The Effect of Dietary Copper and Molybdenum on Turkey Poults
September 1957
in “
Poultry Science
”
Studysummary This study found that adding molybdenum to poultry diets depressed growth without affecting feather pigmentation, and copper supplementation tended to counteract the growth inhibition.
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The study investigates the effects of dietary copper and molybdenum on turkey poults, highlighting that a deficiency in lysine leads to depigmentation in feathers and hair across various species. Copper, a component of the enzyme tyrosinase, is crucial for pigmentation, and its deficiency also causes depigmentation. Molybdenum can interfere with copper utilization, causing toxicity that can be mitigated by adding copper. The addition of 300 ppm of molybdenum to the diet of poults was found to depress growth without affecting pigmentation, while copper supplementation tended to counteract this growth inhibition.
