Author(s):
Tavares, T 
; Mourão, J.L ; Kay, Z ; Spring, P ; Vieira, J ; Gomes, A ; Vieira-Pinto, M
Date: 2011
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10348/2599
Origin: Repositório da UTAD
Subject(s): Broiler; Selenium yeast; Organic mineral chelates
Description
The aim of the study was to compare the performance profiles of broilers fed with a commercial inorganic mineral premix (control) with the ones obtained using an organic treatment (OTM). OTM included; selenium yeast and organic mineral chelates of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe). Four identical houses with a total of 119.500 mixed-sex broiler chickens were used (2 treatments × 2 replicates). Trial was performed between 1 and 31 days of age. Birds fed the same corn/soybean based rations differing only in mineral premix. The control treatment provided Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn and Se at 8, 40, 50, 60 and 0.18 ppm, respectively. The OTM contained 5, 20, 5, 20 and 0.3 ppm, respectively. At 31 days, birds showed lower mortality with the OTM treatment, and no differences on the performance parameters. OTM improved feathering at 21 days of age (p<0.001). OTM birds showed no effect on carcass yield and lower carcass skin tearing (p<0.05). Birds with organic minerals showed redder breast meat (p<0.05 a* on days 3 and 5 after slaughter). The results show OTM treatment allows similar performance and improve carcass and meat quality.
