EVALUATION OF MAGNESIUM OXIDE INTESTINAL ABSOPTION IN LAYING HENS
Abstract
In poultry, magnesium is involved in many important physiological processes, from bone metabolism, modulation of a great number of enzyme activity to egg shell formation and resistance. The aim of the present research was to evaluate whether feed introduced MgO is intestinally absorbed and its level in different tissues. The experiment was performed over a period of 41 days, on 35 weeks old laying hens, RossoSL hybrid. The combined standard feed was supplemented with MgO in two different doses, 1g/kg feed and 3g/kg feed. At the end of the experiment, the animals from the control group that received only standard feed and the two groups of MgO supplemented ones were slaughtered. Samples of serum, liver, pectoral and thigh muscles and also thigh bone were collected. The evaluation of Mg content, assayed by atomic absorption spectroscopy, revealed that both experimental groups presented changes in magnesium levels. In sera, livers and thigh muscles, Mg content increased with the dose of supplemented MgO. In the pectoral muscle, the increase in Mg was higher in the lower supplemented groups (1g MgO/kg feed), about 11% over the control, while in the group that received 3g MgO/kg feed the Mg content was only with 4.1% over. A different behaviour against MgO supplementation was reached for thigh bone, where the Mg content deceased with 2% in the first group, and with 10.3% in the group that received the highest MgO supplementation. The obtained results demonstrate that MgO is absorbed at the intestinal level, even in an inorganic form, and more, induces changes in the magnesium level of the different organs and consequently may influence their metabolisma) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
c) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).