Some related studies have proved that zeolite as a feed additive can promote the growth performance of pigs and will not have a negative impact on their health. Adding 1%-2% natural clinoptilolite to feed can significantly affect the growth of pigs. Feed containing zeolite can improve the average daily gain of pigs and/or feed conversion rate, and also improve the production performance of sows. Adding zeolite to feed can slow down the speed of food passing through digestive tract, thus improving the utilization rate of nutrition. The function of zeolite is mainly related to the following parameters: the type, purity, origin, physical and chemical properties of zeolite, the proportion of zeolite in feed, the feed and environmental conditions needed for zeolite to continue to play its role.

Experiments show that feed additives containing 50% calcium formate, 8% formic acid and 42% natural clinoptilolite can improve the growth rate and feed conversion rate of pigs. Adding 1.5% of the above additives to the feed can make the animals in the experimental group gain 13.4 kg in the first month, and the animals in the control group gain 8.3 kg correspondingly. The experimental group gained 0.47 kg daily, while the control group gained 0.29 kg daily. The feed-meat ratio of the experimental group was 3. 13, while that of the control group was 4 .7.

disease control

A large number of experiments have proved that zeolite can alleviate and prevent the toxic effects of some compounds, heavy metals and ammonia, which is of great significance to the food safety of livestock products. The combined adsorption of mycotoxins by zeolite is a hot research topic at present. In addition, some studies show that adding zeolite to feed has played a positive role in reducing the incidence of porcine diarrhea syndrome and relieving the disease, but the exact mechanism of zeolite action is still unclear. The possible mechanism of zeolite in preventing specific diseases in pigs is shown in Table 2.

Reduce ammonia emission

Because pig excreta contains NH3 and N, intensive pig raising will produce a lot of ammonia, and excessive ammonia discharge will cause environmental pollution, and the level of NH3 in the growing environment of pigs will often exceed the standard. Long-term exposure of pigs to high concentrations of NH3 will cause temporary or lasting changes in the olfactory sensitivity of pigs, which will further affect the individual identification, social relations, feeding behavior and other related odor identification of pigs, and affect the health of pigs to a certain extent.

Production and welfare have a negative impact [5].

Adding zeolite to feed can adsorb NH4+ in gastrointestinal tract, and make most of the nitrogen that should be discharged with urine be converted into feces, thus reducing the concentration of ammonia in the atmosphere.

label

Zeolite, as a feed additive, has high safety and plays a positive role in improving the growth performance of pigs and preventing diseases. Zeolite has the characteristics of wide distribution and easy exploitation, and can be widely used as an efficient and low-cost feed additive in pig production. At the same time, zeolite can improve social problems such as food safety, environmental protection and animal welfare in pig production, thus making pig production more in line with the requirements of the times. The existing problems: the relationship between the proportion of different types and purity of zeolite in feed and the growth and disease prevention of pigs, and the specific physiological mechanism of zeolite blocking various toxins in the process of disease prevention need further study in the future.