EFFECTS OF CHELATED ORGANIC TRACE MINERAL BLENDS BASED DIET ON EGG-QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF EARLY-LAY BIRDS

Abstract

Trace minerals commonly used in poultry are supplied by inorganic salts have low bioavailability because they can form complexes with other nutrients in the gut. A 80-weeks experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of diet supplemented with chelated organic trace mineral blends on the egg quality characteristics of late-lay birds. The experiment involved a total of 500 one- day old pullet chicks were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments consisting of positive control, recommended level of inorganic trace minerals in the premix 16, 64, 64 mg/kg of Cu, Zn and Mn (T1), negative control, basal diet with 0.0, 0.0,0.0 mg/kg of Cu, Zn and Mn i.e. premix free of Cu, Zn and Mn (T2), diets with 16, 64, 64 mg/kg of chelated Cu, Zn and Mn, 100% higher than the manufacturer’s recommendation (T3), diets with 8, 32, 32 mg/kg of chelated Cu, Zn and Mn, at the manufacturer’s recommendation (T4) and diets with 4, 16, 16 mg/kg of chelated Cu, Zn and Mn at 100% lower than the manufacturer’s recommendation (T5), respectively. Each treatment was replicated ten times with 10 birds per replicate. Egg quality characteristics were evaluated as response criteria in the experiment. Data were subjected to one-way Analysis of Variance in a Completely Randomized Design. At the late-lay phase, egg weight, egg length, egg width and Haugh unit were significantly (P<0.05) improved with birds fed T3. A significant (P<0.05) increase in percentage albumen, albumen height, percentage yolk and yolk height were observed for birds fed T3 at the late-lay phase. The study concluded that supplementation of chelated trace mineral blends at 100% higher than manufacturer’s recommended level in the diets of egg-type chickens resulted in an improved laying performance in respect to the egg quality characteristics of the early-lay birds.