This experiment was conducted to compare organic chelates of Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn) and Copper (Cu) to their inorganic sources on performance and concentration of these minerals in the tibia of broiler chicks. Three hundred and twelve day-old broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly distributed into 6 treatments with four replicates of 13 birds each based on a completely randomized design. Treatments and mineral levels included, A: control (commercial diet) containing 100, 100, and 10mg/kg Zn, Mn, and Cu from inorganic sources; B: containing 140, 140, and 17 mg/kg Zn, Mn, and Cu from inorganic and organic sources; C: containing 40, 60, and 8 mg/kg Zn, Mn, and Cu from inorganic sources; D: 40, 40, and 7 mg/kg Zn, Mn, and Cu from organic sources; E: 40, 40, and 7 mg/kg Zn, Mn, and Cu from inorganic (sulfate) sources; F: 60, 60 and 10.5 mg/kg Zn, Mn, and Cu from organic source, respectively. Feed intake of chicks fed B diet from 0 to 21 days of age was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than birds receiving control diet, but from 21 to 42 days of age the E treatment significantly (P < 0.05) consumed more feed compared to control group. Feed conversion ratio of control group improved significantly (P<0.05) in comparison with C treatment. According to obtained results, corn-soybean diets supplemented with 40-40-7 mg/kg Zn-Mn-Cu from their sulfate or organic sources instead of application of 100-100-10 mg/kg Zn-Mn-Cu from their oxide sources can support performance of broiler chickens properly.

Key words broiler chicken, chelated mineral, zinc, copper, manganese, performance,

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