Feeding broiler breeder hens with diets containing reduced levels of Zn, Cu, and Mn as chelates compared to industry levels as sulfates/oxides improve hatching rate and progeny quality

Published: July 29, 2013

By: M. K. Manangi1*, P. Buttin2, J. Michard3, M. Vazquez-Anon1 and M. Decoux2 1Novus International, Inc., St. Charles, MO, USA; 2Novus International S.A./ N.V., 240 av. Marcel, Thiry 1200 Brussels, Belgium; 3Hubbard, Mauguerand, 22800 Le Foeil, France.

A 15 week (wk 21-36) study was conducted in a commercial broiler breeder facility to determine the impact of feeding reduced levels of MINTREX® (metal methionine hydroxy analogue chelate) vs. industry levels of ITMs (inorganic trace minerals) in breeder hens on egg quality, hatching rate and progeny quality. A total of 15200 male line of Hubbard breeder hens were distributed into 4 houses (with floors having 1/3 slats and 2/3 litter) with 3800 hens/house. Study had 2 treatments (T1 and T2) each with 2 replicate houses per treatment and consisted of 56, 14 and 56ppm of Zn, Cu and Mn, respectively, as chelates (T1), and 100, 10 and 100ppm of Zn, Cu and Mn, respectively, as oxide, sulfate, and oxide (T2). At wk 36, 210 eggs per house were evaluated for average egg weight and egg shells breaking strength, and 4150 eggs per house were monitored to evaluate hatching rate. At birth, 50 left tibias per house (100 chicks per treatment) were sampled and pooled for tibia ash, and tibia Zn analysis on DM basis to assess progeny quality. No differences were observed for egg weight (P=0.99) and shell breaking strength (P=0.14) between treatments. Hatching rate significantly (P=0.048) improved by 1.92% for group fed chelated minerals compared to group fed ITMs. Ash content of chicks produced from hens fed chelated minerals increased by 4.3% (P=0.02) and tibia Zn content increased by 3% (P=0.19). In summary, present data indicated that feeding broiler breeder hens the reduced levels of supplemental chelated trace minerals compared to ITMs improved hatching rate and progeny quality.

Key words: Mintrex, Broiler, breeder, hen, Chelated trace minerals

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