Abstract
The objective was to investigate the effects of feeding broiler breeders (BB) hydroxychloride (HC) or organic (OR) sources of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn) from 42 to 63 wk of age (woa) on plasma concentration of trace minerals (TM) in offspring at hatch through to 42 d of life (Table 1 to 4). A total of 408 ♀ Ross 708 and 48 ♂ Yield Plus cockerels were placed in pens (17 ♀ and 2 ♂) and allocated to one of two diets: 1) HO, a blend of 80% HC and 20% OR sources, and 2) OR, 100% OR sources. In total, 2,160 eggs (90 eggs from each pen replicate) were collected and labelled by BB pen at 46, 52 and 62 woa and incubated. Upon hatching, chicks were sexed, weighed, and placed in 24 pens (40 birds/pen) within BB diet identification. For offspring phase, one-half of chicks from BB fed HO or InO were fed HC and the other half were fed inorganic (InO) sources of Zn, Cu and Mn, effectively creating 4 treatments for offspring phase (n = 6; 3 pens per sex). There were no BB diets effects (P > 0.05) on plasma concentration in hatchlings (Table 5, 6). However, BB age effect was such that plasma of hatchlings of 54- and 62-wk-old BB exhibited increased concentrations of Zn, Cu, and Mn compared with those from 46-wk-old parents (P < 0.0001; Table 6-7). Additionally, female hatchings displayed greater Cu concentrations in plasma compared with males (P = 0.024). Broiler chickens fed HC exhibited greater plasma Zn, Cu, and iron on d 21 compared with the other groups (P < 0.05) while 42-d chickens fed HC diet exhibited increased concentrations of Mn and iron compared with the other groups (P < 0.05). Forty-two-d old broiler chickens from 62-wk-old breeders exhibited greater TM concentrations compared with those from younger parents (P < 0.0001). The findings provide valuable insights for enhancing TM supplementation in BB diets to enhance the plasma concentrations of Zn, Cu, and Mn in offspring. Notably, hatchlings fed with HC as a source of Zn, Cu, and Mn exhibited increased concentrations of these minerals through 42 d.
