It has been nearly 50 years since trace minerals have been studied, but this does not diminish their importance in modern broiler production. Significant advances have been made, allowing for the development of more stable organic trace minerals that are more bioavailable to the animal. In particular, bis-chelated trace minerals allow for reduced levels of trace minerals to be fed to broilers while supporting optimal bird performance and value to the producer.
During these 50+ years, the broiler industry has adopted the practice of feeding considerably higher copper levels relative to the NRC (1994) recommendations of 8 parts per million (ppm). Support for these elevated copper levels is based on expectations of improved growth performance and gut health benefits.
A bis-chelated trace mineral, MINTREX® Cu, was developed over 10 years ago by Novus International, Inc. to provide a highly bioavailable source of copper that can replace elevated copper levels when feeding less available sources. A nutritional benefit of MINTREX® Cu is the presence of HMTBa as the ligand for the mineral molecules, which provides a fully available source of methionine to the bird. Feeding MINTREX® Cu at these reduced levels results in competitive performance while reducing the amount of excess minerals excreted into the environment, therefore serving as a more sustainable source.
A recent research trial (Novus Internal Trial: FV2019-0084) was conducted at Texas A&M University demonstrating the ability of MINTREX® Cu (40ppm) to replace a much higher level of copper chloride (125ppm) in broiler diets and maintain performance and processing parameters. In this trial, male Ross 708 broilers were grown to 56 days of age. The three diets were Control (10ppm copper chloride in all diets), Copper Chloride (125 ppm CC in Starter and Grower, 100ppm in Finisher and none in WD feed) and MINTREX® Cu (40ppm in Starter, Grower and Finisher but none in WD feed), designated as CON, CC and MTX, respectively.
At 56 days of age, there was no significant difference between the CC diet and the MTX diet for body weight and adjusted feed conversion. There were also no significant differences between these diets for overall processing yield and breast yield as % of WOG. These results show that the significant reduction of inorganic Cu levels by a higher bioavailable and absorbed source has not impacted the performance, opening room for a more sustainable and profitable operation.
As has been seen in other research trials (Zhao et al., 2010, Manangi et al., 2012), birds fed the MTX diet showed an 8% improvement in overall footpad scores. This observation would be valuable to those producers harvesting footpads for export.
At the same time, there was no difference between diets when the breast meat was scored for white striping but there was an 10% improvement in woody breast scores for the MTX diet compared to the CC diet.
When the woody breast scores are grouped into Scores 0-1 and Scores 2-3, there is a significant increase in the preferred Scores 0-1 compared to Scores 2-3 when the MTX diet was fed.
At day 42, fecal copper levels were measured, and a highly significant reduction was observed when the MTX diet was fed compared to the CC diet.
At the termination of the trial at day 56, litter copper levels were measured with the birds fed MTX, creating litter copper levels significantly less that the CC diet.
This research trial supports the existing body of work that has been shown to validate that MINTREX® Cu bis-chelated trace mineral can be used at much lower inclusion levels than traditional inorganic copper sources while maintaining performance and exhibiting improvements in processing and mineral excretion parameters. From a commercial point of view, MINTREX® Cu provides a sustainable and economically beneficial alternative to inorganic copper sources for broiler producers.
