Livestock Studies
2016, Vol 56, Num, 2 (Pages: 078-086)
Properties of Sepiolite and Its uses in Animal Nutrition
2 Ankara Üniversitesi Veteriner Fakültesi Hayvan Besleme ve Beslenme Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, Ankara - Sepiolite is a clay mineral which belongs to the group of phyliosilicates. Chemically, it is a hydrated magnesium silicate. The most important characteristics of sepiolite are its high spesific surface, great sorptive capacity, low cation exchange capacity and rheological properties. Sepiolite is a registered feed additive for all animal feedingstuffs in the EU (E-562). Sepiolite is used often as a binder in pelleted feeds. Dietary sepiolite supplementation improves the durability and hardness of pellets. Sepiolite also enhances physical stability of concentrate feeds and reduces dust losses. However, the use of sepiolite in animal nutrution is still limited. Therefore, the properties and the usage of sepiolite in animal nutrution are discussed in this paper. Keywords : Clay minerals, sepiolit, pellet binder, silicates, animal nutrition