Cage type and mineral nutrition had independent impact on skeletal development in Lohmann LSL-Lite pullets from hatch to 16 weeks of age

Tanka Khanal; Gregoy Y Bedecarrats; Elijah G Kiarie

doi:10.1016/j.aninu.2020.11.013

Cage type and mineral nutrition had independent impact on skeletal development in Lohmann LSL-Lite pullets from hatch to 16 weeks of age

Anim Nutr. 2021 Sep;7(3):631-640. doi: 10.1016/j.aninu.2020.11.013. Epub 2021 Apr 29.

Authors

Tanka Khanal¹, Gregoy Y Bedecarrats¹, Elijah G Kiarie¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G2W1, Canada.

Abstract

The effects of rearing cage type and dietary Ca, available P and vitamin D₃ (VitD₃) on body and skeletal development were studied. A total of 3,420 Lohmann LSL-Lite day-old chicks were reared in conventional (CON) or furnished cages (FUR) to 16 wk of age. Initially, 40 and 150 chicks/cage were placed in CON and FUR and transitioned to 20 and 75 chicks/cage at 8 wk of age, respectively. Three diets: Diet 1, Diet 1.5 and Diet 2 were formulated to meet nutrient specifications with Diet 1.5 and Diet 2 containing 1.5 and 2 times more Ca, P and VitD₃ than Diet 1, respectively. Diets were allocated within cage type to give 6 replicates and fed in 3 feeding programs: starter, grower and developer. At 4, 12 and 16 wk of age, BW was recorded, and femur, tibia and blood samples for bone quality and related parameters. There were no interactions (P > 0.05) of cage type, diet and pullet age on BW, plasma Ca and inorganic P, femur and tibia morphometry, mineral density (MD), breaking strength (BS) and ash concentration (AC). Concentration of Ca, P and VitD₃ linearly decreased BW (P < 0.001), relative femur (P = 0.010) and tibia weight (P = 0.013). A quadratic increase on femur MD (P = 0.03) and BS (P = 0.026) was observed with dietary concentration of Ca, P and VitD₃. Femur (P = 0.031) was longer for CON than FUR pullets, however, femur for FUR pullets had higher (P = 0.003) AC. Cage had no effect (P ≥ 0.415) femoral MD and BS. Pullets reared in FUR cages exhibited higher tibial MD (P = 0.015), BS (P = 0.071), AC (P < 0.01) and whole-body mineral content (P < 0.01). In conclusion, cage type and diets showed independent effect on femur and tibia quality with FUR pullets exhibiting enhanced indices of mineralization. Feeding pullets twice the recommended Ca, P and VitD₃ decreased BW, relative weight of leg bone but enhanced femoral strength with no effects on tibia attributes.

Keywords: Bone quality; Calcium; Housing; Mineral; Pullets; Vitamin D3.