The Iron-Zinc Interrelationship in the Chick as Influenced by Eimeria acervulina Infection

Abstract

Two 14-day growth trials were performed to assess the effects of Eimeria acervulina infection (duodenal coccidiosis) on the Fe-Zn interrelationship in growing chicks. In the first assay, two levels of Fe (0 and 2000 mg/kg) were added to diets that contained either 0 or 52 mg supplemental Zn (from ZnCO3) per kilogram to establish whether excess Fe would affect Zn status of healthy and coccidial-infected chicks. In the second trial, either 0 or 2000 mg Zn/kg was added to diets containing 0 or 500 mg Fe/kg to determine whether Zn could modify Fe utilization. Based on chick performance as well as plasma Zn concentration, excess dietary Fe did not antagonize Zn in either healthy or E. acervulina-infected chicks. Coccidial infection, however, increased liver Fe and decreased intestinal Fe and hemoglobin concentration. Excess dietary Zn reduced performance and Fe content of tissues in both healthy and infected chicks. Coccidial infection ameliorated the adverse effects of excess Zn on performance and tissue Zn concentration and consequently enhanced Fe status of birds fed 2000 mg Zn/kg. These data suggest that the Fe-Zn interaction is a one-directional phenomenon in the chick, i.e., excess Zn reduces Fe utilization but excess Fe does not antagonize Zn.

Dietary iron and broiler performance

“…This can be explained by two different phenomena, namely increasing MCHC with the first four inclusion rates and a greater number of RBCs in the last two. The latter suggests that high dietary Fe stimulates marrow activity, in agreement with the findings of Smith et al (1977) and Bafundo et al (1984) with chickens.…”

“…This supports the conclusion that the Fe content in the basal diet was marginal. According to Bafundo et al (1984), excess dietary Fe (both 500 and 2000 Fe/kg were tested) did not influence the Zn status of chicks. In the present study the highest dietary Fe content, compared with an addition of 60 mg Fe/kg diet, caused a significant decrease of the plasma Zn concentration.…”

“…Addition of 180 mg Fe/kg or more to the basal maize-soyabean diet (containing about 80 mg Fe/kg from dietary feedstuffs, Table 2) depressed body weight gain, while in this study increasing Fe also depressed the efficiency of food utilisation (linear effect, P<0-01, at days 8, 22 and 36 of age). Conflicting results have been published as to the Fe content which produces adverse effects in animals (Markus et al, 1970;Harry, 1979;Farrow et al, 1982;Bafundo et al, 1984). Except for that of Markus et al (1970), no studies have been reported wherein adverse effects of Fe were found below about 300 mg Fe/kg diet.…”

Anticoccidial and antioxidant activities of zinc oxide nanoparticles on Eimeria papillata-induced infection in the jejunum

“…This diminished output reflects that ZNPs impaired the development of parasites in the host before the relatively inert oocysts could be formed and finally released. The fact that ZNPs possess anticoccidial activity has not been reported before, but Bafundo et al 24 demonstrated clearly that zinc utilization is diminished by Eimeria acervulina infection.…”

Micronutrient fortification of wheat flour: Recent development and strategies

“…Trace element interactions are generally antagonistic and when two chemically similar ions are present in the intestinal lumen, the one having greater ratio tends to exclude the other (Solomons & Ruz, 1997). Another study confirmed that the ingestion of excess amounts of zinc has been found to induce anemia and depress tissue iron levels in rats and chicks (Bafundo, Baker, & Fitzgerald, 1984) but this interaction has received little attention in humans. ZnSO 4 and ZnO vary in their solubility ranging from very soluble to almost insoluble (Henderson et al, 1995).…”