This study was conducted to evaluate microbial and parasitic contamination in twelve types of popular vegetables in Hue city. A total of 108 vegetable samples, equal numbers of young mustard greens, celery, amaranth, cilantro, water spinach, rice paddy herb, Vietnamese cilantro, basil, centella, lettuce, watercress, and iceberg lettuce were collected from three traditional markets in Hue city. All of samples were tested for total aerobic bacteria counts and E. coli by traditional culture-based methods. The Salmonella and parasites on the vegetables were detected by PCR technique and microscopic methods, respectively. All samples were highly contaminated with aerobic bacteria and E. coli. The aerobic bacteria counts ranged from 6.84 to 8.40 log CFU/g. Escherichia coli levels ranged from 5.47-6.88 log CFU/g. Salmonella was detected in 19/108 of test samples. Water spinach was found to have the highest contamination prevalence with Salmonella (55.56%). Contamination by multiple parasites was detected in all vegetable samples. The contamination rates of Fasciola, Ascaris, Trichuris and Clonorchis sinensis eggs were 83.33%, 85.19%, 64.81% and 16.67%, respectively. The oocysts of Cryptosporidium, Isospora and Cyclospora were found on the samples at rates of 47.22%, 27.78% and 27.78%, respectively. These bacteria and parasites may become potential sources of cross contamination and pose a serious risk to human health.

The study was conducted to determine the effects of different levels of dietary SID methionine on growth performance, carcass yield, meat quality, myogenic gene expression of two coloured chicken groups. A total of 480 one-day-old chicks (240 Ri hybrid and 240 Luong Phuong) of uniform body weight was divided into a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments with four replicate cages of 20 chicks per treatment. Two factors include 2 chicken groups (Ri hybrid-slow-growing strain and Luong Phuong-fast-growing strain) and three dietary SID methionine concentration (low, adequate, high). The methionine levels were set up by the recommendation of Evonik (2010) for coloured chickens. At 12 weeks of age, 8 male and 8 female chicks per treatment were randomly chosen for the carcass yield, meat quality, and myogenic gene expression evaluation (myostatin, myf5, MEF2B). The results showed that the higher level of dietary SID methionine than that of Evonik recommendation (2010) improved growth performance in slow-growing colored chickens but had no effect on body weight gain in fast-growing strain. The increasing breast muscle yield and decreasing abdominal fat were observed in the fast-growing chicks fed high dietary SID methionine. The improvements in breast muscle of the fast-growing colored strain was reflected by increased mRNA expression of Myf5 and MEF2B but decreased expression of myostatin.

Abstract:The aim of this study was to determine the standardized ileal digestibility of amino acids in six by-product ingredients for broiler, i.e., copra meal, rapeseed meal, feather meal, hydrolyzed poultry meal, meat and bone meal, and shrimp head meal. Luong Phuong chickens at 35 d of age were used in the trials. Dietary protein in all assay diets was supplied solely by the test ingredient. In the case of protein-rich ingredients, dextrose was added to assay diets to obtain 20% of crude protein. Standardized ileal amino acid digestibilities were calculated by correcting the apparent ileal digestibility coefficients by basal endogenous amino acid losses. Results of study showed that the variation in ileal digestibility coefficients of amino acids was low in rapeseed meal and high in copra meal. Among animal protein meals, the lowest variation of digestibility among amino acids was observed in shrimp head meal. The high standardized ileal digestibilities of Arg, His, Leu + Ile, Thr, Trp, Val, and Phe were observed in hydrolyzed poultry meal and shrimp head meal. Meanwhile, the standardized ileal digestibility values of Lys, Thr and Trp in feather meal were very low. Meat and bone meal and feather meal were the two least digestible amino acid ingredients.