Perlite used in animal feeds
Perlite used in animal feeds
Perlite as an animal feed/fertilizer carrier
As a carrier for feed concentrates, Perlite will readily adsorb the concentrate while remaining free flowing (anti caking), and chemically resistant to microbiological degradation. The Perlite also permits quick liquid movement between the carrier surface and the recipient of the feed concentrate.
Approvals

Previous patents
German research and use:
In the early 1980’s, Dr. P. Glodek of the University of Gottingen in Germany experimented on the use of Perlite in hog feed. A comparison was made between hogs fattened with traditional feeds and those fattened with the same feeds combined with Perlite.
According to his report, “the two Perlite groups showed still significantly higher daily intakes of feed and weight gains than the ad libitum control group, which in turn clearly did better than the ration-fed control group.” “It must be especially emphasized that the Perlite fed pigs achieved a daily weight gain higher by 197g and a duration of fattening lower by 23 days with the same feed utilization as the ration-fed control animals….”
“It can therefore be concluded that in this experiment, the Perlite feed made possible a faster fattening with the ad libitum feeding than is possible with conventional ad libitum feeding without significant disadvantages in feed utilization as compared to customary rationed feeding.”
Previous patents
Use of Perlite in animals feeds today
We don’t know if Perlite is being used in pig production in Germany today. We do know it is being used as a carrier, and that filtration grades of Perlite are fed to animals. Perlite is currently used as a carrier for animal feed for faster growth.

