Influence of glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) on performance and selected parameters in broilers.

Glyphosate (N-phosphonomethyl)glycine), Roundup, the herbicide formulation of the isopropylamine salt of glyphosate, was fed to male and female broiler chickens at 0, 60.8, 608, and 6080 ppm from 1 day to 21 days of age. Parameters measured were body weights, bone weights and lengths, bone ash, inorganic phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and calcium to phosphorus ratios of tibiotarsus bones. There were no consistent significant differences among the control, 60.8, or 608 ppm groups in any of the parameters measured. The addition of glyphosate to feed at the highest dose level (6080 ppm) reduced body weight approximately 50% in both sexes as early as 7 days of age, and this reduction continued for the rest of the experiment. The highest dose level increased the calcium and magnesium content of the tibiotarsus bones.