An 8-wk experiment was conducted using 90 Hy-Line W-98 hens (26 wk of age) to evaluate the use of organic Se from Se yeast as an Se source for laying hens. At 22 wk of age, the hens were placed on a low Se corn-soybean meal pretest diet for 4 wk. At the end of the pretest period, hens were placed on 1 of 3 experimental treatments; the low Se diet without supplementation (basal diet), basal diet with 0.3 ppm of Se added from sodium selenite, or basal diet with 0.3 ppm of Se added from Se yeast. Diets contained 0.11, 0.38, and 0.34 ppm Se for basal, basal plus sodium selenite, and basal plus Se yeast diets, respectively. The experimental diets were each fed to 10 replicate groups of 3 hens for 8 wk (26 to 34 wk of age). Selenium levels in eggs (mg/kg of whole egg) were analyzed at 0, 4, and 8 wk. Egg Se contents at 0 wk were similar among treatments. Eggs from hens fed the 2 Se-fortified diets had higher (P < 0.01) Se concentrations than did eggs from hens fed the low Se diet at 4 and 8 wk. The Se yeast diet also yielded levels of egg Se that were significantly higher (P < 0.01) than those from the sodium selenite diet at 4 and 8 wk. The Se yeast resulted in a 4.8-fold increase in egg Se concentration compared with a 2.8-fold increase for the sodium selenite diet over the unsupplemented diet at 8 wk (0.065, 0.182, and 0.311 ppm for the control, sodium selenite, and Se yeast diets, respectively). There were no differences in egg production, egg weight, feed intake, or mortality among treatments. Results of this study indicate that use of Se yeast in laying hens diets is very effective for increasing the Se content of eggs.

No abstract

In each of three 2-wk experiments, chicks were inoculated on d 9 or 11 with 5.0 x 10(5) Eimeria acervulina sporulated oocysts (acute infection) or on d 9, 12, 15, and 18 with 1.5 x 10(5) sporulated oocysts (chronic infection). In Experiment 1, both fish meal (15%) and GroBiotic-P (GB; International Ingredient Corporation, St. Louis, MO; 5%) diets completely ameliorated the negative effects of acute and chronic coccidiosis infection on growth performance of crossbred chicks. The acute coccidiosis infection greatly reduced MEn and amino acid (AA) digestibility, and the magnitude of response varied with the timing of excreta collection after inoculation. Both fish meal and GB diets ameliorated the large negative effects of coccidiosis infection on MEn and AA digestibility. In Experiment 2, a wheat-barley-pectin diet and acute coccidiosis infection depressed crossbred chick BW gain, AA digestibility, and MEn in comparison with a corn-soybean meal diet; there generally were no interactions between diet type and coccidiosis infection. In Experiment 3, using commercial broiler chicks, diets containing 2 to 6% GB did not improve the growth performance of coccidiosis-infected chicks, but they did improve the growth of the noninfected chicks. The results of this study indicate that coccidiosis infection (E. acervulina) reduces MEn and AA digestibility in chicks and that the coccidiosis effect is influenced by diet composition, type of infection (acute vs. chronic), and timing of excreta collection.

Our objective was to evaluate raw meat diets for captive exotic and domestic carnivores containing traditional and alternative raw meat sources, specifically, beef trimmings, bison trimmings, elk muscle meat, and horse trimmings. We aimed to examine diet composition and protein quality; apparent total tract energy and macronutrient digestibility in domestic cats, African wildcats, jaguars, and Malayan tigers; and ME and fecal fermentative end-products in domestic cats. Because of variation in the meat sources, dietary proximate, AA, and long-chain fatty acid composition were variable. Our analyses indicated that all diets had essential fatty acid deficiencies, and the elk diet (i.e., trimmed muscle meat) was deficient in total fat. Standardized AA digestibilities measured using the cecectomized rooster assay were high (>87%). Using the NRC minimum requirements for the growth of kittens, the first limiting AA of all diets was the combined requirement of Met and Cys (AA score: 81 to 95; protein digestibility corrected AA score: 75 to 90). All diets were highly digestible (88 to 89% OM digestibility). There was no effect of diet or felid species on DM (85 to 87%), OM, and GE (90 to 91%) digestibilities. Apparent CP digestibility was greater (P≤0.05) in cats fed elk (97%) compared with those fed bison (96%), and greater (P≤0.05) in wildcats (97%) and domestic cats (97%) compared with tigers (95%). The diet and species interaction (P≤0.05) was observed for apparent fat digestibility. In domestic cats, the fresh fecal pH and proportions of acetate and butyrate were altered (P≤0.05) due to diet. Diet also affected (P≤0.05) fresh fecal concentrations of total branched-chain fatty acids, valerate, and Lactobacillus genus. In conclusion, although the raw meat diets were highly digestible, because of variation in raw meat sources the nutrient composition of the diets was variable. Thus, compositional analysis of raw meat sources is necessary for proper diet formulation. The types of meat commonly used in raw meat diets may be deficient in total fat (trimmed muscle meat) and essential fatty acids (trimmings and muscle meats). Additionally, differences in raw meat source nutrient composition and digestibility affect the beneficial and putrefactive fermentative end-products found in feces.

An experiment to determine the chemical composition and protein quality of 13 fish substrates (pollock by-products, n = 5; fish protein hydrolysates, n = 5; and fish meals, n = 3) was conducted. Two of these substrates, salmon protein hydrolysate (SPH) and salmon meal with crushed bones (SMB), were used to determine their palatability as components of dog diets. Pollock by-products differed in concentrations of CP, crude fat, and total AA by 71, 79, and 71%, respectively, and GE by 4.1 kcal/g. Fish protein hydrolysates and fish meals were less variable (approximately 18, 14, and 17%, and 1.4 kcal/g, respectively). Biogenic amine concentrations were much higher in fish protein hydrolysates as compared with pollock by-products and fish meals. Pollock liver and viscera had the highest total fatty acid concentrations; however, red salmon hydrolysate and SMB had the highest total PUFA concentrations (49.63 and 48.60 mg/g, respectively). Salmon protein hydrolysate had the highest protein solubility in 0.2% KOH. Based on calculations using immobilized digestive enzyme assay values, lysine digestibility of fish meal substrates was comparable to in vivo cecectomized rooster assay values and averaged approximately 90.3%. Also, pollock milt, pollock viscera, red salmon hydrolysate, and sole hydrolysate had comparable values as assessed by immobilized digestive enzyme assay and rooster assays. A chick protein efficiency ratio (PER) assay compared SMB and SPH to a whole egg meal control and showed that SMB had high protein quality (PER = 3.5), whereas SPH had poor protein quality (PER value less than 1.5). However, using whole egg meal as the reference protein, both fish substrates were found to be good protein sources with an essential AA index of 1.0 and 0.9 for SMB and SPH, respectively. In the dog palatability experiments, a chicken-based control diet and 2 diets containing 10% of either SPH or SMB were tested. Dogs consumed more of the SPH diet compared with the control, and similar amounts of the SMB and control diets. The intake ratios for each were 0.73 and 0.52, respectively. Salmon protein hydrolysate was especially palatable to dogs. These data suggest that chemical composition and nutritional quality of fish substrates differ greatly and are affected by the specific part of the fish used to prepare fish meals and fish protein hydrolysates.

No abstract

We demonstrated the feasibility of producing intrinsically labeled eggs and poultry meat for use in human metabolic research.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of feeding 5 different energy and nutrient dense diets to Hy-Line W-36 hens on long-term performance and economics. A total of 480 19 wk old Hy-Line W-36 Single Comb White Leghorn hens were weighed and randomly allocated to 6 replicate groups of 16 hens each (2 adjacent cages containing 8 hens per cage, 60.9×58.4 cm) per dietary treatment in a randomized complete block design. The hens were fed 5 treatment diets formulated to contain 85, 90, 95, 100, and 105% of the energy and nutrient recommendations stated in the 2009 Hy-Line Variety W-36 Commercial Management Guide. Production performance was measured for 52 wk from 19 to 70 wk age. Over the course of the trial, a significant increasing linear response to increasing energy and nutrient density was seen for hen-day egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed efficiency, energy intake, and body weight (BW). Feed intake showed no significant linear level response to increasing energy and nutrient density except during the early production cycle. No consistent responses were noted for egg quality, percent yolk, and percent egg solids throughout the study. Significant linear responses due to energy and nutrient density were seen for egg income, feed cost, and income minus feed cost. In general, as energy and nutrient density increased, egg income and feed cost per hen increased, but income minus feed cost decreased. Overall, these results indicate that feeding Hy-Line W-36 hens increasing energy and nutrient-dense diets will increase egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed efficiency, energy intake, BW, egg income, and feed cost, but decrease egg income minus feed cost. However, these benefits do not take effect in early production and seem to be most effective in later stages of the production cycle, perhaps "priming" the birds for better egg-production persistency with age.