Effects of Boron Supplementation to Diets Deficient in Calcium and Phosphorus on Performance with Some Serum, Bone and Fecal Characteristics of Broiler Chickens (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Since boron has not been consistently accepted as an essential element for higher animals and plants, its importance in poultry nutrition has been recognized only since the late 1980s. Initial work indicated that boron may improve the growth rate, nutritional efficiency, live-ability, calcium, and phosphorus retention in broilers while reducing symptoms of vitamin D deficiency (Hunt, 1989; Rossi et al., 1993). Moreover, subsequent studies (Kurtoglu et al., 2001, 2005; Fassani et al., 2004) also confirmed those observations. Several authors suggested that a dietary boron deficiency affects normal development and cartilage of bone, bone ash and bone breaking load, and plasma Ca, P, Mg levels with ALP activity (Nielsen, 1992; Nielsen and Shuler, 1992; Kurtoglu et al., 2001).