Effect of Encapsulated Trace Minerals Premix in Comparison with Inorganic and Organic Microminerals on Growth Performance and Mineral Excretion of Broiler

Author(s): Santiago Ramirez, Wen-Biao Lu, Roger Davin, Han van der Broek and Yong-Gang Liu

This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of an encapsulated trace mineral premix containing Zn, Cu, Mn, Fe, Se and I on growth performance, bone health and mineral excretion of broiler chickens in comparison with organic and inorganic trace minerals. A total of 640 male Ross 308 broilers were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments with eight pen-replicates (20 birds/pen) each. A common basal diet was produced per growing phase and split into four sub-batches, and supplemented with specific trace mineral premix to create four experimental diets: Treatment 1, inorganic trace minerals (ITM: Zn, Cu, Mn, Fe, Se and I) at the levels recommended by Ross 308 (2019); Treatment 2 diets containing organic trace minerals (OTM) sources of Zn, Cu, Mn and Se, with Zn, Cu and Mn levels being 1/3 of those in ITM; Treatments 3 and 4 diets were supplemented with an encapsulated trace mineral premix (MinCo®, Syno Biotech) at either 250 or 375 mg/kg (M-250 and M-375), of which M-250 provided similar levels of Fe and Zn but lower Cu, I, Mn, Se than the OTM treatment; and M-375 provided slightly greater Fe and Zn, and similar Cu, I, Mn, Se to the OTM treatment. The results showed that the birds reached live weight of approx. 2.5 kg in 35 days of age, at feed conversion ratio (FCR) 1.45. During the starter phase, the birds fed on encapsulated trace mineral premixes had a better FCR than those on ITM, and M-375 had a superior FCR to OTM. During the overall cycle, the birds received encapsulated trace minerals had similar growth performance to those fed on ITM and OTM, but excreted significantly less Cu, Mn and Zn into litter, with no differences on tibia ash and tibia breaking strength.