Preparation and effects of nano mineral particle feeding in livestock: A review

Nano minerals are widely used in diversified sectors including agriculture, animal, and food systems. Hence, their multiple uses provoke the production of nanomaterials at the laboratory level, which can be achieved through physical, chemical or biological methods. Every method is having its own merits and demerits. But keeping all in mind, chemical methods are more beneficial, as uniform nano-sized particles can be produced, but the use of corrosive chemicals is the main demerits. When it comes to environmental issues, biological methods are better as these are free from corrosive chemicals, but maintaining the culture media is the disadvantage. For animal feeding, chemical methods are mostly followed to produce nano minerals as it is cheap and less time consuming. These nano minerals also showed their significant effects even at lower doses of recommendations than the conventional mineral sources. These nano minerals have significant growth promoting, immuno-modulatory, antibacterial effects than the conventional counterparts. They also alter the rumen fermentation pattern on supplementation in the animal feeds. Apart from these, nano minerals are reported to enhance the reproduction in the livestock and poultry.