Role and Classification of Feed Additives
📌 Feed additives and supplements are incorporated into animal feed to enhance animal health and productivity, stimulating appetite and promoting growth.
📌 Additives are broadly classified based on regulations (e.g., European Commission) and function, including sensory, nutritional, zootechnical, and coccidiostats.
📌 The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) classifies additives based on their influence on feed stability (e.g., antifungals, antioxidants), growth efficacy, and animal health modification (e.g., drugs, immunomodulators).

Specific Additive Functions and Examples
🐜 Anti-caking agents, like anhydrous salts (e.g., calcium phosphate, magnesium oxide), are added to dry mixes to absorb moisture and prevent clumping, ensuring the product remains free-flowing.
💊 Toxin binders (e.g., activated charcoal, silicates) bind harmful mycotoxins in the gastrointestinal tract to ensure excretion, protecting animals from toxic-related illnesses.
🧬 Vitamins (A, D, E, K, and B complex) are essential feed additives supporting biological functions, immune response, metabolism, and overall well-being.

Growth Promoters and Modifiers
🧪 Non-hormonal (NH) antibiotics have metabolic effects, including gut wall changes, nutrition-sparing effects, and modification of rumen fermentation; examples include Avermectin and Bacitracin Zinc.
📈 Ionophore antibiotics (e.g., Monensin) increase propionate production while decreasing methane, improving energy metabolism efficacy; they are generally bacteriostatic.
🌿 Phytogenic feed additives are used for better feed conversion ratio (FCR), anti-inflammatory effects, growth promotion, and antimicrobial effects.

Digestive Aids and Other Substances
🌾 Prebiotics (oligosaccharides like FOS, GOS) are non-digestible ingredients that selectively stimulate beneficial bacterial species in the digestive tract.
🧂 Buffering agents (e.g., sodium bicarbonate $\text{NaHCO}_3$, magnesium oxide $\text{MgO}$) resist changes in ruminal pH; $\text{NaHCO}_3$ is often supplemented at $1.2\%$ to $1.6\%$ of the concentrate mixture.
⚫ Absorbents like activated charcoal are used at very low rates ($20$ to $120\ \text{mg/kg}$) to chelate toxicants, such as lead and pesticides, reducing their absorption.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ Feed additives are crucial for improving digestion, weight gain, and protecting animals from disease by enhancing immune function.
➡️ Chielated (organic) minerals are generally more bioavailable than inorganic forms, though research in India is lacking, and their cost is significantly higher (often double the regular mineral mixture cost).
➡️ Probiotics act as a protective layer by non-pathogenic bacteria occupying space and preventing pathogenic microorganisms from attaching to the gut wall receptors.

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Nov 28, 2025, 05:09 UTC