BENEFICIAL USES OF CHROMIUM IN LAYING HENS NUTRITION: A REVIEW.

Research on various avian species has shown that supplementation of diets with various mineral elements can have favourable effects on production indices, production quality and bird health. In particular, chromium has proven to be an essential mineral, active biologically as a component of glucose tolerance factor, which enhances tissue sensitivity to insulin and glucose utilization. Clinical trials conducted in human patients diagnosed with Type II diabetes along with studies on production animals have led to the conclusion that chromium is beneficial to animals and people undergoing physical or metabolic stress. A brief analysis of chromium supplementation of avian species feed revealed more results of chromium supplementation in broiler nutrition compared to laying hens, which is why the present review was conducted to evaluate the results of using different chromium sources in laying hens. Summarizing the information from the scientific literature on the use of chromium in laying hens nutrition can highlight whether this nutritional strategy is useful or not for laying hens farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]