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International Journal of Poultry Science

Year: 2006 | Volume: 5 | Issue: 9 | Page No.: 808-811
DOI: 10.3923/ijps.2006.808.811
Evaluation of Bioplex Zn® as an Organic Zinc Source for Chicks
T. Ao, J. L. Pierce, R. Power, K. A. Dawson, A. J. Pescatore, A. H. Cantor and M. J. Ford

Abstract: A study was conducted to evaluate Bioplex Zn® (a chelated Zn proteinate) as an organic zinc source for broiler chicks. Corn-soybean meal diet without Zn supplementation, containing 23 mg/kg Zn, was used as a basal diet. Day-old male broiler chicks were raised for three weeks. Feed and water with no detectable Zn (< 0.001 ppm) were supplied on an ad libitum basis. Treatments consisted of feeding the basal diet alone or with four supplemental levels of Zn (5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg) either from Bioplex Zn® or from analytical ZnSO4. 7H2O. Eight replicate cages of six chicks were randomly assigned to each of nine dietary treatments. Zinc supplementation from both sources linearly increased (P< 0.01) tibia Zn. Weight gain and feed intake increased quadratically (P< 0.05) with the increasing levels of Zn from Bioplex Zn® and increased linearly with the increasing levels of Zn from ZnSO4. 7H2O. Slope-ratio analysis regressing weight gain and tibia zinc content on supplemental Zn level below the inflection points indicated the relative bioavailability value of Bioplex Zn® compared with zinc sulfate were 183% and 157% for weight gain and tibia Zn content respectively. Broken-line analysis of the weight gain data determined the required supplemental level of Zn as Bioplex Zn® was 9.8 mg/kg of diet for optimal weight gain.

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How to cite this article
T. Ao, J. L. Pierce, R. Power, K. A. Dawson, A. J. Pescatore, A. H. Cantor and M. J. Ford, 2006. Evaluation of Bioplex Zn® as an Organic Zinc Source for Chicks. International Journal of Poultry Science, 5: 808-811.

Keywords: Bioavailability, chick, zinc proteinate, zinc requirement and zinc sulfate

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