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Effects of Supplemental Chromium Source and Concentration on Growth, Carcass Characteristics, and Serum Lipid Parameters of Broilers Reared Under Normal Conditions

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Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary chromium (Cr) source and concentration on growth performance, carcass traits, and some serum lipid parameters of broilers under normal rearing conditions for 42 days. A total of 252 1-day-old Cobb 500 commercial female broilers were randomly allotted by body weight (BW) to one of six replicate cages (six broilers per cage) for each of seven treatments in a completely randomized design involved in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments with three Cr sources (Cr propionate (CrPro), Cr picolinate (CrPic), Cr chloride (CrCl3)) and two concentrations of added Cr (0.4 and 2.0 mg of Cr/kg) plus a Cr-unsupplemented control diet. The results showed that dietary Cr supplementation tended to increase the breast muscle percentage compared with the Cr-unsupplemented control group (P = 0.0784), while Cr from CrPic tended to have higher breast muscle percentage compared with Cr from CrCl3 (P = 0.0881). Chromium from CrPic also tended to increase the breast intramuscular fat (IMF) compared with Cr from CrCl3 (P = 0.0648). In addition, supplementation of 0.4 mg/kg Cr tended to decrease low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (P = 0.0614). Compared with the control group, broilers fed Cr-supplemented diets had higher triglyceride (TG) (P = 0.0129) regardless of Cr source and Cr concentration. Chromium from CrPro and CrPic had lower total cholesterol (TC) compared with Cr from CrCl3 (P = 0.0220). These results indicate that dietary supplementation of Cr has effects on carcass characteristics and serum lipid parameters of broilers under normal rearing conditions, while supplementation of organic Cr can improve carcass characteristics and reduce the cholesterol content in serum.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Sichuan International Cooperation Project (project no. 2015HH0018, Chengdu, P. R. China) and Southwest University for Nationalities Graduate Innovative Scientific Research Program (project no. CX2014SZ78, Chengdu, P. R. China).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science and Technology, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu, 610041, Peoples’ Republic of China

    Cancai Zheng, Yanling Huang & Fang Xiao

  2. Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7621, USA

    Xi Lin & Karen Lloyd

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  1. Cancai Zheng
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  2. Yanling Huang
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  3. Fang Xiao
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  4. Xi Lin
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  5. Karen Lloyd
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Correspondence to Yanling Huang.

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Zheng, C., Huang, Y., Xiao, F. et al. Effects of Supplemental Chromium Source and Concentration on Growth, Carcass Characteristics, and Serum Lipid Parameters of Broilers Reared Under Normal Conditions. Biol Trace Elem Res 169, 352–358 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0419-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0419-z

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