A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic as feed additives on faecal counts of coliform and E. coli along with cell mediated immune response in crossbred calves. For this purpose fifteen days old, 24 crossbred calves were divided into 4 groups of 6 calves each. The calves were assigned to different dietary treatments viz T 0 (control group) -basal diet, T 1 (probiotic group) -basal diet + Lactobacillus acidophilus @ 1 g/calf/day (2 x 10 10 cfu/ g), T 2 (prebiotic group) -basal diet + Mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) @ 4 g per calf/day and T 3 (synbiotic group) basal diet +Lactobacillus acidophilus @ 0.5 gm (2 x 10 10 cfu/ g) + 2 g MOS per calf/day respectively for a period of 90 days. Faecal samples for coliform and E. coli count were taken at 15 days interval. Blood samples were taken at 15 days interval for lymphocyte count. Blood samples were taken at 45 th and 90 th -day for lymphocyte stimulation test (LST) in EDTA coated vials. Skin fold test was done on 90 th day of experimental study. The results of study showed that there was a significant reduction in faecal shedding of coliform and E. coli in T 1 , T 2 and T 3 groups indicating lesser proliferation of pathogenic bacteria in the gut. The treatment groups T 2 and T 3 showed a significant increase in lymphocyte count whereas all the treated groups had significantly higher values of the lymphocytic index on 45 th and 90 th day post supplementation indicating improved cell mediated immunity. Increased skin fold thickness was observed post 48 hours of phytohaemagglutinin injection in T 2 and T 3 groups. It may, therefore, be concluded that supplementation of prebiotic and synbiotic is advantageous in attaining gut conditioning and enhanced immunity which may be helpful in preventing calf scours in crossbred calves.

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A study was conducted to determine the effects of pre-incubation egg parameters on post-incubation parameters in Uttara breeder hens. A total of 2,890 hatching eggs were classified according to three egg weight groups viz. small (44-52 g); medium (53-57 g) and large (58-68 g). Results indicated that large-sized eggs produced chicks with higher hatch-weight than medium and small-sized eggs. However, no differences were observed for fertility and hatchability rates but significant differences were found for chick quality and chick weight. It was therefore concluded from the results of the present study that sorting of eggs by weight prior to incubation might be advantageous in producing uniform size hatchlings to meet specific market demands with focus on breeding for obtaining maximum number of saleable chicks.

A trial was conducted for a period of 6 weeks to evaluate the effect of graded levels of nucleotide supplementation on serum biochemical parameters in Japanese quails. In the trial, 3 day old Japanese quail chicks were randomly distributed in completely randomized design into 4 treatment groups each with 3 replicates of 10 Japanese quails. The Japanese quails of treatment groups T 1 , T 2 , T 3 and T 4 were provided feed containing 0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 per cent nucleotide respectively for a period of six weeks. At the end of experiment blood samples were collected for study of serum-biochemical parameters. The results indicated that decreased serum glucose, serum cholesterol and LDL cholesterol and increased HDL cholesterol was noticed in nucleotide supplemented groups at higher levels. Protein profile showed significant improvement in total protein, albumin and globulin while A/G ratio revealed no effect of supplementation. Serum creatinine and SGPT contents showed non-significance whereas, serum uric acid and SGOT contents were significantly (P<0.05) reduced in nucleotide supplemented groups of quails. It is concluded that nucleotide supplementation improves serum biochemical parameters without affecting liver and kidney functions.

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