Effect of different forms of manganese, zinc and copper on performance, carcass characteristics and immune response broilers

In order to determine effect of various sources of manganese, zinc and copper (Sulfate, foreign and Internal organic) and requirement levels (100, 50% requirement) on performance and immune response of broilers, an expriment was conducted using 480 commercial CAB 500 hybrid broilers in a 2×3 factorial arrangement with completely randomized design. During the experiment, live body weight (LBW), feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured. At the end of the experiment, blood sampling was done and total antibody titer against sheep's red blood cell (SRBC), antibody titer against Newcastle Disease virus (ND) and differential count of white blood cells (WBC) were measured. The results showed that mineral sources did not affect the performance of broilers. The sources of minerals had a significant effect on livability percentage (P<0.05) and the highest livability was observed for organic (foreign and local) treatments. Usage of local organic manganese, zinc and copper caused a better response to sheep's red blood cell (SRBC) (P<0.05) relative to foreign form. Moreover, there was significant difference among the treatments in terms of weight (P<0.05), feed conversion (P<0.05) and production index (P<0.05) and treatment with 100% requirement level had maximum impact. The birds fed with 50 % requirement showed a better response to SRBC (P<0.05). According to the results of this experiment, the organic forms of the three manganese, zinc and copper produced in Iran can simultaneously, meet the needs of broilers and can be replaced with inorganic and the foreign sources. In addition, the 100 % requirement level of manganese, zinc and copper, regardless of source, is recommended to achieve the maximum growth performance and 50 % requirement level is recommended for better immune function.