Evaluating vitamin D with graded levels of strontium supplementation on broiler chicken performance and mineral composition

Abstract

In order to examine the interactive effects of strontium and cholecalciferol in broiler nutrition a total of 288 male broiler chickens were fed over 28 days, eight different diets with six replicates comprising of two levels of vitamin D (5000 and 10 000 IU/kg) and four levels of strontium (0, 400, 800 and 1200 mg/kg) provided as strontium carbonate. Vitamin D and strontium produced a significant interaction on growth and feed efficiency with the addition of higher levels of vitamin D ameliorating the negative effects of strontium at 1200 mg/kg. The higher level of vitamin D also improved bodyweight gain (P < 0.05), had no effect on tibia bone composition but reduced calcium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium retention (P < 0.05). Strontium supplementation produced no advantage to chicken performance but changed tibia bone composition. It was found that calcium and sodium maintained a ratio of ~30 : 1 in tibia bone. Vitamin D and strontium produced a significant physiological interaction and further research is required to elucidate optimum levels of supplementation for commercial broiler chicken production.