Utilization of agricultural wastes in animal nutrition is a matter of great concern. Dried citrus pulp (DCP) is a potential source of some valuable nutrients for animal and poultry. In an experiment with completely randomized design, the effect of different levels (0%, 4%, 8%, 12%, and 16%) of DCP was evaluated on performance, egg quality, and blood parameters of laying hens from 25 to 37 weeks of age. The birds were randomly allocated to five groups with six replicates and three birds in each replicate. The results showed that with increasing the level of DCP up to 12%, there were no significant differences among treatments for feed intake, egg production, egg mass, feed conversion ratio, final body weight, yolk index, and yolk color. There were no significant differences between treatments in shell thickness, eggshell index, egg score, and Haugh unit. Utilization of DCP up to 16% significantly increased serum glucose and high-density lipoprotein and reduced cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and triglycerides (P < 0.05). Results of the present study indicated that use of 12% DCP in laying hen diets had no adverse effect on performance and egg quality of laying hens in early phase of production.

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The effect of energy and protein dilution during 16 to 20 d of age, on performance, carcass characteristics and blood parameters of broiler chickens was studied in a completely randomized design with 3 treatments and 3 replicates in each treatment. A total of 144 mixed-sex chickens (Cobb 500) were randomly allocated to 9 pens. In order to dilute the diets three levels (0, 20 and 40%) of rice hull was used. During the experiment feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio were measured weekly. The results indicated that dilution of diet from 16 to 20 d of age increased feed intake in this period, but adjusted feed intake (excluded rice hull) was decreased (P<0.05). Restricted bird consumed more feed in the whole period of the experiment (16 to 44 d). With increasing dilution rate during restriction period, body weight gain of chickens decreased in comparison to control group (P<0.05). Due to compensatory growth after restriction period, restricted chickens had higher body weight gain than control groups at 44 d of age. Feed dilution up to 20 percent had not significant effect on feed conversion ratio in the whole period of the experiment. Diet dilution had not significant effect on carcass, breast meat, legs, proventriculus, heart and feet weight proportion. Diet dilution significantly increased gizzard weight proportion, and decreased abdominal fat pad weight, carcass crude fat, and increased carcass crude protein proportion (P<0.05). Feed dilution up to 20% increased HDL and decreased LDL concentration in plasma at 21 d of age. Diet dilution up to 40% decreased the concentrations of cholesterol, triglyceride, plasma T3, and increased the concentrations of uric acid and plasma T4 at 21 d of age (P<0.05). Diet dilution up to 20 percent increased plasma glucose concentration at 42 d of age (P<0.05). The results of the present study indicated that feed dilution with 20% rice hull during 16 to 20 d of age had not adverse effect on broiler performance and it also reduced abdominal fat pad weight and carcass crude fat proportion

Total mixed rations containing corn silage (CS) or forage sorghum silage (SS) were fed to mid-lactation Holstein cows to determine the effects on feed intake, lactation performance, milk composition and fatty acid profile, nutrient digestibility, blood metabolites, rumen microbial N synthesis, and antioxidant status. The experiment was designed as a 2-period changeover (two 28-d periods) trial with 2 diets including CS diet or SS diet and 12 cows. Total replacement of CS with SS had no significant influence on dry matter intake. Substituting CS with SS had no effect on milk production, feed efficiency, and milk concentrations of fat, protein, lactose, and solids-not-fat, whereas yields of milk fat, protein, and lactose were greater for cows fed the CS diet. Blood parameters including glucose, albumin, cholesterol, triglyceride, total protein, urea N, and fatty acids were not affected by the dietary treatments. Apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, ether extract, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber were not significantly influenced by the diets. Replacing CS with SS had no effect on total saturated fatty acids and total monounsaturated fatty acids, whereas total polyunsaturated fatty acid percentage was greater with the SS diet. Proportions of C20:0, C18: 3n-3, and C18: 3n-6 were affected by feeding SS. Cows fed CS had a greater amount of urinary purine derivatives. Feeding SS had a positive effect on total antioxidant capacity of blood and milk. In conclusion, SS can be fed to lactating Holstein cows as a total replacement for CS without undesirable effects on animal performance, but with positive effects on antioxidant capacity and polyunsaturated fatty acids of milk. This forage can be an excellent choice for dairy farms in areas where cultivation of corn is difficult due to water shortage.

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