CHAPTER 1 

 INTRODUCTION 



The benefits of mineral supplementation to animals have 

 been known for a long time. In places where the fertility of 

 the soils and nutritional quality of the feed is unknown or 

 questionable, the use of mineral supplementation can provide 

 security against deficiencies. The vast majority of the 

 research to determine biological availability of minerals has 

 been conducted with supplemental inorganic sources and with 

 foodstuffs rather than with supplemental organic sources. 



There are many methods to provide mineral supplementation 

 which can be grouped into direct and indirect (McDowell, 

 1992) . Indirect supplementation methods include the 

 administration of minerals to the soils in the form of 

 fertilizer or by changing the soil environment (e.g., pH, 

 moisture, etc.) which may increase the availability of some 

 minerals, or may encourage the growth of a specific pasture 

 species which may contain more of the required minerals. 

 Direct methods of supplementation include adding the 

 supplemental minerals to the feed or water, or directly 



