The effect of zinc supplementation in different types of feed on the performance and health status of IPB-D2 chickens

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of zinc supplementation in various diets on the performance and health status of IPB-D2 chickens. Subsequently, about 180 one-week-old IPB-D2 chickens were used in the study and were fed the treatment diets for 12 weeks. Also, this study employed a completely randomised factorial design with six treatments and three replications of ten birds each. These treatment diets included A1, which contained nutrients based on SNI (2013) without Zn supplementation, A2 which is a combination of A1 and 60 ppm of Zinc, B1 which contained nutrients 5% higher than SNI without Zn supplementation, B2 which is a combination of B1 and 60 ppm Zinc, C1 which contains nutrients 10% higher than SNI without Zn supplementation, and lastly, C2 which is a combination of C1 and 60 ppm of Zinc. Furthermore, the data were analysed using ANOVA, and the parameters observed were the body weight, body weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, blood profile and the villi surface area of the jejunum. Consequently, the results showed that C2 significantly (P<0.05) increased the body weight and body weight gain when fed to the finisher and grower chickens, respectively. More so, when the finisher chickens were fed the 10% SNI diet, there was an increased body weight gain and also a significantly (P<0.05) decreased feed conversion ratio. Furthermore, the addition of 60 ppm zinc increased haemoglobin significantly (P<0.05), whereas C2 decreased leukocytes significantly (P<0.05) in chicken blood. However, the treatments had no effect on feed consumption in the villi surface area of the jejunum. Therefore, the study concluded that supplementing the IPB-D2 chickens with 60 ppm zinc in a 10% SNI diet resulted in the best performance and health status.