Role of Vitamin and Mineral in Poultry Birds
Poultry is one of the fastest growing segments of the agricultural sector in many countries of the world including India. Currently, India is the second largest egg producer and third largest producer of broilers in the world. Adequate supply of minerals and vitamins in diet is the key for good poultry production. The feeding of vitamins and minerals deficient diet can produce numerous health problems for chicks including death in some cases. The poultry farmer should keep a watch on the health of chicks every day.Hence,it is emphasized to develop the practice for feeding a balanced diet with required minerals and vitamins so that deficiency diseases can be prevented in birds. Poultry is defined as live or dressed domestic birds, which are bred and reared for edible purpose and it includes chicken, duck, turkey and also quail, pheasant, geese, ostrich, guinea fowl, pigeon and dove. The domestic chicken (Gallus domesticus) has assumed a greater importance worldwide and accounts for more than 90% of the world’s poultry flocks. Ducks and turkeys constitute 5% and 2%, respectively. The remaining species share about 3 % of the total poultry flocks of the world. Poultry is one of the most widely accepted meat foods, which is not subjected to any restriction like that of beef and pork . There is a worldwide growth of poultry industries. Poultry rearing is classified into intensive and extensive systems. In developed nations of the world, 95 % of poultry are reared under intensive conditions. However, in developing countries, extensive system of rearing are commonly practiced. Poultry meat also called as white meat, is easily digestible, has higher nutritive value, higher protein, less fat, good source of vitamin B complex, iron and phosphorus. Like other food animals such as cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goat, pig, the poultry also require well balanced diet to keep good health. The poor feeding is commonly observed in backyard poultry.This can result in deficiencies of numerous vitamins and minerals, which are essential for the maintenance of poultry health.
Nutrition plays a fundamental role in determining the health and performance of poultry and a correctly balanced diet is essential to avoid disease associated with a deficiency or toxicity of a particular nutrient. Nutrition in the poultry sector plays an important role in the economy of the farmers and the upliftment of their social and economic status. The vitamins play an important role in various physiological processes such as eggshell formation, muscle mass formation, immune system etc. The micro-minerals such as selenium and choline also play an important role in various physiological processes. The macro-minerals such as calcium and phosphorous plays an important role in the layer production along with skeletal system of the birds. So, the farm poultry manager or owner should have to provide the recommended dietary level of the various vitamins and minerals in the diet of the chicken to enhance the production.
A fairly large number of different elements and compounds are required for the normal nutrition of poultry. If one or more of them are not present in the diet in adequate quantity, or if certain ones are present in an unsuitable ratio, there is a disturbance of nutrition, or of the functioning of the body, which may be referred to as a nutritional disease. Other nutritional diseases may result from harmful elements or compounds in the diet. Poultry require at least 36 dietary nutrients in appropriate concentrations for a balanced diet (Klasing, 2013). The poultry meat also called as white meat, is easily digestible, has higher nutritive value, higher protein, less fat, a good source of vitamin B complex, iron, and phosphorus. Like other food animals such as cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goat, pig, the poultry also require well-balanced diet to keep good health. The poor feeding is commonly observed in backyard poultry. This can result in deficiencies of numerous vitamins and minerals, which are essential for the maintenance of poultry health.
Poultry production is characterized by being a short-cycle production system compared to other species. The reduced time to obtain a product implies correct handling to reduce the impact of losses of various kinds in the batch.
Nutritionists have the important job ahead of formulating diets according to high-performance genetic lines, in the case of meat birds, with finishing times of around 40-50 days.
Poultry nutrition is a broad complex that involves the adaptation of diets to different production systems (broilers in intensive conditions, commercial layers, breeders and variants of these systems) covering the needs of birds for metabolizable energy, crude protein, fiber, fat, macrominerals, microelements and additives.
The ingredients used in the formulation of the diets must meet the requirements for the category and productive stage, minimizing the risk of deficiencies or excesses that can lead to pathologies or damage to the environment.
- MINERALS:
Minerals can be classified as macro-minerals (calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, and magnesium), micro-minerals (copper, zinc, iron, iodine and manganese) and trace minerals (cobalt and selenium).The functions and deficiency of each mineral is presented in brief.
1. Calcium: This is essential for formation of bones, clotting of blood, heart function and egg production.The deficiency of this mineral can result poor growth,- soft bones, poor egg shell quality, poor egg production, poor hatchability and rickets.
2. Phosphorus: It is required for utilization of carbohydrates, bone development and egg production. The inadequate level of phosphorus in ration causes rickets, poor growth, soft bones, poor hatchability and poor egg shell quality.
3. Magnesium: This macro-mineral is necessary for several vital metabolic func tions.Its deficiency in birds can lead to loss of appetite, lethargies, spasms, slow growth, and sudden death.
4. Sodium and Potassium: Both minerals are constituents of blood, bile and body fluids, and needed for growth, digestion and acid base balance.
5. Iron and Cooper: These are needed for blood pigment formation. Their deficiency can cause anemia.
6. Cobalt: This trace mineral is a constituent of vitamin B 12 and its deficiency may result slow growth, reduced hatchability and mortality.
7. Zinc: This is imperative for the activation of several body enzymes. The deficiency of zinc results in improper growth, poor feathering, and shortening of leg bones.
8. Selenium: It is required for muscular functions,and immunity development and the deficiency can lead to muscular dystrophy and poor immune response.
9. Manganese: This micro-mineral is essential for bone formation and also for utilization of phosphorus. The deficiency is responsible for poor hatchability, perosis, enlargement of joints and staggering gait.
10. Iodine: It is a constituent of thyroid and is necessary for body activity. Its deficiency cause impaired body response,and lowered activity of body .
VITAMINS:
The vitamins are of two types, one is fat soluble (vitamin A,D,E and K) and other is water soluble (vitamin B complex group). The functions and deficiency symptoms of various vitamins are elaborated as follow:
1. Vitamin A: This vitamin is very important and is needed for growth, health of eyes and moist surfaces of the body. The deficiency of this fat soluble vitamin causes poor growth, weakness and decrease egg production.
2. Vitamin D:This fat soluble vitamin is essential for the utilization of calcium and phosphorus in bone development and egg shell formation. The deficiency can lead to retarded growth, thin shelled eggs, leg weakness, curved legs, rickets and lowered egg production.
3. Vitamin E: It is required to maintain brain structure and also act as an antioxidant. Its deficiency is responsible for enlarged hocks, muscular weakness and crazy chick disease.
4. Vitamin K: This vitamin is necessary for blood clotting mechanism and its absence can result in prolonged blood clotting and intramuscular bleeding.
5. Vitamin B1 (Thiamin): It is needed to maintain appetite and also helps in digestion and preserves the health of nerves. The deficiency of this water soluble vitamin is responsible for poor body growth, loss of appetite and in certain cases lead to death.
6. Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): Its important function is to promote growth and its deficiency in feed leads to reduced growth, poor egg production and curled toe paralysis.
7. Vitamin B 12: This water soluble vitamin is required for maintaining normal growth and good feathering. The shortage of this can cause anaemia, poor growth and embryonic mortality.
8. Folic acid: It is essential to promote good growth and feathering. However,the deficiency of this may result in reduced growth,poor feather development, decreased egg production, perosis and paralysis.
9. Pantothenic acid: This is necessary to keep skin healthy and also for good growth. Its shortage in diet is responsible to cause lesions in mouth and feet, dermatitis besides fatty liver and kidneys.
10. Pyridoxine: It helps to maintain good growth. The deficiency can lead to poor growth and convulsions.
11. Choline: It is needed to maintain good growth and its shortage in feed can cause reduced growth, decreased egg production and fatty liver. Balanced diet with essential minerals and vitamins are imperative for good health of poultry birds. The deficiency of these nutrients in feed can lead to several health problems, which can severely affect the poultry production, causing economic losses to the farmers. Therefore, farmers should provide properly formulated diet so that chicks do not suffer from nutrient deficiency diseases.It is recommended that well balanced feed with essential vitamins and minerals should be given to birds to run the poultry farm in profit.
Some of the most encountered nutritional disorders in the poultry are as follows:
- Vitamin A deficiency:
The vitamin A deficiency has been seen mainly at the younger phase (1-7 weeks age) of life among poultry causing skeletal as well as neurological disturbances in the young poultry birds. The most encountered form is “Roup” characterized by excessive ocular discharge causing sticking of the eyelids, nasal discharge, poor feathering, poor growth rate, etc. The necropsy findings will include inflamed and adhered eyelids, excessive urates in kidneys and ureters, and pustules in the mouth and pharynx.
2) Vitamin E and selenium deficiency: The deficiency of vitamin E is associated with muscular as well as neurological disorders in the chicks (15-30 days of age). It is associated with softening of the grey matter of the brain commonly known as nutritional encephalomalacia causing neural signs. Vitamin E deficiency is associated with exudative diathesis leading to the edema of the thorax and abdomen. The vitamin E deficiency will lead to the wide linear areas of the muscle degeneration commonly called as nutritional muscular dystrophy (Kuttappan et al., 2012).
3) Vitamin D deficiency: The most common skeletal problems that are associated withVitaminDdeficiencyinbroilers are tibialdyschondroplasia, chronicpainfullameness, chondrodystrophy or angular bone deformities, valgus-varus deformities, spondylolisthesis, rickets, femoral head necrosis, curled toes, and ruptured gastrocnemius tendon (Angel et al., 2007).
4) Vitamin B1 deficiency: Mature chickens show signs 3 weeks after being fed a deficient diet. In young chicks, it can appear before 2 weeks of age. Onset is sudden in young chicks. There is anorexia and an unsteady gait. Later, there are locomotor signs, beginning with an apparent paralysis of the flexor of the toes. The characteristic position is called “star-gazing”, meaning a chick “sitting on its hocks and the head in opisthotonos”. Polyneuritis in birds represents the later stages of a thiamine deficiency, probably caused by the buildup of the intermediates of carbohydrate metabolism. A marked decrease in appetite is seen in birds fed a thiamine-deficient diet. Poultry are also susceptible to neuromuscular problems, resulting in impaired digestion, general weakness, star-gazing, and frequent convulsions.
5) Vitamin B2 deficiency: Riboflavin deficiency caused a decrease in growth rate, lowers the hatchability of eggs, and egg production decreases (Rasikh, 2019). Many tissues may be affected by riboflavin deficiency, although the epithelium and the myelin sheaths of some of the main nerves are major targets. Changes in the sciatic nerves produce “curled-toe” paralysis in growing chickens (Patel, et al., 2019). Deficient chicks are reluctant to move unless forced and then frequently walk on their hocks with the aid of their wings. The leg muscles are atrophied and flabby, and the skin dry and harsh. In advanced stages of deficiency, the chicks lie prostrate with their legs extended, sometimes in opposite directions. The characteristic sign of riboflavin deficiency is a marked enlargement of the sciatic and brachial nerve sheaths; sciatic nerves usually show the most pronounced effects.
6) Choline deficiency: It is usually seen in the growing phase of the chicken. In addition to poor growth, the classic sign of choline deficiency in chicks and poults is perosis. Perosis is first characterized by pinpoint haemorrhages and a slight puffiness about the hock joint, followed by an apparent flattening of the tibiometatarsal joint caused by a rotation of the metatarsus. The metatarsus continues to twist and may become bent or bowed so that it is out of alignment with the tibia (Pour et al., 2017).
7) Manganese deficiency: The most dramatic classic effect of manganese deficiency syndrome is perosis, characterized by enlargement and malformation of the tibiometatarsal joint, twisting and bending of the distal end of the tibia and the proximal end of the tarsometatarsus, thickening and shortening of the leg bones, and slippage of the gastrocnemius tendon from its condyles. In laying hens, reduced egg production, markedly reduced hatchability, and eggshell thinning are often noted. A manganesedeficient breeder diet can result in chondrodystrophy in chick embryos. This condition is characterized by shortened, thickened legs and shortened wings.
8) Zinc deficiency: In young chicks, signs of zinc deficiency include retarded growth, shortening and thickening of leg bones and enlargement of the hock joint, scaling of the skin (especially on the feet), very poor feathering, loss of appetite, and in severe cases, mortality. Although zinc deficiency can reduce egg production in aging hens, the most striking effects are seen in developing embryos. Chicks hatched from zinc-deficient hens are weak and cannot stand, eat, or drink. They have accelerated respiratory rates and labored breathing (Sahraei, et al., 2012).
9) Iron and copper deficiency: Deficiencies of both iron and copper can lead to anemia. Iron deficiency causes a severe anaemia with a reduction in PCV. In colorfeathered strains, there is also loss of pigmentation in the feathers (Ala Al Deen et al., 2007). Young chicks become lame within 2–4 weeks when fed a copper-deficient diet. Bones are fragile and easily broken, the epiphyseal cartilage becomes thickened, and vascular penetration of the thickened cartilage is markedly reduced. Copper is required for cartilage formation. Copper deficiency in birds, and especially in turkeys, can lead to rupture of the aorta (Dibner et al., 2007).
10) Calcium and phosphorus: A deficiency of either calcium or phosphorus in the diet of young growing birds results in abnormal bone development, even when the diet contains adequate vitamin D3. A deficiency of either calcium or phosphorus results in a lack of normal skeletal calcification. Rickets is seen mainly in growing birds, whereas calcium deficiency in laying hens results in reduced shell quality and subsequently osteoporosis. This depletion of bone structure causes a disorder commonly referred to as “cage layer fatigue” (Liu et al., 2013).
11) Iodine deficiency: Lack of thyroid activity or inhibition of the thyroid by administration of thiouracil or thiourea causes hens to cease laying and become obese. It also results in the growth of abnormally long, lacy feathers. Administration of thyroxine or iodinated casein reverses the effects on egg production, with eggshell quality returning to normal (Hassaan et al., 2015).
MANGANESE
Manganese is a trace element that acts as an enzyme activator and is part of arginase, pyruvate carboxylase and Mn-superoxide dismutase. Along with Zn, it has important functions in the immune response and is also involved in the orientation of calcite crystals that make the shell harder (Mys, 2001).
A deficiency of this micro mineral in the diet of growing chickens causes PEROSIS or CHONDROSTROPHY characterized by retarded growth of long bones, thickening of the tibio metatarsal joint, rotation of the distal end of the tibia and the proximal end of the metatarsal and displacement of the tendon of the gastrocnemius muscle of its condyles completely altering locomotion. In laying hens, production will be reduced with thinning of the shell, poor hatchability, and birth of manganese deficient chicks that present alteration of the beak, bulging of the skull, delayed development of the down and malformations of the auditory canal.
In excess it is difficult for it to produce toxicity, but it could cause immunosuppression.
MAGNESIUM
It has important functions related to the formation of the skeletal matrix, nerve stimulation and muscle contraction. This ion acts as a catalyst for enzymatic systems involved in the metabolism of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates, including reactions related to ATP that gives energy to metabolic pathways. In addition, it is necessary for the secretion of insulin and the formation of antioxidants with immunoprotective action.
Commercial diets are often high in magnesium, so its deficiency is rare. However, chicks fed deficient diets show growth retardation, lethargy, altered sensorium to slight stimulation, and may present brief convulsions and poor life expectancy.
In laying hens, magnesium reduction shows a rapid decrease in egg production, hypomagnesemia, and bone magnesium leakage. The size of the egg, its weight and the presence of Mg in the yolk and shell will be reduced.
Intraosseous Mg deficiency increases the calcium content that enters the bone, generating a reduction of circulating calcium in the blood. In response to hypocalcemia, the parathyroid gland appears hyperactive.
An excess in the diet could affect growth, cause diarrhea and alter the size of the egg and the thickness of the shell.
CALCIUM AND PHOSPHORUS
These two macrominerals are essential for the development of the bone skeleton and the formation of the shell.
There are other important functions to name such as the intervention of Ca in blood coagulation processes, muscle contraction (skeletal, cardiac and smooth), regulation of heart rate, transmission of nerve impulses and neuromuscular excitability, catalyst of enzymes, secretion of hormones and factors hormone releasers.
Phosphorus, for its part, participates in metabolic reactions related to energy transfer, muscle growth, a component of nucleic acids and phospholipids, activator of enzyme complexes, maintenance of osmotic and acid-base balance, protein synthesis and forming part of the structure of the ATP.
The organic phosphorus provided by vegetables is not usable by birds, so it is estimated that two thirds of the phosphorus intake in the diet must be of inorganic origin.
60-80% of the phosphorus contained in ingredients of plant origin is bound to an organic molecule called phytate, which affects its use, making it necessary to include phytases in the diet, increasing the cost.
To metabolize calcium in the body, birds need the presence of microminerals such as copper, fluoride, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc and Vitamin D3 in their feed. The absorbed calcium can be fixed or removed. Thus, calcium will be fixed or retained in the bone under the action of hormones such as calcitonin, estrogens, prostaglandins and parathyroid hormones, depending on the metabolic need.
When laying begins, a secondary bone system called medullary bone is activated in females, which uses bone calcium to form the shell when intestinal calcium absorption is insufficient. The phosphorus removed by this system is not usable and is excreted in the urine. The system will remove Ca and P to the detriment of bone quality.
If calcium and phosphorus deficiency is maintained, rickets or osteomalacia is quickly observed with the presence of eggs with thin and brittle shells.
Due to the aforementioned, we must promote the use of calcium of intestinal origin by adapting meals to the stages of egg formation and promote the balance of the microbiota through the addition of shikimates molecules that improve calcium absorption in the intestine.
Compiled & Shared by- Team, LITD (Livestock Institute of Training & Development)
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Reference-On Request.
