article · Journal of Applied Animal Research
Rearing broiler chickens under high ambient temperatures can impair bird health and performance. Adding zinc-methionine to broiler diets offers a nutritional intervention to counter heat-related challenges. In an evaluation involving 480 chicks receiving different supplementation levels up to 100 milligrams per kilogram, the additive enhanced body weight gain and feed conversion efficiency. Treated birds also showed improved protein utilisation alongside lower plasma total cholesterol levels. In breast muscle tissue, zinc concentrations rose while saturated fatty acids and malondialdehyde concentrations dropped, accompanied by higher levels of beneficial unsaturated fatty acids. Furthermore, supplementation raised serum glutathione peroxidase levels and strengthened the birds' humoral immune responses. Overall, dietary organic zinc supplementation supported growth performance, nutrient digestibility, raw meat nutritional profile, antioxidant status, and immune competence during heat stress.
Heat stress poses a serious challenge to poultry productivity and welfare in hot climates. Finding practical dietary strategies to safeguard growth, feed efficiency, and bird immunity under elevated temperatures helps sustain flock viability. Additionally, improving the nutritional composition and oxidative stability of poultry meat offers direct benefits to food quality and consumers.
This intervention is directly applicable to poultry feed manufacturers and broiler producers seeking feed additives to manage heat stress. The findings provide applied, experimental evidence from a trial on 480 birds, indicating that zinc-methionine premixes are ready for commercial flock trials and formulation into poultry diets in warm environments.
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This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of zinc-methionine (ZnM) on growth performance, nutrient utilization, antioxidant status and immune response in broiler chickens reared at high ambient temperature. A total of 480 one-day-old chicks were randomly distributed into 24 floor pens (20 chicks/pen) and were given either a control diet, 0 ZnM (G0) or 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg ZnM (G1, G2 and G3, respectively). The growth performance was significantly affected by the treatments, ZnM supplementation increased body weight gain and improved feed conversion (p < .05) in broilers. Protein utilization was improved by feeding ZnM (p < .05). Plasma total cholesterol was decreased, while plasma HDL-cholesterol was tending to be increased. Interestingly, an increase in ZnM supplementation enhanced Zn concentrations (p < .05) in breast muscle along with a reduction in malondialdehyde concentration and saturated fatty acids (p < .05) and an augmentation in unsaturated fatty acids (p < .01). Dietary ZnM supplementation resulted in a significant increase in serum glutathione peroxidase concentration which accompanied with an improving in humoral immune response. It could be concluded that dietary organic Zn supplementation improved growth performance, nutrient digestibility, Zn content in raw meat, antioxidative properties and humoral immunity and reduced meat lipid peroxidation in broilers under high ambient temperature.
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DOI: 10.1080/09712119.2017.1407768
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