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There are significant environmental, economic and social factors favoring the reutilization of fruit and vegetable processing co-products in farm animal nutrition. Current evidence shows that fruit and vegetable processing co-products can be effectively used in farm animal nutrition as functional feed ingredients for the production of food products of improved quality. These ingredients comply with consumer requests for the production of "clean," "natural" and "eco/green" label food products. The main parameters affecting extensive application of fruit and vegetable processing by-/co-products as functional feed ingredients in livestock nutrition are related to animal factors, logistics, and commercial value. Further research is needed to enable the commercial application of these products to livestock nutrition.

In recent years there has been increased interest in the production of novel functional foods by utilizing eco-friendly materials and methods. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to determine the effects of dietary spirulina (Spirulina platensis), a blue-green microalga, on growth performance, meat oxidative stability and fatty acid profile of broiler chickens. One hundred and twenty one-day-old broiler chickens of mixed sex were weighed individually and assigned randomly to three treatment groups with four replications of 10 birds. All birds were housed in floor cages with litter, and conventional breeding and management procedures were applied throughout the 42-day trial period. The treatment groups were as follows: control: 0 g spirulina/kg feed; S05: 5 g spirulina/kg feed; S10: 10 g spirulina/kg feed. The birds were fed with maize and soybean meal-based commercial diets for the starter (1 to 14 days), grower (15 to 28 days) and finisher (29 to 42 days) periods. Feed and drinking water were offered to all birds ad libitum. The results of the experiment showed that bodyweight gain (at 21 d and 42 d), feed conversion ratio and mortality did not differ among the groups, nor did breast and thigh meat lipid oxidation differ among the groups. The fatty acid profile of the thigh meat was enriched in polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid after spirulina supplementation. Therefore, spirulina could be a promising functional ingredient in broiler chicken nutrition.

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The present study investigated the effect of maternal vitamin E and fatty acid supplementation on lamb antioxidant status. Forty-eight ewes were fed one of four concentrate diets supplemented with a basal (50 mg/kg) or supranutritional (500 mg/kg) level of vitamin E plus a source of either saturated fat (Megalac w ; Volac Ltd, Royston, Hertfordshire, UK) or long-chain PUFA (fish oil) from 6 weeks prepartum until 4 weeks postpartum. Blood samples were taken from ewes and lambs at intervals throughout the experiment and, at parturition, muscle, brain and blood samples were obtained from twelve lambs (three per treatment). Colostrum and milk samples were obtained at 12 h and 21 d after parturition, respectively. Supranutritional vitamin E supplementation of the ewe significantly increased concentrations of vitamin E in neonatal lamb tissues although plasma concentrations were undetectable. A significant increase in lamb birth weight resulted from increasing the dietary vitamin E supply to the ewe. Furthermore, maternal plasma, colostrum and milk vitamin E concentrations were increased by vitamin E supplementation, as were lamb plasma concentrations at 14 d of age. Neonatal vitamin E status was not significantly affected by fat source although plasma vitamin E concentrations in both ewes and suckling lambs were reduced by fish oil supplementation of the ewe. Fish oil supplementation reduced vitamin E concentrations in colostrum and milk and the activity of glutathione peroxidase in suckling lambs. The data suggest that the vitamin E status of the neonatal and suckling lamb may be manipulated by vitamin E supplementation of the ewe during pregnancy and lactation.

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In order to determine the effect of dietary vitamin E level and basal diet on vitamin E status, performance and tissue fatty acid content, five groups of eight Suffolk 3 Charollais wether lambs with an initial live weight of 28.4 (s.d. 1.6) kg were allocated to one of five concentrate-based diets supplemented with all-rac-a-tocopheryl acetate to contain 30 mg (C-30), 60 mg (C-60), 120 mg (C-120), 250 mg (C-250) or 500 mg (C-500) a-tocopheryl acetate/kg dry matter (DM), for 63 days. Two additional groups of eight lambs entered the study at 31.2 (s.d. 3.3) kg and were fed grass silage and 400 g/day concentrate for 56 days, with the whole diet providing the equivalent of 60 mg (S-60) or 500 mg (S-500) a-tocopheryl acetate/kg DM. Lambs were weighed and blood samples obtained by venipuncture weekly. Dietary vitamin E level did not affect performance ( P . 0.05), but lambs fed grass silage grew more slowly ( P , 0.001) and had a higher ( P , 0.001) feed conversion ratio (kg feed/kg gain) than those fed concentrates. At day 0 plasma a-tocopherol concentrations were 0.8 mg/ml and did not differ between treatments ( P . 0.05). Plasma a-tocopherol concentrations then decreased in all lambs except for those fed S-500, which increased, and at slaughter were (mg/ml) 0.07, 0.23, 0.39, 0.76 and 1.57 in C-30, C-60, C-120, C-250 and C-500 and 1.18 and 1.93 in S-60 and S-500, respectively. At slaughter, muscle and liver a-tocopherol concentrations were in the deficiency range for lambs fed C-30, C-60 or C-120, whereas plasma creatine kinase and tissue polyunsaturated fatty acids were unaffected by dietary vitamin E level, but creatine kinase levels were higher ( P , 0.05) and glutathione peroxidise levels lower ( P , 0.001) in lambs fed grass silage than concentrates alone. Muscle and liver a-tocopherol concentrations were 1.8-and 4.1-fold higher in lambs fed S-60 than C-60, but there was less of a difference between lambs fed S-500 or C-500 with muscle and liver differences of 0.4-and 0.7-fold, respectively. Tissue n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid concentrations were higher ( P , 0.05) and n-6 fatty acids lower in lambs receiving the grass silage compared to concentrate-based diets, but were not affected by dietary vitamin E level. It is concluded that lower plasma and tissue levels of a-tocopherol are present in lambs supplemented with all-rac-a-tocopheryl acetate on a concentrate compared to a mixed diet of silage and concentrates, and that normal growth can be achieved at tissue levels previously considered to represent deficiency.Keywords: a-tocopherol, concentrates, fatty acids, grass silage, lamb growth ImplicationsVitamin E is necessary to protect tissues from oxidative damage. When lambs were fed a concentrate or grass silage-based diet supplemented with increasing amounts of vitamin E, substantially lower plasma and tissue vitamin E levels were observed in lambs receiving the concentratebased diets. Animal performance was, however, unaffected by dietary vitamin E level. Tissue fatty acid composition was also unaffected by...

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