BIOLOGICAL AVAILABILITY OF MANGANESE SOURCES AND EFFECTS OF HIGH DIETARY MANGANESE ON TISSUE MINERAL-COMPOSITION OF BROILER-TYPE CHICKS

An experiment was conducted with male broiler-type chicks to study tissue uptake of Mn as a measure of biological availability of Mn sources. A basal corn-soybean meal diet (116 ppm Mn) was supplemented with 0, 1000, 2000 or 4000 ppm Mn as reagent grade sulfate, carbonate or monoxide and fed ad lib. for 26 days. No toxic effects were noted as expressed by feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion, hematocrit, Hb or mortality. Analysis of Mn in tissues revealed a highly linear relationship between liver or bone Mn concentration and dietary Mn for all 3 sources. Mn concentration in all tissues increased (P < 0.01) as dietary Mn increased. Liver and bone Mn accumulation appeared to be excellent indicators of relative biological availability. On the basis of tissue uptake and solubility tests, MnSO4 .cntdot. H2O was the most available, followed by MnO and MnCO3, respectively. There were no effects of Mn source or level on concentration of Ca, P, Mg, Cu, Zn or Fe in tissues studied.