Efficacy and stability of a novel silica supplement for improving bone development in broilers

Figures & data

Table 1. Ingredient and nutrient content of experimental diets used in Trial 1

	Non-silica supplemented diets				Silica-supplemented diets
	0.6% Ca diets		0.7% Ca diets		0.6% Ca diets		0.7% Ca diets
Ingredient (g/kg unless Specified)	No Phy^3	Phy	No Phy	Phy	No Phy	Phy	No Phy	Phy
Wheat	606.4	606.4	601.0	601.0	604.4	604.4	599.0	599.0
Rapeseed Meal	40.0	40.0	40.0	40.0	40.0	40.0	40.0	40.0
Soybean meal^1	287.0	287.0	288.2	288.2	287.0	287.0	288.2	288.2
Soya oil	39.8	39.8	41.5	41.5	39.8	39.8	41.5	41.5
Salt	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
Sod Bicarbonate	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Methionine	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5
Lysine	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.4
Threonine	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6
Limestone	4.3	4.3	6.8	6.8	4.3	4.3	6.8	6.8
Dical Phos	8.1	8.1	8.1	8.1	8.1	8.1	8.1	8.1
Vit/Min premix^2	4.9	4.9	4.9	4.9	4.9	4.9	4.9	4.9
Silica	0	0	0	0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Phytase (FTU)	0	1500	0	1500	0	1500	0	1500
Calculated nutrients
Crude protein	220	220	220	220	220	220	220	220
ME MJ/kg	12.6	12.6	12.6	12.6	12.6	12.6	12.6	12.6
Calcium	6.1	6.1	7.0	7.0	6.1	6.1	7.0	7.0
Total Phos	6.1	6.1	6.1	6.1	6.1	6.1	6.1	6.1
nPP	3.2	4.7	3.2	4.7	3.2	4.7	3.2	4.7
Av Silicon	0	0	0	0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Crude fat	55	55	56	56	55	55	56	56
Analysed nutrients
Crude Protein	219	215	223	223	223	223	215	216
Crude fat	57	55	57	56	54	55	53	53
Crude Ash	48	47	48	49	54	56	54	50

¹Crude protein content 48%.

²Vitamin and Mineral Premix content (per kg diet): Mn 100 mg, Zn 88 mg, Fe 20 mg, Cu 10 mg, I 1 mg, Mb 0.48 mg, Se 0.2 mg, Retinol 13.5 mg, Cholecalciferol 3 mg, Tocopherol 25 mg, Menadione 5.0 mg, Thiamine 3 mg, Riboflavin 10.0 mg, Pantothenic acid 15 mg, Pyroxidine 3.0 mg, Niacin 60 mg, Cobalamin 30 µg, Folic acid 1.5 mg, Biotin 125 µg.

³Denotes whether diets contained Quantum Blue^TM Phytase (AB Vista Feed Ingredients).

Table 2. Ingredient and nutrient content of starter (d 0–21) and finisher (d 22–35) basal diets used in Trial 2

Ingredient (g/kg unless specified)	Starter Basal	Finisher Basal
Wheat	631.8	717.1
Rapeseed Meal	40.0	40.0
Soybean meal^1	259.7	183.0
Soya oil	35.6	34.5
Salt	3.0	3.0
Sod Bicarbonate	1.0	1.0
Methionine	2.8	1.5
Lysine	2.6	2.1
Threonine	0.7	0.4
Limestone	9.1	8.7
Dical Phos	8.7	3.7
Vit/Min premix^2	5.0	5.0
Phytase^3 (FTU)	1500	1500
Calculated values
Crude protein	210	181
ME MJ/kg	12.6	12.8
Calcium	8.0	6.5
Total Phos	6.1	4.9
nPP	4.8	3.9
Crude fat	50	49
Analysed nutrients
Crude Protein	200	194
Crude fat	73	65
Crude Ash	42	39

¹Crude protein content 48%.

²Premix content (volume/kg diet): Mn 100 mg, Zn 88 mg, Fe 20 mg, Cu 10 mg, I 1 mg, Mb 0.4 8 mg, Se 0.2 mg, Retinol 13.5 mg, Cholecalciferol 3 mg, Tocopherol 25 mg, Menadione 5.0 mg, Thiamine 3 mg, Riboflavin 10.0 mg, Pantothenic acid 15 mg, Pyroxidine 3.0 mg, Niacin 60 mg, Cobalamin 30 µg, Folic acid 1.5 mg, Biotin 125 µg.

³Quantum Blue^TM Phytase (AB Vista Feed Ingredients).

Table 3. Main effects of dietary phytase, silica and calcium inclusion in study 1 on performance (n = 6) from 0 to 21 days, bone ash and tibia strength in birds at d 21 days of age (n = 12 per treatment)

Treatment Factor	BWG (g)	FI (g)	FCR	Tibia strength (N)	Tibia ash (%)	Foot ash (%)
No Si	792^b	1117^b	1.41	142^b	46.7	15.3
Si	826^a	1158^a	1.41	162^a	47.2	15.5
P value	0.045	0.037	0.653	0.040	0.191	0.242
No phytase	798	1123	1.41	147	46.1^b	15.1^b
Phytase	820	1152	1.41	157	47.9^a	15.7^a
P value	0.228	0.347	0.336	0.312	P < 0.001	0.002
0.6% Ca	799	1129	1.42	151	46.9	15.5
0.7% Ca	819	1145	1.40	153	47.0	15.3
P value	0.709	0.805	0.349	0.870	0.654	0.417
SEM	11.6	13.3	0.011	0.67	0.34	0.14

^a–bMeans within the same column with no common superscript differ significantly (P < 0.05).

BWG: body weight gain per bird, FI: feed intake per bird and FCR: feed conversion ratio.

Table 4. Dietary performance (n = 6 per treatment) from 0 to 21 d of age, bone ash and tibia strength (n = 12 per treatment) at day 21 of age in birds fed diets with and without phytase and silica at differing dietary calcium levels in Trial 1

			Parameters
Diets Calcium (‘Ca’)	Phytase (‘Phy’)^1	Silicon (‘Si’) ^2	BWG (g)	FI (g)	FCR	Tibia strength (N)	Tibia ash (%)	Foot ash (%)
0.6%	-	-	755	1098	1.46	141	46.8	15.2
		+	786	1120	1.43	143	47.2	15.9
	+	-	814	1115	1.37	134	45.1^a	14.8^a
		+	812	1135	1.40	149	47.6	15.1
0.7%	-	-	808	1127	1.40	158	45.7	15.2
		+	849	1173	1.40	162	47.9	15.6
	+	-	816	1152	1.41	153	46.7	15.1
		+	832	1180	1.41	174	48.7	16.1
		P value	0.284	0.129	0.822	0.168	0.008	0.018
		SEM	21.7	25.3	0.02	13.2	0.65	0.28
Interactions	P values	Si*Phy	0.670	0.683	0.895	0.819	0.490	0.544
		Si*Ca	0.154	0.996	0.019	0.828	0.108	0.052
		Ca*Phy	0.396	0.798	0.399	0.459	0.311	0.743
		Si*Phy*Ca	0.899	0.828	0.316	0.910	0.237	0.184

¹Quantum Blue phytase added at 1500 FTU per kg diet.

²MONO-Si added at 1000 ppm.

^a–bMeans within the same column with no common superscript differ significantly (P < 0.05).

BWG: body weight gain, FI: feed intake and FCR: feed conversion ratio.

Table 5. Mean per pen bodyweight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of birds in Trial 2 fed diets with and without silica, added weekly or in one batch, from days 0–35 (n = 9 per treatment)

Diet	BWG d0-21 (g)	FI d0-21 (g)	FCR d0-21	BWG d22-35 (g)	FI d22-35 (g)	FCR d22-35	BWG d0-35 (g)	FI d0-35 (g)	FCR d0-35
Control	799^b	1096	1.38	1176	1176	1.75	1975	3140^b	1.60
Weekly Si^1	831^ab	1121	1.35	1210^a	1210	1.92	2041	3438^a	1.68
Batch Si^2	887^a	1155	1.31	1168	1168	1.79	2055	3236^ab	1.58
P value	P < 0.05	0.203	0.422	P < 0.05	0.111	0.422	0.567	P < 0.05	0.203
SEM	21.7	26.5	0.030	42.8	59.7	0.041	53.9	77.8	0.030

¹Weekly Si diets were made fresh weekly.

²Batch Si diets were made in one batch at the start of the study.

^a–bMeans within the same column with no common superscript differ significantly (P < 0.05).

Table 6. Tibia ash and strength of birds fed diets with or without silica at 1000 ppm in Trial 2 (n = 18 per time point per treatment)

Diet	d14 bone ash, %	d21 bone ash, %	d35 bone ash, %	d14 bone strength, N	d21 bone strength, N	d35 bone strength, N
Control	44.0	49.2	48.9	71	191^b	344^b
Weekly Si^1	45.7	50.2	48.6	72	196^b	389^ab
Batch Si^2	45.8	50.5	49.3	68	243^a	420^a
P value	0.177	0.197	0.710	0.683	P < 0.01	P < 0.01
SEM	0.78	0.52	0.54	3.5	10.5	14.3

¹Weekly Si diets were made fresh weekly.

²Batch Si diets were made in one batch at the start of the study.

^a–bMeans within the same column with no common superscript differ significantly (P < 0.05).

Table 7. Tibia mineral content (g mineral/kg dry tibia) at 35 d of age from birds in Trial 2 fed diets with and without silica at 1000 ppm, made weekly or by batch (n = 18 birds per treatment)

Diet	Tibia Si, g/kg	Tibia P, g/kg	Tibia Ca, g/kg
Control	0.15^b	76.7	184.9
Weekly Si^1	0.18^ab	76.5	183.0
Batch Si^2	0.20^a	78.9	188.3
P value	0.032	0.102	0.212
SEM	0.012	0.86	2.07

¹Weekly Si diets were made fresh weekly.

²Batch Si diets were made in one batch at the start of the study.

^a–bMeans within the same column with no common superscript differ significantly (P < 0.05).

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from EJB. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under licence for this study. Data are available from the authors with the permission of AB Vista Feed Ingredients.