Effects of chelated iron and zinc supplementation on egg quality of laying hens

Abstract

The experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of supplemented iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) on egg quality. A total of two thousand commercial layer chickens aged at 70 weeks were selected from a layer farm of Patia sadar upazilla (sub-district) of Chittagong district. One thousand layers were assigned randomly to each treatment and control group. Treatment group fed with controlled diets with supplemented trace mineral named 'Poultry TMO' that contains Mintrex Zinc 32 ppm and Glytrex Fe 5 ppm, at the dose of one gm/kg feed. After nine weeks, twelve freshly laid eggs were collected randomly from each group. Atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) and analytical graded reagent were used for analyzing the iron and zinc content of these eggs. The mean value of iron (mg/100gm of egg yolk) of the eggs of dietary treatment group was higher than the control group (2.01 vs. 1.442, p <0.001). The mean value of zinc (mg/100gm of egg yolk) of treatment group was also higher (P<0.05) than the control (0.458 vs.0.391. The mean weight of egg yolk was not significantly different between two groups (14.66 gm vs. 14.61g. The finding indicates that supplementation of zinc and iron in laying chicken could be helpful to increase the zinc and iron level in eggs.