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Effect of Dietary Silicon on Growth and Skeletal Development in Chickens¹

Department of Poultry Science, Livestock-Poultry Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602

Experiments were conducted to determine the effect of supplementary dietary silicon on weight gain, feed efficiency, percent tibia bone ash and on the development of tibial dyschondroplasia in broiler chickens. Experiments 1 and 2 were conducted with casein/gelatin-based purified diets and Experiments 3 and 4 with corn/soy-based practical diets. All experiments used day-old broiler cockerels and lasted 16 d. Silicon supplementation (250 mg/kg) significantly decreased growth rate and the incidence and severity of tibial dyschondroplasia in Experiment 1 and had no effect on either parameter in Experiments 2–4. Dietary silicon supplementation significantly reduced feed efficiency in Experiments 1 and 3. Tibia bone ash was unaffected by dietary silicon supplementation in any of the experiments conducted. The results of the present studies indicate that dietary silicon supplementation has no effect on growth and skeletal development in broiler chickens.

KEY WORDS: • silicon • tibial dyschondroplasia • chickens

¹ Supported by State and Hatch funds allocated to the Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations of the University of Georgia.

Manuscript received 8 May 1989. Revision accepted 28 August 1990.