The New Progresses in Zn Requirements of Poultry

There were no considerable up to date on the trace element requirements of commercial poultry in recent years in despite of the progress in their performance traits. One of the more prevalent problems in modern broiler production system which could be attributed to the trace mineral inadequacy is skeletal disorders. Zinc, is an essential trace element which acts as a co-factor in several metaloenzymes and plays an important role in different metabolic pathways. Zinc deficiency in poultry affect the protein and carbohydrate metabolism and have negative effects on feed intake, growth rate, feed conversion ratio and also is associated with immunological, reproductive, skeletal and skin disorders. The commercial poultry producers often use a considerable safety margin for trace minerals including Zn in feed formulation, which will resulted in trace mineral excretion into environment. There are differences in the recommended dietary Zn requirement between commercial strains of broiler chickens and all of them are differ from NRC (1994) recommendations.