Effect of Replacing Dietary FeSO4 with FeHPO4 Nanoparticles on Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Tissue Iron Content in Broilers

A study was conducted to compare the effects of iron hydrogen phosphate nanoparticles (FeHPO4) with iron sulfate (FeSO4-7H2O) on growth performance, carcass characteristics and mineral content of breast muscle in broiler chickens. A total of 200 one-day-old male Ross 308 broiler chicks were assigned randomly into four dietary groups with five replications of ten chicks per replicate. The basal diet (BD) included corn-soybean meal with 87.40, 85.13 and 82.24 mg Fe/kg diet in starter, grower and finisher feeding phases, respectively. Four dietary groups consisted of: group 1) BD + 80 mg/kg FeSO4, as control group; group 2) BD + 6.4 mg/kg FeHPO4 nanoparticles (FNPs); group 3) BD + 3.2 mg/kg FNPs; and group 4) BD + 1.6 mg/kg FNPs were provided during 1-42 d of age. The results showed that dietary groups did not significantly (P>0.05) affect the average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily weight gain (ADWG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), mortality rate, and European production efficiency factor (EPEF). Adding FNPs in dietary group 2 significantly (P= 0.04) reduced relative weight of abdominal fat compared to control group. Furthermore, there were cubic (P=0.05) and quadratic (P=0.02) responses to the addition of FNPs in dietary group 3 on carcass yield and relative weight of liver, respectively. Compared with birds fed the diet supplemented with 80 mg FeSO4/kg, birds fed supplemental FNPs in groups 2 and 3 had significantly increased Fe and Cu content in the breast muscle (P 0.05). This study concluded that, replacing FeSO4 with FNPs had no significant effect on growth performance, but it could significantly increase the iron content of breast muscle.