The effects of supplemental iron and time periods on growth performance, carcass characteristics and iron contents of breast muscle in broilers

This experiment was performed by 450 one-day-old (Ross 308) male chicks in a 3×3 factorial design with 3 levels of supplemental Fe (0.0, 40 and 80 mg/kg) and 3 time periods (total, T: from 1-42 d; grower and finisher, GF: from 11-42 d and finisher, F: from 25-42 d). Each treatment had 5 replicate pens with 10 birds per replicate. The results showed that feeding 80 mg/kg Fe at T period significantly decreased the ADFI (P 0.001). Also, adding FeSO4 significantly (P 0.05) increased the yield of thigh and breast muscles at T and GF periods, respectively. Compared with birds fed the diet supplemented with 80 mg/kg of FeSO4, the birds fed control diet and 40 mg/kg FeSO4 significantly influenced the abdominal fat during the T period (P 0.001). Furthermore, adding 80 mg/kg of FeSO4 during the T period increased the iron content of breast meat compared to other dietary periods. It was concluded that use of 40 and 80 mg/kg FeSO4 had no remarkable effect on performance, but dietary supplementation of 80 mg/kg Fe during T period caused the higher Fe deposition of breast meat in broilers.