Growth Performance, Mineral Digestibility, and Blood Characteristics of Ostriches Receiving Drinking Water Supplemented with Varying Levels of Chelated Trace Mineral Complex Hossein Seyfori 1 & Hossein Ali Ghasemi 1 & Iman Hajkhodadadi 1 & Mohammad Hassan Nazaran 2 & Maryam Hafizi 2 Received: 11 July 2017 /Accepted: 1 August 2017 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2017 Abstract The effects of water supplementation of chelated trace minerals (CTM, which is named Bonzaplex designed with chelate compounds technology) on growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of minerals, and some blood metabolites, TM, and antioxidant enzyme values in African ostriches were investigated from 8 to 12 months of age. A total of 20 8-month-old ostriches (five birds in five replicate pens) was randomly allocated into one of the follow- ing four treatments: (1) control (basal diet + tap water), (2) low CTM (basal diet +100 mg/bird/day CTM powder in tap wa- ter), (3) medium CTM (basal diet +1 g/bird/day CTM powder in tap water), and (4) high CTM (basal diet +2 g/bird/day CTM powder in tap water). Compared with control, medium CTM improved (P < 0.05) daily weight gain and ATTD of phosphorous, zinc, and copper in 12-month-old ostriches. Furthermore, the feed conversion ratio was lower, and ATTD of magnesium was higher in the medium- and high- CTM groups than that in the control group (P < 0.05). At the end of the trial, ostriches receiving high-CTM treatment ex- hibited the lower (P < 0.05) serum triglyceride and very low- density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations and higher cop- per levels compared to those of the control treatment. Supplementation of higher amounts of CTM (medium and high CTM) also increased the activity of serum superoxide dismutase (P < 0.05). No differences were detected for other blood parameters including glucose, total protein, albumin, cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, iron, magnesium, and glutathione per- oxidase values. In conclusion, supplementation of CTM at the level of 1 g/bird/day to the drinking water can be recommend- ed for improving growth performance, mineral absorption, and antioxidant status of ostriches fed diets containing the recommended levels of inorganic TM. Keywords Bonzaplex . Performance . Mineral digestibility . Blood characteristics . Ostrich Introduction Poultry nutrition is focused on the major dietary components (protein and energy) and vitamin and mineral supplements, from both organic and inorganic sources, that are normally incorporated into the diets to meet the bird’ s requirements [1, 2]. Trace minerals (TM) are essential in the diets of poultry because they participate in the metabolic processes required for optimum growth and development [3]. TM, such as Iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and manganese (Mn), are vital to maintain productivity and health in all livestock species, in- cluding ostrich [4]. In fact, they primarily act as catalysts or constituents of several enzyme systems within cells, and they are part of hundreds of proteins and other organic molecules involved in hormone secretion pathways, intermediary metab- olism, and immune defense systems [5]. Therefore, they in- fluence growth, enzyme structure and function, bone develop- ment, and feathering of poultry [6]. However, most feedstuffs do not contain adequate amounts of most of the TM according to the requirements that change during the growth and * Hossein Ali Ghasemi h-ghasemi@araku.ac.ir; haghasemi89@gmail.com 1 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arak 38156-8-8349, Iran 2 Department of Research and Development, Sodour Ahrar Shargh Company, Tehran, Iran Biol Trace Elem Res DOI 10.1007/s12011-017-1117-9