Page 8 - National Poultry Newspaper

Minerals and their effect on eggs
n Hydroxychloride zinc, copper and manganese used in laying hens’ diet affect egg production and egg quality characteristics
BEC’s Mark Fitzgerald retires
MARK Fitzgerald of- ficially retired from his position as BEC Feed Solutions’ gener- al manager of premix and feed additives for Australia and New Zealand on June 30.
years of leadership, Mr Fitzgerald was involved in significant changes to these industries, par- ticularly in the busi- nesses he was a part of.
years, and this time has been incredibly valua- ble in learning the finer details of the premix and feed business,” Dr Connors said.
“After seven exciting and challenging years as GM of premix and feed additives at BEC Feed Solutions, it is now time for me to re- tire and move on to the next stage of my life,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“He has left BEC in a fantastic position for the future.”
Mr Fitzgerald enjoyed a long, distinguished and eventful career in the animal feed and poultry industries.
“BEC’s Board and shareholders and staff thank Mark for his commitment to the de- velopment of the busi- ness,” Mr Antonio said.
Dr Connors original- ly established the BEC Biotech business ven- ture and is still respon- sible for its operations and the success of the Lactipro product in the Australian market.
He has held senior management roles with businesses including Tegel/NRM in New Zealand, Niugini Ta- blebirds in Papua New Guinea, Sunnybrand Chickens, Darwalla, Ridley and BEC Feed Solutions in Australia.
“He’s been a driving force behind many key projects for us, includ- ing the new premix plant that was opened last year.
“Mark Connors has been our national sales and technical manager for the past four years and so the transition in- to the general manager position will be quite seamless,” Mr Fitzger- ald said.
During his many
Mr Fitzgerald offi- cially handed over to his successor at the end of June but will remain in a transitionary role to assist the business on major projects until September 30.
BEC Feed Solutions managing director Brett Antonio shared his sincere gratitude for the contribution and dedication Mr Fitzger- ald had for the BEC business throughout his tenure.
“I wish Mark the very best for his retirement.
“I am personally very grateful that we had him as part of the BEC team for the past seven years.”
“It is particularly pleasing that succes- sion at this level can occur internally and I believe this reflects the culture of the BEC business and the qual- ity of our staff.
BEC Feed Solutions’ Mark Fitzgerald offi- cially retired from his position at the end of June 2022.
“I have been very for- tunate to work closely with Mark Fitzger- ald over the past four
He intends to enjoy his retirement by trav- elling with his wife and relishing his time with his grandchildren.
Dr Mark Connors, who has been with the BEC Group business since 2016, will com- mence in the general manager position for BEC’s Australian and New Zealand business from July 1.
“I’d like to person- ally thank all custom- ers, suppliers and other business stakeholders for your support over the past seven years.
“I recognise that without your under- standing, loyalty and support, BEC would not be in the position that I leave it in.”
TRACE minerals are fundamental in the diet of laying hens for nor- mal growth, optimum egg production and prime egg quality.
per replicate, and 15 rep- licates were allocated to each treatment.
was assessed at the end of the study.
some of the eggshell ul- trastructural scores.
Most trace minerals used in poultry nutrition are available in both inor- ganic and organic forms.
Diets were composed mainly of wheat-soybean meal and formulated pri- marily to Hy-Line Brown commercial laying hen recommendations 2016.
Considering the entire production period of 1-12 weeks, feeding the hy- droxy diet resulted in a 2.3 percent higher hen/ day egg production and 1.6g/d higher egg mass compared to those fed the ionic diet, without any ef- fect on egg weight – see Figure 1.
However, different chemical forms of trace minerals and the amount fed to the hens may vari- ously affect hens’ pro- duction and egg quality.
There were two treat- ments – hydroxy or ionic –withZn,MnandCu supplemented at 80mg/ kg, 80mg/kg and 15mg/ kg respectively, fed for 12 weeks.
These results indicate that the hydroxy supple- ment had a greater effect in layers than ionic sup- plement, probably due to the higher bioavailability, greater absorption and utilisation of minerals than those fed the ionic diet.
Hydroxychloride trace minerals – referred to as hydroxy – have covalent bonds between the metal ion, hydroxyl and chlo- ride groups, thus are less reactive in the feed and in the digestive tract, then may have higher bioavail- ability compared to other inorganic trace miner- als which contain ionic bonds such as sulphate forms – referred to as ionic.
Egg production was re- corded daily.
This result could be attributed to the higher bioavailability from the hydroxy diet of these minerals involved in the eggshell formation, by their catalytic properties for enzymes involved in
Lower mammillary cap size variability, better cap quality, higher incidence of early fusion and late fusion were observed in the hydroxy group com- pared to the ionic group – see Figure 2 – indicating that the attachment of cap to shell membrane was consistent in hydroxy- eggs, and resulting in better shell quality in the hydroxy group.
* continued P9
Figure 1. Egg production of laying hens response to the dietary treatments. a, b means significantly different between treatments (P < 0.01).
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Page 8 – National Poultry Newspaper, July 2022
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This study aimed to evaluate the effects of re- placing zinc, copper and manganese from sulphate ionic sources with those from hydroxy sources on egg production and egg quality of layers during post-peak production.
Hy-Line Brown laying hens at 45 weeks of age (n = 600) were distrib- uted into 300 cages of two birds, with 10 cages
At the end of week two, six and 12 of the study, two eggs per replicate were collected to deter- mine mineral contents.
Eggshell ultrastructure – 16 different variables –
There was a significant effect of the treatment on