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The objective of this study was to determine the effects of various levels of dietary black cumin seed on egg production, egg weight, feed conversion ratio, egg shell quality, and egg yolk cholesterol. In this study, eighty 27-wk-old laying hens (Hyline-5 White) were randomly assigned into 4 groups with 4 replicates of 5 birds each (20 laying hens per group) and fed diets supplemented with 1, 2, or 3% black cumin. Eggs were collected and weighed daily. Laying performance, egg quality, and feed conversion ratio were evaluated. Laying hens fed the diet supplemented with 3% black cumin had greater egg production than the control. Diets supplemented with 2 or 3% black cumin increased egg weight compared with other groups. Yolk weights of the eggs from hens fed diets containing 1, 2, and 3% black cumin were significantly greater than those from the control group. Shell thickness of the eggs from chickens fed 2 or 3% black cumin seed was significantly greater than those from chickens fed diets supplemented with 0 or 1% black cumin seed. Also, shell strength of the eggs from hens fed diets supplemented with 3% black cumin seed was significantly greater than the control. In addition, diets supplemented with 2 or 3% black cumin significantly decreased egg cholesterol per gram of yolk compared. No level of black cumin seed supplementation had any effect on live weight, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, organ weights, and abdominal adipose tissue. This study showed that black cumin at the level of 2 or 3% would positively influence egg production, egg weight, and shell quality and decrease the concentration of cholesterol in the egg yolk.

Among the various known therapeutic effects of Aloe vera (L.) Burm. fil., a few recent studies have shown that preparations of the plant leaves can prevent or regress the growth of certain tumours. In this study, undertaken with A. vera leaf pulp extract against Ehrlich ascites tumours in mice, the animals were separated into five groups: I - healthy control, II - tumour control, III - experiment 1 (extract given before tumour inoculation), IV - experiment 2 (extract given with tumour inoculation) and V - experiment 3 (extract given after tumour inoculation). Ehrlich ascites tumours (0.33 ml) were injected subcutaneously into groups II-V. Aloe extract was injected at 55 mg protein/kg, twice a week for 21 days. Tumour size, thymus and spleen weights were measured, as well as leucocyte count, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and sialic acid as tumour markers. The best inhibitory effect on tumour growth was obtained with the extract given prophylactically before tumour implantation (experiment 1), although Aloe extract also regressed tumour sizes when given simultaneously with (experiment 2), or therapeutically after (experiment 3), tumour implantation. Accordingly, serum sialic acid and tumour necrosis factor-alpha levels, chosen as tumour markers, which were raised in the tumour control group, were significantly decreased by the prophylactic administration of the extract. The increase in leucocyte count seen in experiment 1 and 2 groups, along with lymphoid hyperplasia observed in spleen and thymus necroscopy, lead us to think that the tumour preventive effect of Aloe could be due to its immunomodulatory activity. According to our results, A. vera could be proposed as a prophylactic for cancer prevention.

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This study was carried out to determine polymorphisms of four genes in South Anatolian Red (SAR) and East Anatolian Red (EAR) indigenous cattle breeds in Turkey. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) monitored in this study are Y581S in ATP binding cassette sub family G member 2 (ABCG2) gene, c.1892T>C and c.3359A>C in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PPARGC1A) gene and g.8232C>A in oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor 1 (OLR1) gene. The frequency of the ancestral allele A of the ABCG2 gene Y581S polymorphism was found to be very high (SAR: 0.63; EAR: 0.64) in both cattle breeds. The CC genotypes of PPARGC1A gene c.1892T>C (SAR: 0.65; EAR: 0.80) and OLR1 gene g.8232C>A polymorphisms (SAR: 0.82; EAR: 0.86), which are associated with high milk fat percentage, had higher frequencies than those of the other genotypes. In conclusion, we might suggest that the allele distribution of the ABCG2 gene Y581S polymorphism can be the evidence indicating autosomal gene flow from zebu cattle to SAR and EAR cattle breeds.