Impact of dietary calcium tetraborate supplementation on the mineral content of egg and eggshell of laying quails
1 Department of Animal Nutrition and Nutritional Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey.
2 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey.
3 Department of Chemistry, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
4 Department of Food Hygiene and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey.
Research Article
GSC Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2021, 15(01), 018-026.
Article DOI: 10.30574/gscbps.2021.15.1.0090
Publication history:
Received on 25 February 2021; revised on 30 March 2021; accepted on 02 April 2021
Abstract:
Boron (B) is a trace element that plays an important role in the mineral, cell membrane, hormone, and enzyme metabolism of animals and humans. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of dietary calcium tetraborate (CaB4O7) supplementation on the mineral composition of egg content and eggshell of laying quails. For this purpose, a total of 20 male and 40 female quails, 6-week-old, were equally divided into 2 groups (control and additive groups) in 5 replicates (6 birds/replicate) and given CaB4O7 300 mg/kg feed in additive group. The experiment was conducted for 56 days. The eggs were collected and the mineral composition [B, calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), iron (Fe), potassium (K), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn)] of egg content and eggshell samples were determined at the end of the experiment in randomly collected 6 eggs per group. Results of this study indicated dietary supplementation of CaB4O7 increased Mg (P<0.01), Na (P<0.01), and K (P<0.05) contents of edible parts of eggs compared to the control group, but B concentration were not determined in edible parts of eggs in both groups. Moreover, B (P<0.01), Mg (P<0.01), Na (P<0.01), Fe (P<0.01), K (P<0.05), Cu (P<0.05) and Zn (P<0.01) of eggshell were higher in the additive group than control. There were also significant correlations between examined minerals both edible and eggshell parts of the eggs. It may be concluded that supplementing diets with CaB4O7 could improve Ca metabolism, producing eggs enriched in minerals, promoting B, Mg, Na, Fe, K, Cu, and Zn deposition in eggshells, and improving eggshells quality. The effective B supplementation doses for functional egg production could be determined and B could be advantageous in terms of beneficial physiological effects.
Keywords:
Calcium tetraborate; Egg; Eggshell; Mineral; Quail
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