The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of probiotics on ruminal pH, ammonia nitrogen, production of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and number of Ruminococcus albus and Ruminococcus flavefaciens. The probiotics blend was tested in vitro for 48 h incubation using "Hohenheim Futterwert Test" (HFT). There was no interaction effect of the treatment and incubation time on the ruminal pH and ammonia-nitrogen concentration. A supplemental probiotics blend tended to increase the total SCFA concentration in comparison to the non-supplemented control fermenter fluids (P> 0.05). There was a significant interaction effect of the treatment groups and incubation time on butyrate (P=0.042), valerate (P=0.045) and isovalerate (P= 0.028) concentrations. Total protozoa and total bacteria numbers were higher in probiotics supplemented fluid than in non-supplemented control fluid (P<0.001 and P<0.01, respectively). Dietary supplementation of a probiotics blend to the fermenters did not influence (P>0.05) the number of copies of R. albus. However, the population of R. flavafaciens was lower (P<0.01) in the probiotic supplemented group as compared with the non-supplemented control group. Our results showed that the probiotics blend might modulate both microbial metabolic activity and the population of ruminal microorganisms.

No abstract

The present study aimed to examine the influence of sepiolite on growth performance, meat quality, intestinal health, some blood parameters, and digestibility of nutrients in broilers fed low protein diets with the constant energy-protein ratio. A total of 252, daily male broiler chicks were allocated to four treatment groups further divided into 9 replicates each containing 7 chicks. Low protein diets having a constant energy-protein ratio were formulated by lowering protein and energy levels of the control group diet by 5%. Sepiolite was used at the level of 1% in the diets. After 42 days trial total feed consumption, total body weight gain, total feed conversion ratio, and carcass yield were not influenced by reducing protein, sepiolite supplementation, and interaction between low protein-low energy diet and sepiolite. Reducing protein in the diets led to reducing the digestibility of nutrients, increasing ileal viscosity, decreasing villus height, villus surface area in duodenum and jejunum, and increasing abdominal fat, ether extract, cooking losses, total oxidant status, and oxidative status index in breast meat. Sepiolite supplementation to low protein diets increased crude protein digestibility, reduced viscosity, increased villus height/crypt depth values, reduced cooking losses, and increased water holding capacity. Blood serum biochemical parameters and minerals were not affected by sepiolite supplementation to low protein diets. Therefore, it is concluded that sepiolite can be added as a beneficial supplement in broiler diets as well as in low protein diets with a constant energy-protein ratio.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using glauconite as a feed additive in broiler nutrition and its effect on fattening performance, intestinal histomorphology and biomechanical properties of bones in broilers. A total of 288 one-day-old male chicks were included in the study and they were randomly divided into 3 groups and these groups were divided into 8 subgroups. The trial continued for 35 days. The control group (C) was fed with basal ration while experimental groups were fed respectively with 1% glauconite (G1) and 2% glauconite (G2) added to the basal ration. The results showed that the use of different doses of glauconite in the rations did not statistically affect fattening performance. On the 21 st and 35 th day of the experiment, when histomorphology of ileum was examined, it was observed that villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD) and VH/CD ratio were not affected by glauconite addition. When histomorphology examination of jejeum was performed on the 35 th day of the experiment, it was seen that the villus height was statistically affected. The effect of glauconite on biomechanical properties of femur and tibia bones was not statistically significant. As a result, the addition of glauconite in broiler rations did not affect the performance parameters, biomechanical properties of bones and histomorphology of the ileum, but adversely affected jejunum histomorphology. ÖzBu çalışmanın amacı, broyler beslenmede glokonitin yem katkı maddesi olarak kullanımı ve besi performansı, bağırsak histomorfolojisi ve kemiklerin biyomekanik özellikleri üzerine etkilerini araştırmaktır. Çalışmada bir günlük yaşta toplamda 288 adet civciv (Ross 308) rastgele üç gruba (Herbir grupta 96 civciv bulunmaktadır) ayrılmıştır ve bu gruplar 8 altgruba (Her alt grupta 12 civciv bulunmaktadır) ayrımıştır. Çalışma 35 gün sürmüştür. Deneme guplarına basal rasyona ek olarak %1 (G1) ve %2 (G2) glokonit ilavesi yapılırken kontrol grubu (K) bazal rasyonla beslenmiştir. Deneme sonunda rasyona farklı dozlarda glokonit ilavesinin performans parametrelerine istatistiki bir etkisi olmamıştır. Denemenin 21. ve 35. günlerinde ileum histomorfolojisi incelendiğinde, villus yüksekliği, kript derinliği ve villus yüksekliği/ kript derinliği oranının glokonit ilavesinden istatistiksel olarak etkilenmediği görülmüştür. Denemenin 35. gününde jejunum histomorfolojisi incelendiğinde, villus yüksekliği istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bulunmuştur. Denemenin sonunda tibia ve femura ait biyomekanik özellikler incelenmiştir. Glokonitin tibia ve femur ait biyomekanik özelliklere etkisi istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bulunamamıştır. Nitekim, broyler rasyonlarına glaukonit ilavesi performans, parametreleri, kemiklerin biyomekanik özellikleri ve ileum histomorfolojini etkilememiştir fakat jejunum histomorfolojisini olumsuz etkilemiştir.

The superiority of synbiotics in terms of their biological effects depends primarily on a suitable combination of both components, pro‐biotic and pre‐biotic. The present study was conducted to compare the efficacy of mono‐ and multistrain synbiotics on overall performance, caecal fermentation, intestinal health, meat and bone quality along with some blood biochemical indices in broilers. A total of 231, 1‐day‐old male Ross 308, broiler chicks were randomly assigned to three experimental groups using 11 replicates each and seven chicks/replicate. The dietary treatments included control group with no synbiotic supplementation, monostrain (Maflor) and multistrain (Maflor plus) synbiotic groups with 1 g/kg of added synbiotics each. Synbiotics feeding significantly improved animal performance with a clear impact on meat quality in terms of low‐fat, optimum ultimate pH24, higher water holding capacity, and lower drip and cooking losses. Of the two synbiotics, multistrain seemed to have responded better in modifying small intestinal epithelia and fermentation metabolites, although both synbiotics were comparable in reducing the pathogen load. Load‐bearing capacity of both leg bones (femur and tibia) was also enhanced with synbiotics supplementation, which was also reflected in their mineral profile. The blood serum biochemical analysis showed a reduction in circulating cholesterol and triglycerides levels and an increment in IgA and IgG concentrations. In conclusion, the remarkable efficacy of tested synbiotics in providing higher growth, better meat quality in tandem with the optimum gut environment, lower pathogen load, healthy epithelia, immunomodulation, hypocholesterolemic, and hypotriglyceridemic effects affirms their great potential to be used as feed additives in broiler diets. Contrary to our expectations, the effectiveness of a mono‐strain in comparison to multistrain synbiotic in improving almost all the features investigated was also notable. Further evaluation under challenging conditions should be explicitly conducted to achieve more comprehensive results.