Can zinc sulfate be replaced by zinc oxide?

Both zinc sulfate and zinc oxide contain zinc element and the two chemicals can be widely used in livestock feed, industry, pharmaceutical industry, and so on. In this case, whether zinc sulfate can be replaced by zinc oxide?

In agriculture, zinc oxide cannot take the place of zinc sulfate. Generally, crops absorb the nutrient elements in the form of ion state. Zinc oxide is hardly soluble in water while zinc sulfate is easy to be dissolved into sulfate and zinc ions in water which can rightly be absorbed effectively by plants.

In animal feed industry, although zinc oxide could maintain the similar content with zinc sulfate in testing, once zinc oxide is ate by animal, there is still difficult for animals to absorb.

In industry, zinc oxide is not easy to absorb water and contains high zinc. Besides, zinc oxide has the advantages of high stability and good processing quality. The kind of zinc oxide weight lightly and shaggy is often in low quality and also contain higher lead. The price of zinc oxide is high mainly for its high zinc content, generally 3-4 times higher than the price of zinc sulfate.

Compared with both, in total, zinc sulfate is more popular by customers for low price but high efficiency. For there are different physical and chemical properties in zinc sulfate and zinc oxide each, please be careful when use them in special industries.