Impact of dietary calcium tetraborate supplementation on the mineral content of egg and eggshell of laying quails

Boron (B) is a trace element that plays an important role in the mineral, cell membrane, hormone, and enzyme metabolism of animals and humans. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of dietary calcium tetraborate (CaB4O7) supplementation on the mineral composition of egg content and eggshell of laying quails. For this purpose, a total of 20 male and 40 female quails, 6-week-old, were equally divided into 2 groups (control and additive groups) in 5 replicates (6 birds/replicate) and given CaB4O7 300 mg/kg feed in additive group. The experiment was conducted for 56 days. The eggs were collected and the mineral composition [B, calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), iron (Fe), potassium (K), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn)] of egg content and eggshell samples were determined at the end of the experiment in randomly collected 6 eggs per group. Results of this study indicated dietary supplementation of CaB4O7 increased Mg (P