentiation and enhancement of migration to lymph nodes.
• Improves egg production and hatchability.
• formation and maintenance of teeth, bones, soft tissue, white blood cells, the immune system and mucus membranes.
• Retinol not only creates the pigments in the retina of the eye, according to, but also is integral for good vision, especially night vision, and overall eye health.

 

 

Signs of vitamin A deficiency:

• Poor growth.
• Poor feathering.
• Nasal and ocular discharge.
• Drowsiness.
• Pale comb and wattles.
• Eyelids stuck shut with thick exudate.

 

 

Vitamin D3 :

• The primary function of vitamin D is to elevate plasma calcium and phosphorus to a level that will support normal mineralization of bone as well as other body functions.
• It is now realized that vitamin D is not only important for mineralization and skeletal growth but has many other roles in:
• regulation of the parathyroid gland,
• in the immune system,
• in skin,
• cancer prevention,
• in metabolism of foreign chemicals
• in cellular development and differentiation.

Mechanism of vitamin D on absorption of calcium and magnesium:

• It is well known that vitamin D stimulates active transport of calcium and phosphorus across intestinal epithelium.
• This stimulation does not involve PTH directly but involves the active form of vitamin D.
• Parathyroid hormone indirectly stimulates intestinal calcium absorption by stimulating production of 1,25-(OH)2D3under conditions of hypocalcemia.

 

 

Mechanism of action:

• In response to the 1,25-(OH)2D, specific RNAs are elaborated by the nucleus, and when these are translated into specific proteins by ribosomes, the events leading to enhancement of calcium and phosphorus absorption occur
• 1,25-(OH)2D is transferred to the nucleus of the intestinal cell, where it interacts with the chromatin material.
• In the intestine, 1,25-(OH)2D3 promotes synthesis of calbindin (calcium-binding protein, CaBP) and other proteins and stimulates calcium and phosphorus absorption.
• In the intestine, 1,25-(OH)2D3 promotes synthesis of calbindin (calcium-binding protein, CaBP) and other proteins and stimulates calcium and phosphorus absorption.
• Vitamin D has also been reported to influence magnesium

 

 

Vitamin E-acetate:

• Vitamin E has been shown to be essential for integrity and optimum function of reproductive, muscular, circulatory, nervous and immune systems .
• It is well established that some functions of vitamin E, however, can be fulfilled in part or entirely by traces of selenium
• FUNCTIONS OF VITAMIN E:
  1. Vitamin E as a Biological Antioxidant:
  2. Membrane Structure and Prostaglandin Synthesis:
  3. Disease Resistance:

 

 

1.Vitamin E as a Biological Antioxidant:

• • the most important functions is its role as an intercellular and intracellular antioxidant.
  • Therefore, antioxidants are very important to immune defense and health of humans and animals.
  • Vitamin E is part of the body’s intracellular defense against the adverse effects of reactive oxygen and free radicals that initiate oxidation of unsaturated phospholipids.
  • Vitamin E functions as a membrane-bound antioxidant, trapping lipid peroxyl free radicals produced from unsaturated fatty acids under conditions of “oxidative stress.”
  • Mechanism of action:
    by neutralizing free radicals and preventing oxidation of lipids within membranes.
    So, interrupt production of free radicals at the initial stage.

2.Membrane Structure and Prostaglandin Synthesis:

• Alpha-tocopherol may be involved in the formation of structural components of biological membranes, thus exerting a unique influence on architecture of membrane phospholipids .
• It is reported that alpha-tocopherol stimulated the incorporation of 14C from linoleic acid into arachidonic acid in fibroblast phospholipids.
• Also, it was found that alpha-tocopherol exerted a pronounced stimulatory influence on formation of prostaglandin E from arachidonic acid.
• vitamin E supplementation of diets increased intracellular kill of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli by neutrophils.

3.Disease Resistance:

• vitamin E is an essential nutrient for the normal function of the immune system.
• vitamin E and selenium play role in protecting leukocytes and macrophages during phagocytosis, the mechanism whereby animals immunologically kill invading bacteria.
• Both vitamin E and selenium may help these cells survive the toxic products that are produced in order to effectively kill ingested bacteria.
• Macrophages and neutrophils from vitamin E-deficient animals have decreased phagocytic activity.
• The protective effects of vitamin E on animal health may be involved with its role in reduction of glucocorticoids, which are known to be immunosuppressive.

 

 

 

Vitamin K3 :

• Vitamin K is an essential metabolite for humans and for all laboratory and farm animals.
• The dietary vitamin K requirements of animals depend upon many modifying factors.
• Of the factors modifying the dietary vitamin K requirements, most important is the synthesis of vitamin K by the gastrointestinal microflora of most animals, especially mammals.
• Coprophagy also plays an important role by providing a more complete absorption of the microbially synthesized vitamins K. Although vitamin K is synthesized in the intestinal tract of chickens, turkeys, and other avian species, it appears too far down the tract to furnish these species with all of the vitamin K needs.

 

 

Proper vitamin K nutrition in animals depends upon providing sufficient vitamin K to the liver for optimum use by the animal for synthesis of the vitamin K-dependent plasma proteins involved in the blood clotting mechanism and perhaps for synthesis also of other proteins required in metabolism.

• Proper vitamin K nutrition in animals depends upon providing sufficient vitamin K to the liver for optimum use by the animal for synthesis of the vitamin K-dependent plasma proteins involved in the blood clotting mechanism and perhaps for synthesis also of other proteins required in metabolism.
• The vitamin K must be presented to the liver in a form that can be used directly or that can be readily converted to the metabolically active form of the vitamin.
• In the presence of vitamin K inhibitors, such as dicoumarol, sulfaquinoxaline, warfarin, etc., optimum vitamin K nutrition occurs only with adequate vitamin K levels provided in the proper form in excess of the amounts inhibited by these antimetabolites.

 

 

The B vitamins include vitamin thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, biotin, folic acid, and Cyanocobalamin.

• The B vitamins include vitamin thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, biotin, folic acid, and Cyanocobalamin.
• The B vitamins are involved in many metabolic functions, including energy metabolism.
• A vitamin premix is typically used to compensate for the fluctuating levels of vitamins found naturally in food and to assure adequate levels of all vitamins.

 

 

B1 (Thiamine)

• The thiamine vitamin is involved in several biochemical reactions.
• In addition to generating energy for your pet’s cells, thiamine is also essential for the nervous system, helping move sensory impulses between neurons.
• Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin):
  Owing to its role in the metabolism of proteins and fats, vitamin B2 is an essential micronutrient for all major species of livestock and companion animals. It is used as a feed additive in all types of feed.

Riboflavin functions:

• Riboflavin in coenzyme form (FMN or FAD) is called flavoprotein, and acts as an intermediary in the transfer of electrons in biological oxidation-reduction reactions.
• Riboflavin functions in flavoprotein-enzyme systems to help regulate cellular metabolism, and is specifically involved in metabolism of carbohydrates.
• Riboflavin is also an essential factor in amino acid metabolism as part of amino acid oxidases. These enzymes oxidize amino acids to ammonia and a keto-acid.
• In addition, riboflavin plays a role in fat metabolism

Riboflavin deficiency:

• Vitamin B2 deficiency can cause retarded growth, poor food utilization, and diarrhea.
• The deficiency causes “curled toe paralysis” in birds between the first and second week of age.
• The affected birds walk upon their hocks with the aid of their wings.
• In adult birds, decreased egg production, increased embryonic mortality and dead in shell chicks, with dwarfing and clubbing down feathers are seen.

 

Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxin):

• What is vitamin B6and what does it do?
• Vitamin B6 is a vitamin that is naturally present in many foods. The animal body needs vitamin B6 for more than 100 enzyme reactions involved in metabolism.
• Vitamin B6 is also involved in brain development during pregnancy and infancy as well as immune function.
• Vitamin B6 is especially vital, This vitamin is responsible for glucose generation, red blood cell and nervous system function, hormone regulation, immune response, niacin synthesis, and gene activation. Pantothenic acid helps with energy metabolism.

 

Pyridoxin and nervous system:

• Vitamin B6 helps the body make several neurotransmitters, chemicals that carry signals from one nerve cell to another.
• It is needed for normal brain development and function, and helps the body make the hormones serotonin and norepinephrine, which influence mood, and melatonin.
• Clinical Signs of Pyridoxine Deficiency:
  • Chicks fed a vitamin B6-deficient diet have little appetite poor growth, chondrodystrophy, and characteristic nervous behavior.
  • Chicks may show jerky, nervous movements of the legs, run aimlessly about, flapping their wings, or squatting with their wings slightly spread out and their heads resting on the ground.
  • Chronic borderline B6 deficiency produces perosis; usually one leg is severely crippled, and one or both of the middle toes may be bent inward at the first joint.

 

Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin)

• Vitamin B12 is the most chemically complex of all the vitamins.
• Role of Vitamin B12 is essential for:
• the maturation of erythrocytes.
• protects against pernicious anaemia
• cell growth and reproduction
• the formation of myelin and nucleoproteins.
• symptoms include Pernicious Anaemia that is a type of megaloblastic anaemia characterised by decreased number of and irreversible nerve cell death. It also causes anaemia, gizzard erosion and fattiness of heart, liver, kidney in poultry.
• Vitamin B12 sources and microbial interactions in meat, eggs, milk, and milk products.
• Cattle and sheep are herbivores and eat plants like grass, which is free of B12.
• Cattle are herbivorous ruminant animals and their stomachs contain various microorganisms including B12-synthesizing bacteria.
• The synthesized B12 is absorbed in the intestine and stored in the liver and muscles of cattle or secreted into milk. Bovine milk and fermented milk (yogurt and cheese) are major dairy products for humans.
• Chickens are omnivores and eat both plants and animals that contain considerable amounts of B12.
• The B12 contents of raw meats are generally higher in cattle than in chicken

N.B:

• The lack of a trace mineral, cobalt, can result in a vitamin B12 deficiency in cattle.
• This is because cobalt is a part of the vitamin B12 compound and is essential for rumen bacteria to manufacture this vitamin.

Niacinamide:

• The major function of niacin is in the coenzyme forms of nicotinamide, NAD and NADP.
• Enzymes containing NAD and NADP are important links in a series of reactions associated with carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism.
• They are especially important in the metabolic reactions that furnish energy to the animal.
• The coenzymes act as an intermediate in most of the H+ transfers in metabolism, including more than 200 reactions in the metabolism of carbohydrates, fatty acids and amino acids.
• These reactions are of paramount importance for normal tissue integrity, particularly for the skin, the gastrointestinal tract and the nervous system.

Folic acid:

• Folic acid (also referred to as folate, vitamin B9 or folacin) is an essential B-vitamin needed for chickens of all ages.
• Folic acid is the synthetic form of B9, found in supplements and fortified foods, while folate occurs naturally in foods.
• Folic acid is crucial for proper brain function and plays an important role in mental and emotional health.
• It aids in the production of DNA and RNA, the body’s genetic material, and is especially important when cells and tissues are growing rapidly.

Folic Acid Deficiency:

• • In general, lead to poor growth, anaemia, poor feathering and egg production.

Chicks:

• Folic acid deficiency in chicks is characterized by poor feathering, anemic appearance (waxy white comb and pale mucous membranes in the mouth), lethargy, reduced feed intake, slow growth, and abnormal skeletal development leading to perosis.

Adult Chickens:

• Folic acid deficiency in adult chickens often have pale combs and wattles, decreased egg production, poor feathering, and reduced hatch rates for offspring.
• Folic-deficient breeder hens tend to produce chicken embryos that die immediately after pipping the air cell while in the later stages of incubation.
• Chicks that are assisted out of their shell will often develop leg deformities.

Vitamin C:

• Vitamin C is synthesized in the liver in most species, including dogs and cats, and is widely distributed through body tissues.
• Vitamin C has an important physiologic role in numerous metabolic functions including tissue growth and maintenance, amelioration of oxidative stress, and immune regulation.
• Ascorbic acid is an important player in collagen and carnitine synthesis, as an antioxidant, and mineral metabolism. Like other water-soluble vitamins, there is no body tissue storage of vitamin C. This means that species requiring vitamin C must consume it regularly to maintain circulating levels.

Folic acid:

• Folic acid (also referred to as folate, vitamin B9 or folacin) is an essential B-vitamin needed for chickens of all ages.
• Folic acid is the synthetic form of B9, found in supplements and fortified foods, while folate occurs naturally in foods.
• Folic acid is crucial for proper brain function and plays an important role in mental and emotional health.
• It aids in the production of DNA and RNA, the body’s genetic material, and is especially important when cells and tissues are growing rapidly.

Choline chloride

• Choline is a metabolic essential for building and maintaining cell structure. Choline is a structural part of lecithin (phosphatidylcholine), certain plasmalogens and the sphingomyelins. Lecithin is a part of animal cell membranes and lipid transport moieties in cell plasma membranes.
• Phospholipids are present in the cell membrane bilayers, and the primary function of these phospholipids are to regulate cell membrane integrity and porosity.
• Choline is required as a constituent of the phospholipids needed for normal maturation of the cartilage matrix of the bone.
• Choline is referred to as a “lipotropic” factor due to its function of acting on fat metabolism by hastening removal or decreasing deposition of fat in liver. Choline plays an essential role in fat metabolism in the liver.
• It prevents abnormal accumulation of fat (fatty livers) by promoting its transport as lipoprotein and lecithin or by increasing the utilization of fatty acids in the liver.
• Choline is essential for the synthesis of acetylcholine by mitochondria at the presynaptic terminal of the neural synapse, a substance that makes possible the transmission of nerve impulses.

Betaine:

• Adding betaine will lead to reduced feed costs, and an improved growth and feed conversion ratio.
• Additional benefits are found in improved slaughter characteristics (more breast meat yield and less abdominal fat), preventing heat stress, and promoting better resistance towards coccidiosis.