Performance of Swarnadhara breeder hens supplemented with reduced levels of different copper forms

Abstract

Background and Aim: Copper (Cu) is a vital mineral involved in various physiological and biochemical processes, growth, and productivity of animals and birds. Birds can absorb only a small fraction of Cu and most is excreted, contaminating soil and aquatic environment which is toxic for microorganisms, plants, animals, and humans. This study evaluated the possibility of use of organic and nanoparticles sources of Cu to reduce supplementation level without compromising the performance of breeder hens. Materials and Methods: A total of 224 Swarnadhara breeder hens were divided into seven treatment groups having four replicates in each. The basal diet (control) containing 20 ppm inorganic Cu (100% of standard recommendation) and six test diets containing 20, 15, and 10 ppm (100, 75, and 50% of standard recommendation) from Cu organic source, and 15, 10, and 5 ppm (75, 50, and 25%) from Cu nanoparticles (Cu-NP), were prepared and offered to respective treatment groups for a duration of 20 weeks. Results: The hen day egg production, hen housed egg production, feed conversion ratio egg mass, albumen index, yolk index, total fat content, and color score were not affected by the source and inclusion level of Cu. The feed intake was significantly (p<0.05) lower at 15 ppm and egg weight was significantly (p<0.05) higher at 10 ppm Cu-NP supplemental level, but was non-significant in other treatment groups compared to control. The body weight gain were significantly (p<0.05) higher at 20 ppm organic and 15 ppm Cu-NP inclusion. The egg shape index and Haugh unit were significantly (p<0.05) lower at 10 and 15 ppm of Cu-NP inclusion level, respectively. The shell thickness was improved (p<0.05) at 20 and 15 ppm organic and 15 and 10 ppm Cu-NP inclusion level. The egg fertility rate was shown to be significantly (p<0.05) higher at 20 ppm organic Cu inclusion group, but the hatchability based on total number of eggs set improved (p<0.05) at 20 and 15 ppm organic Cu inclusion level while all treatment groups were comparable to control. The hatchability of fertilized egg and chick's quality significantly (p<0.05) improved, while embryonic and chick mortality after hatching before-sorting was significantly (p<0.05) reduced at 15 ppm of Cu-NP inclusion group. Conclusion: It was concluded that the inorganic Cu can be replaced with 50% of organic or 25% of nanoparticles form of Cu without jeopardizing the breeder hens' productivity, egg quality characteristics, hatchability, and progeny.

The effect of metal-containing nanoparticles on the health, performance and production of livestock animals and poultry

“…Many minerals are used as nanoparticles in animal research. These include aluminium (Li et al 2011 ), calcium (Matuszewski et al 2020a ; Abdelnour et al 2021 ; Abo El-Maaty et al 2021 ), copper (Gonzales-Eguia et al 2009 ; Miroshnikov et al 2015 ; Mroczek-Sosnowska et al 2014 , 2015a , 2015b , 2017 ; Refaie et al 2015 ; Joshua et al 2016 ; Ognik et al 2016b ; Scott et al 2016 ; El Basuini et al 2017 ; Tomaszewska et al 2017 ; Scott et al 2018 ; Aminullah et al 2021 ; Morsy et al 2021 ; Naz et al 2021 ), gold (Sembratowicz et al 2016 ; Sanati et al 2019 ; Hassanen et al 2020 ), iron (Pilaquinga et al 2021 ), magnesium (Kesmati et al 2016 ; Mazaheri et al 2019 ; Abdelnour et al 2021 ), nickel (Gong et al 2016 ), selenium (Zhang et al 2001 , 2008 ; Shi et al 2011a ; Wu et al 2011 ; Sadeghian et al 2012 ; Xun et al 2012 ; El-Deep et al 2016 ; Joshua et al 2016 ; Muralisankar et al 2016 ; Yaghmaie et al 2017 ; Gangadoo et al 2018 , 2020 ; Hassan et al 2020 ; Kojouri et al 2020 ; Nabi et al 2020 ; Sheiha et al 2020 ; Han et al 2021 ; Rana, 2021 ), silver (Grodzik and Sawosz 2006 ; Sawosz et al 2007 ; Fondevila et al 2009 ; Fondevila, 2010 ; Ahmadi and Rahimi 2011 ; Pineda et al 2012 ; Kout-Elkloub et al 2015 ; Ognik et al 2016a ; Conine and Frost…”

“…Ognik et al ( 2016b ) used copper nanoparticles prepared in a physical process – a non-explosive, high-current method for degradation of metals – as additives to water of chickens. Most recently, Aminullah et al ( 2021 ) used induction coupled plasma method to prepare copper nanoparticles that were used as a supplement for Swarnadhara breeder hens. Sembratowicz et al ( 2016 ) used in chicken feeding gold nanoparticles also produced by a non-explosive, high-current method for degradation of metals.…”

“…A wide range of nanoparticles, which could be used in animal studies, is accessible on the market as shown in numerous publications, for example Ag (Grodzik and Sawosz 2006 ; Pineda et al 2012 ), Au (Sembratowicz et al 2016 ), Cu (Mroczek-Sosnowska et al 2015b ; Mroczek-Sosnowska et al 2017 ; Aminullah et al 2021 ), Se (Shi et al 2011a ; Xun et al 2012 ; Yaghmaie et al 2017 ; Han et al 2021 ), and Zn (Olgun and Yildiz, 2017 ; Abdollahi et al 2020 ; Cui et al 2021 ; Eskandani et al 2021 ; Szuba-Trznadel et al 2021 ; El-Maddawy et al 2022 ). In many experiments on animals and poultry, nanoparticles were purchased to check their impact on performance, productivity, health, and disease prevention and control.…”

“…As seen in Table 1 , in the feeding experiments, the effect of nanoparticles on animals is usually compared with organic or more frequently inorganic forms of elements (e.g., Gonzales-Eguia et al 2009 ; Sadeghian et al 2012 ; Xun et al 2012 ; Mroczek-Sosnowska et al 2015b ; El-Deep et al 2016 ; Olgun and Yildiz 2017 ; Yaghmaie et al 2017 ; Gangadoo et al 2018 ; Bakhshizadeh et al 2019 ; Abdollahi et al 2020 ; Aminullah et al 2021 ; Eskandani et al 2021 ; Hidayat et al 2021 ; Ouyang et al 2021 ; Szuba-Trznadel et al 2021 ). For example, interesting results were presented by Sheiha et al ( 2020 ) who compared the effect of two types of selenium-nanoparticles – biologically or chemically-synthesized on rabbits exposed to thermal stress.…”

“…Copper nanoparticles are being studied in many aspects in poultry nutrition. Aminullah et al ( 2021 ) compared the effect of different forms of copper supplemented to the diet of Swarnadhara breeder hens. It was found that the commonly used inorganic form of Cu (CuSO 4 ) can be replaced with 50% of organic (Cu proteinate) or 25% of nano-form without negative impact on hens’ productivity, hatchability, progeny, and egg quality.…”