A survey of the effects of utilization of zeolite (Heulandite) on broilers’performance

By considering that a great portion of the costs in poultry industry is dedicated to prepare the food, so the attempt in order to use the food resources effectively and to increase the production performance with the purpose of raising production amount and lowering the costs is really important. To do so, mineral inorganics have been developed to increase livestock products and zeolites are among those minerals which by possessing specific and convenient physical and chemical characteristics can have extensive applications in livestock and poultry feeding.(7, 5) Chemically zeolite is a kind of aluminum silicate hydrate crystal and is an earth basic kation .Up to now 85 natural zeolite types and 100 artificial types are presented to the market.(6, 7, 10) Water absorption and ionic exchangeability are among zeolites specificities that cause to k+, Mg2 + NA+, Ca2+, NH+4 ionic linkage and their gradual release in digestion system under special circumstances that because of animal performance increases(5, 6).Experiments results revealed that using zeolite has led to ammoniac density decrease in broilers’ nest and has decreased the stress caused by ammoniac density.(8) There are large amounts of natural zeolite (Heulandite) in our country. By considering that this type of zeolite has not been investigated in livestock and poultry feeding enough, the purpose of this study is to investigate the broilers’ performance using this specific zeolite type.