Growth and apparent absorption of minerals in broiler chicks fed diets with low or high tannin contents.

Sorghum grains with low (0.28 per cent catechin equivalent (%CE) or high (1.36%/DCE)) tannin contents were used to study the effect of tannin on growth and on the apparent absorption of Ca, P, Mg, Na, K, Fe and Co by chickens. High-tannin sorghum caused a highly significant (p < or = 0.01) reduction in the weight gain and feed intake of broiler chicks compared to low-tannin sorghum and increased the feed conversion ratio (p < or = 0.01). The amount of tannin did not affect mortality. The apparent absorption of Ca, P, Mg, Na, K, Fe and Co was reduced (p < or = 0.01) by feeding sorghum grains with a high tannin content.