Manganese in the nutrition and metabolism of the pullet

Abstract

1. The first two experiments were similar; pullets were given either a low-manganese diet, 6–7 μg/g, or a high-Mn diet containing an additional 50 μgMn/g; shell thickness as measured by weight per unit area was obtained for the first four and the last four eggs produced during a short laying period and the Mn contents of the first two and last two eggs were determined.

2. Shell thickness was significantly reduced by the low-Mn diet in Expt 1, but not in Expt 2. In both experiments there was an increase in thickness from the first four to the last four shells produced.

3. The Mn content of eggs from birds given the low-Mn diet was significantly lower in both experiments than that from birds given the high-Mn diet. In Expt 1 there was an increase in Mn content from the first to the last eggs laid, but no corresponding change occurred in Expt 2.

4. The differences between the results of the two experiments are discussed; they were probably due to differences in the time for which the experimental diets were given before laying began.

5. In Expt 3 pullets were given the high-Mn or low-Mn diet from about 4 weeks before laying began or the high-Mn diet to the point-of-lay and then the low-Mn diet. Shell thickness was determined in batches of six eggs from each bird at intervals during a 6- to 7-month laying period.

6. Shell thickness was depressed by the low-Mn diet in birds given this diet 4 weeks before laying but not in those given the low-Mn diet from the point-of-lay.

7. In Expt 4 shell thickness was determined on the first thirty eggs laid by four pullets given the high-Mn diet and four given the low-Mn diet from about 4 weeks before starting to lay. The difference between shells from birds given the high-Mn and low-Mn diets just failed to reach significance and there was no significant increase or decrease in the series of thirty shells from each bird, studied in successive groups of six shells.