Fortification of meat products of geese farming with lithium by introducing it into poultry mixed feed

Abstract

We studied the possibility of fortification of goslings’ products with lithium and peculiarities of its depositing in the organs and tissues of goslings concerning lithium level in the mixed feed. Experimental studies have been conducted on the goose breed Legart. 320 one-day-old goslings were divided on the principle of analogues into four groups, 80 heads each. The goslings of the first control group did not receive the lithium supplement with the feed mix. Experimental groups were fed with the feed where additionally was supplemented with different doses of lithium by the scheme of the experiment. After 70 days of rearing, three birds were randomly selected from each group and control slaughtered. The lithium content in the representative samples of muscle tissue and organs of goslings was determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). It was established that feeding the growing goslings with mixed feed containing lithium supplements in doses of 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15 mg kg–1, contributed to the increase (P <0.001) of the concentration of this trace element in the muscles of the thigh and drumstick 789.5, 1589.5 and 3447.4%, in the muscles of the breast 1096.8, 2080.6 and 3948.4%, liver are 455.4, 824.6 and 1440.8% respectively, compared to goslings that did not receive lithium supplements. Significant high values of lithium accumulation factors in organs and tissues of gosling (3.21–14.44) indicated that this element has a substantial accumulating capacity. The meat of goslings enriched with lithium can be considered a natural product with biocorrective action that can be used in human nutrition. These meat products can be particularly useful for people that are living in regions with a low environmental level of lithium.