Efficacy of amino acid chelates of iron, copper, manganese and zinc in broilers and layer diets

Two experiments were conducted to determine the efficacy of amino acid chelates of iron, copper, zinc and manganese in broiler and layer diets. In experiment 1, 240 day-old straight-run Cobb broiler-chicks were randomly distributed to five treatments following a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Each treatment was replicated 6 times with a cage of 8 chicks per replicate. For experiment 2, 125 individually caged 23-week-old Lohmann pullets were randomly distributed to five treatments following a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Each treatment was replicated 25 times with one layer per replicate. The treatments applied for both broiler and layer experiment were essentially the same. Diets in Treatment 1 were supplemented with 100 percent inorganic microminerals (IM). While the IM in diets in Treatments 2, 3, 4 and 5 were partially or completely replaced with chelated microminerals (CM) at the rate of 25, 50, 75 and 100%. The broilers were fed with their diets from 0 to 42 days of age while the layers were fed their diets from 23 to 34 weeks of age. In broiler experiment, the iron, zinc, and manganese contents of the broiler starter and finisher diets were generally lower for diets with partial or complete replacement of IM with CM premix. Iron, copper, zinc and manganese contents of the liver and tibia were not significantly affected with partial or complete replacement of IM with CM premix. Increased replacement of IM with CM premix decreased but not consistently the iron, copper, zinc and manganese content of the feces. Partial or complete replacement of IM with CM premix in the diets did not significantly (P0.05) influence on the average body weight gain, feed consumption, feed efficiency, livability and dressing percentage of broilers but slightly increased 1OFC [income over feed cost] of the broilers. In the layer experiment, increased level of CM as a replacement of IM showed consistent decrease in micromineral contents of the diets. Replacement of IM with 75 to 100% CM premix in the diets significantly (P0.05) decreased the iron contents of the liver. The excretion of copper, zinc and manganese was significantly reduced with 50, 75 and 100% replacement of IM with CM premix. The average egg production, egg weight, feed consumption, feed efficiency, weight gain and livability of layers and shell thickness and yolk color of eggs produced were not significantly (P0.05) influenced by partial or complete replacement of IM with CM premix. Partial or complete replacement of IM and CM premix slightly increased the 1OFC of layers.