No abstract

No abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with turmeric powder as a natural growth promoter on performance, carcass traits, humoral immune responses and serum biochemical parameters in male broiler chickens. A total of 300 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were allocated to four treatments with five replicates. The dietary treatments consisted of the basal diet as control, 3.3, 6.6 and 10 g/kg turmeric powder added to the basal diet. The curcumin content of the turmeric powder was 1.16±0.03% by weight. Body weight gain and daily feed intake of chickens at different periods were not influenced by the dietary treatments. Broilers fed turmeric supplemented diets exhibited better feed efficiency over the grower and entire experimental periods in comparison with control group (P<0.05). A significant decrease (P<0.05) in abdominal fat pad and liver relative weight was observed in chickens fed the supplemented diets. Inclusion of turmeric powder also caused a marked (P<0.05) reduction in serum triglyceride concentration but no significant impact of turmeric powder was observed on antibody titer production against Newcastle and influenza viruses. The obtained results suggested that dietary inclusion of turmeric powder failed to induce any significant improvement on performance indexes except feed efficiency of broiler chickens. Nevertheless application of turmeric powder in the diet proved to have positive influence on carcass abdominal fat and serum triglyceride concentration at slaughter age.

This study compared the efficacy of Pediococcus acidilactici, mannan-oligosaccharide, butyric acid, and their combination on growth performance and intestinal health in broiler chickens challenged with S. Typhimurium. Ross 308 male broilers (n = 420) were randomly assigned to one of the 6 treatments, resulting in 5 replicate pens of 14 chicks per treatment. The treatments included a negative control [(NC), no additive, not challenged]; positive control [(PC), no additive, but challenged with S. Typhimurium at d 3 posthatch], and 4 groups whereby birds were challenged with S. Typhimurium at d 3 posthatch and fed diets supplemented with either probiotic [0.1 g/kg Pediococcus acidilactici (PA)], prebiotic [2 g/kg mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS)], organic acid [0.5 g/kg butyric acid (BA)], or a combination of the 3 additives (MA). The S. Typhimurium challenge decreased feed intake, body weight gain and increased feed conversion ratio and reduced jejunum villus height (VH) and VH to crypt depth (CD) ratio (P < 0.05). Birds on the MA treatment exhibited similar performance to birds on the NC treatment (P > 0.05) and had a lower population of Salmonella in the ceca compared with birds on the PC treatment, at d 14 and 21 post-challenge (P < 0.05). The lowest heterophil to lymphocyte ratio was observed in birds on the MA and NC treatments (P < 0.05). Birds fed diets supplemented with MA or PA had greater VH and VH: CD ratio than birds on the PC treatment at d 7, 14 and 21 d post-challenge (P < 0.05). Suppressed amylase and protease activity was observed as a result of the S. Typhimurium challenge; the enzyme levels were restored in birds fed the additive-supplemented diets, when compared to the birds on the PC treatment, particularly at d 21 post-challenge (P < 0.05). These results indicate that dietary supplementation with a combination of PA, BA, and MOS in broiler chickens could be used as an effective tool for controlling S. Typhimurium and promoting growth performance.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of fibrous materials with one single diet or by choice feeding on performance, intestinal morphology, immunity, and fiber preference in broiler chicks. In experiment 1, 240-day-old chicks (Ross 308) were assigned to one of 4 treatments, comprising 5 replicates per treatment in a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments included: a basal diet (control) or 30 g/kg sugar beet pulp (SBP), 30 g/kg rice hull (RH), or 30 g/kg equal combination of them (SBP/RH) added to the basal diet. Results showed SBP and SBP/RH impaired daily weight gain (DWG) in the growing period compared with control (P < 0.05). Additionally, chickens that received SBP had deteriorated FCR across the entire rearing period (P < 0.05). In comparison to control and SBP, supplementing SBP/RH significantly increased antibody titer against Newcastle disease virus (NDV; P < 0.05) at 23 d of age. Furthermore, SBP reduced duodenal and ileal villus height compared with control at 21 d of age. In experiment 2, a total of 240 chicks were allotted to 4 experimental treatments of feeding: 1) control; or choice feeding between 2) control and SBP (C-SBP); 3) control and RH (C-RH); 4) control and SBP/RH (C- SBP/RH). Results indicated that chicks had a tendency to use separate sources of fiber. RH was consumed lower than C-SBP/RH and C-SBP in starter and growing periods, respectively (P < 0.05). Chickens choice fed RH and SBP/RH had greater daily feed intake than control across 14 to 28 d of age (P < 0.05). However, DWG reduced in all fiber fed birds (P < 0.05) and resulted in impaired FCR in broilers of the C-SBP group (P < 0.05). In addition, choice feeding of SBP/RH increased antibody titer against NDV as compared with control and SBP (P < 0.05). In conclusion, fiber inclusion in both experiments impaired growth performance but an equal combination of fiber improved immunity. In addition, broilers had a tendency to use separate sources of fiber.

No abstract

This study was conducted to investigate and compare the effect of dietary probiotic mixture (PM) and organic acid (OA) mixture with fermented soybean meal (FSBM) on performance, crop, and ceca microbiota, small intestine morphology, and serum lipid profile in Japanese quails. A total of 800 day-old Japanese quails was randomly allotted to 5 treatments with 8 replicate pens of 20 birds each, for 35 days. The experimental diets consisted of a control corn-soybean meal diet and 4 test diets: 1) control diet + 0.1% PM; 2) control diet + 0.2% OA mixture; 3) control diet + the combination of both PM and OA; and 4) an additives-free diet in which the soybean meal in the control diet was replaced with FSBM. The results indicated that in starter and the entire rearing periods, FSBM, PM, and PM+OA diets had significantly lower FCR compared to control or OA diets (P < 0.05). Birds in the FSBM group gained higher weight than control and OA birds (P < 0.05; 1 to 35 d). At d 21 and 35, birds fed the control diet showed significantly lower numbers of lactic acid bacteria in the crop, while coliforms were higher in the cecal content compared to the other diets (P < 0.05). At d 21, the villus height and villus height to crypt depth ratio in the duodenum and jejunum of birds fed PM, PM+OA, and FSBM diets were greater than in other treatments (P < 0.05). The serum concentrations of cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol of birds fed PM, PM+OA, and FSBM diets were significantly lower than birds in control and AO groups (P < 0.05). The results obtained herein suggest that FSBM exhibits probiotic properties and, when used in substitution of SBM in Japanese quail diet, can improve growth performance, balance of desirable gastrointestinal microbiota in crop and ceca, small intestinal morphology, and serum lipid profile-likewise, a probiotic supplement.

The main aim of this review is to consolidate the relevant published data examining amino acid requirements of layer hens and to reach a new set of recommendation based on these data. There are inconsistences in lysine, sulphur-containing amino acids, threonine, tryptophan, branched-chain amino acids, and arginine recommendations in data that have surfaced since 1994. This review finds that breed, age, basal diet composition, and assessment method have contributed toward inconsistencies in amino acid recommendations. Presently, the development of reduced-protein diets for layer hens is receiving increasing attention because of the demand for sustainable production. This involves quite radical changes in diet composition with inclusions of nonbound, essential and nonessential amino acids. Increasing inclusions of nonbound amino acids into layer diets modifies protein digestive dynamics, and it may influence amino acid requirements in layer hens. This review considers present amino acid recommendations for layer hens and proposes refinements that may better serve the needs of the layer industry in the future.