This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of enrichment housing design on performance, selected welfare indicators, chicken meat composition and serum cholesterol concentration of broiler chicken.For this purpose, 480 Ross-308 chicks were assigned to two groups, Control and Test, each with 4 replications. The pens of the Test Group were enriched with perches and sand bedding. At the end of the study, 8 males and 8 females whose live weights were close to the group average from each group were slaughtered. Their blood was collected and serum was separated. For chemical analysis of the chicken meat, whole carcasses of 4 males and 4 females, and half of the breast and left thigh from the remaining 4 males and 4 females were collected. In the carcass group, whole carcass with its bones was minced, whereas in the other groups breast and tight meat were separated from the bones and minced in a meat grinder, homogenized with an electronic mixer, then flash frozen (-40 °C, 8-10 h) and stored (-20 °C, 3-4 weeks) until analysed.There was no significant difference between the groups in body weight, daily weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion and survivability. Litter moisture of the sand bedding was lower than that of the wood shavings. Contact dermatitis of hocks was reduced in the Test Group (P < 0.05). Length, width, bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) of the left tibiotarsus were similar between groups. The protein ratio of thigh meat was higher (P < 0.01), and fat ratio of the meat was lower (P < 0.05) in the Test Group. Enriched housing design increased serum HDL cholesterol level and decreased thigh meat cholesterol level (P < 0.05).In conclusion, it was found that housing enriched with perches and sand bedding in addition to wood shavings bedding improved broiler welfare and meat quality. Broiler chickens, environmental enrichment, housing design, performance, welfare, meat quality, serum cholesterolThe appetite, feeding system, physical activity and genetic factors play important roles in fat storage (Hood 1983). Broiler chickens, depending on age and rearing conditions, spend most of the time resting (Weeks et al. 2000). There is a significant correlation between decreasing physical activity and adiposity (Ekelund et al. 2006). The lack of exercise is considered the main cause of leg weakness, and extreme durations of sitting on poor quality litter result in skin lesions on the breast and legs (Bessei 2006).Enviromental enrichments can increase activity and thus improve both physical and psychological well-being. Maintaining balance while perching, and stepping onto and over perches exercise leg muscles and joints in a way that is different from simply walking. Wing and breast muscles are also utilized while walking and balancing on a perch (Newberry and Hall 1990; Le Van et al. 2000). Because of its attractiveness to broiler chickens for pecking and scratching behaviours, sand bedding could be utilized for exercise of body muscles (Shields et al. 2004). In addition ...

In the present study, fatty acid composition in mature seeds of the Vicia L. taxa were determined by using gas chromatography. Present results indicate that the seed oils of studied Lathyrus taxa have palmitic acid (C16:0) and stearic acid (C18:0) as major saturated fatty acids. Moreover, the present data showe that oleic acid (C18:1), linoleic acid (C18:2 n 6) and α-linolenic acid (C18:3 n 3) were major unsaturated fatty acids in studied taxa. The highest oleic acid (C18:1 n 9) content was found in V. crocea (Desf.) B. Fedstch. (26.5%) but it was found at the lowest level in V. mollis (7.8%). In addition, present study determine that investigated Vicia species have linoleic acid (46.4-79.1%) and linolenic acid (3.8-21.3%) contents.

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We stadied some biologically active compounds, radical scavenging capacities, and antimicrobial activities in Hypericum uniglandulosum extracts. It was found that palmitic acid (12.16 r 0.69%), oleic acid (3.45 r 0.17%), and D-linolenic acid (17.15 r 0.84%) were the dominant fatty acids in the extracts. It was concluded that the extracts contained stigmasterol (52.60 r 0.57 Pg/g), D-tocopherol (29.2 r 0.54 Pg/g), cholesterol (66.16 r 0.78 Pg/g), and as well as E-sitosterol (289.33 r 4.96 Pg/g). It was also determined that the methanol extracts were the most effective against free radicals. The results of the present study show the potent antimicrobial activity of H. uniglandulosum constituents suggesting that they deserve further consideration as novel antibacterial agents.The genus Hypericum (Hypericaceae) contains more than 400 species, and there are about 80 species of the Hypericum genus in Turkey >1@.Screening of plant species to identify new antioxidants has become critically important in recent years. There have been no reports related to the antioxidant activity of extracts of H. uniglandulosum so far. The purpose of this study was to determine the antioxidant capacity, antimicrobial activity, and vitamin, cholesterol, and fatty acid contents of extracts of H. uniglandulosum.The water extract of H. uniglandulosum (25 Pg) exhibited maximum antibacterial activity against Gram-positive S. aureus and Gram-negative S. typhimurium, producing the maximum zone of inhibition (24 mm). Among yeasts, the highest activity was observed against C. globrata. H. uniglandulosum extract showed higher antibacterial activity against all tested bacteria than gentamycin (10 Pg) used as the positive control (Table 1).It was reported that H. uniglandulosum extract contains many phenolic compounds (hypericin, hyperforin, and their derivatives), suggesting that they could have important antimicrobial, antifungal, and antioxidant properties >2, 3@.All the tested compounds exhibited effective radical cation scavenging activity ( Table 2). The scavenging activity of H. uniglandulosum (100 Pg/mL concentrations) and standard compound on ABTS ·+ decreased in the order D-tocopherol > methanol extract > water extract > chloroform extract (91.2 r 0.2%, 87.3 r 0.4%, 80.9 r 0.3%, and 50 r 0.5%, respectively) at a concentration of 100 Pg/mL.

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