Influence of Level of Dietary Inorganic and Organic Copper and Energy Level on the Performance and Nutrient Utilization of Broiler Chickens

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of dietary inorganic (copper sulfate) and organic (copper proteinate) forms of copper and energy level on performance and nutrient utilization of broiler chickens. Two hundred day-old commercial Vencobb broiler chicks were purchased and randomly distributed to 20 cages of 10 birds each. These replicates were randomly assigned to one of five treatments in a ((2×2)+1) factorial arrangement. These two factors were sources of Cu (CuSO 4 vs. Cuproteinate) and dose of Cu supplements (200 mg and 400 mg/kg dietary dry matter) and the control (no supplemental Cu). After the starter period (up to 3 weeks), from d 22 onwards another factor i.e. energy at two levels (2,900 vs. 2,920 kcal/kg diet) was introduced with the previous factorial arrangements by subdividing each replicate into two equal parts, for two energy levels, without disturbing the dose and source of Cu supplement. Cu-salt supplementation linearly increased (p<0.01) live weight (LW), live weight gain (LWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) at 3 weeks, whereas cumulative feed intake (CFI) was unaffected (p>0.05). LWG and FCR were higher (p<0.01) in Cu-proteinate supplemented birds compared to CuSO 4 supplementation. A linear dose response (p<0.01) of Cu was found for the performance of broiler chickens. Birds having a higher energy level in the finisher stage increased (p<0.01) LWG and FCR. Cumulative feed intake was similar (p>0.05) across the groups up to the 5 th week. Cu-proteinate increased performance of broiler chickens compared to CuSO 4. Dose of supplemental Cu-salt irrespective of source showed a linear response (p<0.01) for performance. Supplementation of Cu-proteinate increased metabolizability of DM (p<0.01), NFE (p<0.05), total carbohydrate (p<0.01) and OM (p<0.01) at the starter period. Increased dose of Cu-salt linearly increased (p<0.01) metabolizability of DM, CP, CF, NFE and OM. Higher energy level in the diet improved DM (p<0.05), EE (p<0.01), NFE (p = 0.01), total carbohydrate (p<0.01) and OM (p<0.01) metabolizability. Cu-proteinate supplementation showed better nutrient utilization compared to CuSO 4 . Dose of Cu linearly increased DM, CP, EE, NFE, total carbohydrate and OM metabolizability. CF metabolizability was unaffected (p>0.05) among the treatments. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of Cu-salt more than the requirement may improve performance and nutrient utilization in broiler chickens even with a high energy finisher diet. Cu-proteinate showed better performance and nutrient utilization compared to CuSO 4 .

Effect of Copper Supplementation with Different Energy Levels on Broilers: (A) - Productive Performance

“…The present results agree with the findings of Balevi and Coskun (2004), Luo et al (2005), Aksu et al (2011), and Samanta et al (2011), who indicated that dietary supplementation of birds with organic or inorganic copper led to a significant decrease in feed consumption when compared with the control group. On the other hand, these results are in contrast with the other findings of Banks et al (2004), Lim and Paik (2006) and Das et al (2010), who found that dietary supplementation of birds with copper organic or inorganic copper had no significant effect on feed consumption when compared with the control group.…”

“…The current results harmonize with the results obtained by experimental work of Das et al (2010), who noticed that feed conversion ratio improved with when the diet was supplemented copper proteinate as compared to copper sulfate. This effect is due to high content of healthy conditions of birds fed copper.…”

“…Ammerman et al (1995), reported that relative bioavailability estimates of organic copper sources ranged from 88 to 147% of the response to cupric sulfate in poultry, swine, sheep and cattle. Improvement of fat metabolizability in response to copper (Cu) addition may be partially due to an increase in lipase and phospholipase activity in the small intestine as reported by Nahashon et al (2005), Mondal et al (2007) and Das et al (2010).…”

“…Also, the results are in agreement with the findings of Xia et al (2004), Lu et al (2010), Samanta et al (2011) and Igbasan and Akinsanmi (2012), who reported that there was a significant increase in body weight gain of broiler chickens with the supplementation of copper. In this respect, Das et al (2010) concluded that Cu-proteinate resulted in better growth performance and nutrient utilization in broiler chicks as compared to CuSO 4 . More bioavailability of organic copper is probably due to better absorption, which enhances its efficiency (Guo et al, 2001).…”

Evaluation of Toxicity of Dietary Chelated Copper in Juvenile Olive Flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus, Based on Growth and Tissue Copper Concentration

“…Mintrex ® Cu is a chelated source of copper that contains a minimum of 17% copper and 78% hydroxy methionine analog (2‐hydroxy‐4‐methylthiobutanoic acid, HMTBa). Mintrex ® Cu has been shown to be a bioavailable copper source, comparable to a traditionally used inorganic source of copper in chickens (Das et al 2010). Mintrex ® Cu shows the same pattern as copper sulfate in increasing liver copper content in chickens for fattening when added to a basal diet in supplementations between 10 and 500 mg/kg diet.…”