Description

Vitamins are organic substances that are indispensable to the normal metabolic processes of animal organisms. Given that the nutritional profile of conventional feed formulation often lacks the recommended dosages, vitamins are generally added to feed in the form of a premix. It is essential that the right amount is dosed for different species at different growth phases to ensure proper animal growth, reproduction and immune defense. Furthermore, it is also critical to ensure the production of quality poultry and livestock muscle and meat. Vitamins are substances which are necessary for maintaining all body function (growth, health, fertility, performance). As a rule, the animal body cannot synthesize these natural biologically active substances itself, which is why they must be supplied with the feed. Vitamins are considered as essential (vitally necessary) micronutrients. Each individual vitamin performs particular tasks which cannot be performed in the same way by another vitamin. Modern intensive livestock farming and the productivity of the animal processing industry have only been made possible by the specific and requirement-related supply of vitamins to the animals in specially formulated and economical compound feeds. The use of vitamin supplements makes it possible to prevent growth disorders, and performance reduction of all kinds, and thus to achieve higher profitability in livestock production. The costs of this vitaminazation are low relation to the wide range of benefits. Without exception, the vitamins used in animal nutrition are produced on an industrial scale with chemical and biotechnological process, they correspond to the naturally occurring vitamins, are equivalent to their activity, and are often even superior owing to special formulations. In some cases, their stability has been increased by special protective processes.