Feed & Additive Magazine Issue 17 June 2022

ISSUE FOCUS 26 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE June 2022 can be harder to regulate in terms of providing a controlled climate. In fact, open-house facilities can see a production decline of 15-20% and high mortality rates during high-heat conditions. What role can nutrition play in helping birds deal with heat stress? Birds eat less when exposed to high temperatures so providing more nutritionally dense feed is one dietary change to make. Additionally, supporting birds’ nutritional intake with feed additives that supply extra antioxidants, osmolytes and gut health products. Supplying trace minerals that are more bioavailable support structural, physiological, regulatory, and catalytic function. Trace minerals also play very crucial role in egg production and eggshell formation in layers especially during heat stress conditions. Several studies have shown that Selko IntelliBond trace minerals provide a more bioavailable mineral source compared to sulphate sources. The crystalline structure of this particular hydroxychloride mineral makes it less soluble and keeps it from breaking down before the mineral can be released into the proper area of the gastrointestinal tract. The reduced solubility of IntelliBond trace minerals compared to sulphate sources also helps guard against interactions with other ingredients in the feed. How can trace mineral supplementation help support birds during heat stress? When feed intake drops, diets need to be more nutritionally dense, and every element should be easy for the bird to use. Trace minerals are essential to maintaining bird health and production so any included in a diet for birds facing high-heat conditions need to be bioavailable and easy to access where needed. Also increasing 10 to 15% additional levels may be appropriate to ensure birds are supported. Providing the additional trace mineral nutrition can help birds maintain production levels, support shell quality and egg mass during heat stress conditions. For example, birds need zinc which is a cofactor of the enzyme carbonic anhydrase. A lack of zinc in layer diets can lead to lower levels of carbonic anhydrase, resulting in shell defects. Zinc also helps in lot of immune functions. Copper plays a role in enzyme function, reproduction, skin pigmentation and several other areas within the bird. Selenium is an important antioxidant needed to counteract the increase in free radicals and manganese also has a role to play. What studies are being done to support the use of bioavailable trace minerals during heat stress? A trial done in Australia with researchers from the University of New England looked at using IntelliBond in place of sulphate-based trace minerals. Laying hens faced cyclical heat stress conditions, and birds receiving diets that included more bioavailable, hydroxychloride-based trace minerals demonstrated better egg production, egg mass, improved egg FCR and better responses to high-heat conditions. Research Postcard from Down Under: How the trace mineral source matters source to supports birds during heat stress? How much can the type of trace mineral supplied in the diet influence laying hens’ performance and quality parameters during heat stress? A series of feeding trials were done with laying hens in Australia to address this question. Researchers at the University of New England provided 600 laying hens with one of two diets during a multiweek period of cyclical heat stress. Temperatures during the trial ranged from 31⁰C (87.8⁰F) to 22⁰C (71.6⁰F) Diets used were wheat-soy-barley-based feeds with 500 FTU phytase and supplemented with either inorganic, sulphate-based copper, zinc, and manganese trace minerals or with IntelliBond versions of the same minerals. Both types of minerals were supplied in the same amounts – 15 ppm copper, and 80 ppm zinc and manganese. Birds were monitored for feed intake, egg FCR, egg production, egg weight, egg mass, shell characteristics, and bone strength. Overall, birds on the IntelliBond trace mineral supplemented diet saw improved egg production (Figure 1) and egg mass (Figure 2) along with a better egg FCR (Figure 3). The hen egg day production (HDEP%) improved 2.3% compared to inorganic group. FCR based on

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