Bone Characteristics of Broilers Supplemented With Vitamin D

Abstract

Vitamin D is added to broiler diets to supply its physiological requirement for bone formation. The fast growth rate of modern broilers is often associated with poor bone formation. Increasing vitamin D supplementation levels and the use of more available sources have applied to try to prevent leg problems, to increase carcass yield, and to improve the performance of broilers. The present study evaluated three vitamin D supplementation levels (1) 3,500 IU (control); (2) control + 1,954 IU of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol; and (3) control + 3,500 IU of vitamin D in broiler diets supplied up to 21 days of age. The objective was to investigate if the vitamin D levels above the recommendations could reduce leg problems in broilers. In this experiment, a total of 1,296 oneday-old male and female Cobb® 500 broilers were used. A 2 x 3 factorial arrangement was applied, consisting of two sexes and three vitamin D levels. No difference was found between the levels of vitamin D (p > 0.05), the performance of males or females, the gait score, the valgus and varus incidence, the tibial dyschondroplasia incidence, the occurance of femoral degeneration, the bone colorimetric, and the carcass yield. Parts yield differences were found (p > 0.05), except for liver and intestine yields. We concluded that the lowest tested vitamin D level (3,500 IU per kilogram of feed) added to the diet was the best choice in terms of cost/ benefit to help minimizing leg problems in broilers.

The Typology of Broiler House and the Impact in the Locomotion of Broilers

“…In the present study, male broilers presented a high incidence of locomotion incapacity with gait score higher than 1. Nääs et al (2012) and Colet et al (2015) observed that gait score in males tended to be higher than females, confirming the results of the present study. This occurs due to higher growth velocity of males when compared to females.…”

“…According to and Colet et al (2015), age is the factor that most influences the lesion degree in poultry and may also be affected by other locomotor problems such as femoral degeneration and tibial dyschondroplasia which aggravate the gait score due to overload in the unaffected limb.…”

“…The way broiler walk may be associated with other types of problem, such as angular deformities valgusvarus. With this, the poultry presents overload on the unaffected limb causing pain or discomfort when walking and affects the way of walking (Almeida Paz et al 2010;Colet et al 2015;Alves et al 2016). These pathologies have contributed to the reduction in productivity due to the increase whole carcasses condemnations.…”

“…The incidence of locomotor problems is associated with high mortality rates. Pain and discomfort when walking can be predicted using methodologies that evaluate the ability of the poultry to move (Nääs et al 2010;Fernandes et al 2012;Colet et al 2015). These methodologies can quantitatively predict the pain and discomfort of poultry, and their results help decision making in production management and ensure better production rates (Almeida Paz et al 2010;Caplen et al 2012).…”

Decreased levels of vitamin D3 and supplementation with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3-glycoside on performance, carcass yield and bone quality in broilers

“…In a similar way, vitamins reduction in 33% of the finishing diet premix for broilers rising in floor, did not affect the performance at slaughter age (ALAHYARI-SHAHRASB et al, 2012). Additionally, COLET et al (2015) studied vitamin reductions in broiler diets and, reported that there was no need for further vitamin supplementation when mineral levels had been balanced. VIEITES et al (2014) used 1,25 (OH) 2 D 3-glycoside metabolite to supplement broiler in a quantity five times higher (250 g of Panbonis® ton -1 ) than that used in the present study and, did not observe significant differences in the performance of 42-d old broiler chickens.…”