Awaad MHH, Elmenawey M and Ahmed KA (2014) Effect of a specific combination of carvacrol, cinnamaldehyde, and on the growth performance, carcass quality and gut integrity of broiler chickens, 7(4): 284-290.

Aim:To study the efficacy of Na-butyrate encapsulated in palm fat on performance of broiler chickens experimentally infected with necrotic enteritis (NE) with the determination of its protective effect against the changes in the gene expression profiles and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation.Materials and Methods:A total of 800 one-day-old male Arbor Acres Plus broiler chickens were randomly allocated into four groups for 5 weeks. Na-butyrate was supplemented at dosages of 1 kg/ton for starter diet, 0.5 kg/ton for grower diet, and 0.25 kg/ton for finisher diet (presence or absence). Birds of groups 1 and 2 were inoculated by crop gavages with 4×108 CFU/ml/bird of Clostridium perfringens in phosphate buffered saline for 4 successive days, from 14 to 17 days of age to produce NE.Results:Addition of Na-butyrate, encapsulated in palm fat, to ration of experimentally infected broilers with NE resulted in increased final body weight, at 35 days of age, reduced total feed consumption, improved feed conversion ratio, reduced cumulative mortality, and increased production number. There were increased intestinal diameter, intestinal length, and significantly increased the weight of bursa of Fabricius(BF) with higher hemagglutination inhibition titers against Newcastle disease (ND) vaccination versus untreated infected and untreated negative control birds. The results showed increased expression levels of alpha-toxin and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the bursa tissues of broilers infected with C. perfringens. However, the expression levels of these genes in broilers treated with Na-butyrate were similar to the non-infected control group. Supplementation of broilers with Na-butyrate increased the expression level of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and decreased the DNA fragmentation induced by C. perfringens.Conclusion:Na-butyrate significantly improved chicken broiler body weights, increased relative weights of BF, increased antibody titers against ND vaccination, numerically lowered mortality due to C. perfringens infection, increased the expression level of IGF-1, and decreased the DNA fragmentation induced by C. perfringens. Obtained results point out the effectiveness of Na-butyrate encapsulated in palm fat in improving the production performance variables, immune response, and intestinal morphology in experimentally induced NE as well as in non-infected chicken broilers.

No abstract

No abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of short periods of incubation during egg storage (SPIDES) on hatchability, embryonic mortality, incubation time and chick quality of broiler breeder hatching eggs stored for 15 days. A total of 15510 hatching eggs were collected from 49-wk-old Arbor Acres broiler breeders flock. Eggs were divided into four groups. First group was stored for 5 days without heat treatment (Fresh eggs). Second group was stored for 15 days and heated one time at the fifth day of storage (SPIDES1). Third group was stored for 15 days and heated two times, on fifth and tenth days of storage (SPIDES2). Forth group was stored for 15 days without heating, a negative control. Heat treatment was at 32 o C and 55-60% relative humidity for 6 hours. Results indicated that prolonged storage reduced hatchability, and visible fertility of untreated eggs. Heat treatments improved early embryonic mortality, hatchability and visible fertility. When eggs were exposed two times to heat treatment the hatchability was significantly improved as compared to those exposed one time only. Incubation time of the negative control was significantly increased as compared to the fresh eggs group or both heat treatment groups. No differences were observed between groups in live pipped or culled percentages. Relative yolk sac weight of newly hatched chicks increased significantly with the length of the pre-incubation storage period. However, both heat treatments restored this percentage to that of the fresh eggs. Chick quality traits (Tona score, chick weight, relative chick weight and chick length\weight) of the negative control group had lowest values as compared to other groups. However, SPIDES treatments slightly improved chick qualities. In conclusion, the present study revealed that SPIDES is an effective method to ameliorate the detrimental effects of long storage period on hatchability and chick quality.