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Vitamin D is essential for the metabolism of calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) in birds. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of different isoforms of dietary vitamin D on Ca and P utilization, egg quality, and bone mineralization of laying hens. A total of 42 Lohmann white laying hens at 57 wk of age were randomly assigned to 7 dietary treatments for 6 wk. Dietary treatments were: 3,000 IU/kg Vit D 3 as control, and control with additional 3,000 IU/kg 25-hydroxyvitamin D 3 (T1), 9,000 IU/kg 25-hydroxyvitamin D 3 (T2), 3,000 IU/kg vitamin D3 (T3), 9,000 IU/kg vitamin D 3 (T4), 3,000 IU/kg of vitamin D 2 (T5), or 9,000 IU/kg of vitamin D 2 (T6). Egg production and egg quality were measured weekly. Fecal samples were collected at weeks 2 and 6 to measure Ca and P utilization. After 6 wk, the left tibia and femurs were collected to measure bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC). A 1-way ANOVA with Tukey HSD means separation test was used for statistical analysis. There were no significant differences in egg production, egg quality, BMD, or BMC of tibia and femurs among the treatments ( P > 0.05). T6 significantly reduced feed intake ( P < 0.05). The apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of Ca was higher ( P < 0.012) in treatments supplemented with additional vitamin D, irrespective of forms. The ATTD of P was higher ( P < 0.0001) in T5 compared to the other treatments at both time points. The utilization of Ca and P by laying hens can be improved through the addition of different isoforms of vitamin D in diets. However, additional vitamin D supplementation to laying hens, regardless of forms, had no effect on either bone mineralization or measures of egg quality.

The research was aimed to observe the effect of malting and fermentation on antinutritional component and functional characteristics of sorghum flour. For whole sorghum flour, cleaned sorghum grain was milled to pass through 40 mesh sieve. For malting, cleaned sorghum grain was steeped in 0.2% calcium hydroxide solution for 24 hr and then germinated for 48 hr at 90% RH and 27 ± 2°C. Sprout was removed, dried in hot air oven at 50 ± 2°C for 24 hr and milled to pass through 40 mesh sieve. For fermented sorghum flour, 13.3 mg% diastase and 2 mg % pepsin (on the basis of whole sorghum flour weight) was added to cooked (88 ± 2°C) sorghum flour and left for 1 hr. Lactobacillus plantarum (107 cfu/g) was inoculated and incubated at temperature 30 ± 2°C for 48 hr. The fermented slurry was dried at 50 ± 2°C in hot air oven for 24 hr and milled to pass through 40 mesh sieve. The lower yield of sorghum flour was obtained compared to whole and malted sorghum flour. Germination of sorghum reduced phytate, tannin, and oxalate by 40%, 16.12% and 49.1%, respectively, whereas fermentation of sorghum flour reduced above by 77%, 96.7% and 67.85%, respectively. There was no significant change in hydrogen cyanide in malted sorghum flour compared to whole sorghum flour, but fermentation of sorghum flour reduced hydrogen cyanide by 52.3%. Bulk density and viscosity was significantly reduced by the malting and fermentation, whereas water absorption capacity and oil absorption capacity was markedly increased by the malting and fermentation. Fermented flour was good due to reduced ANF and improved functional property despite of lower yield.

Chicken mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be used as an avian culture model to better understand osteogenic, adipogenic, and myogenic pathways and to identify unique bioactive nutrients and molecules which can promote or inhibit these pathways. MSCs could also be used as a model to study various developmental, physiological, and therapeutic processes in avian and other species. MSCs are multipotent stem cells that are capable of differentiation into bone, muscle, fat, and closely related lineages and express unique and specific cell surface markers. MSCs have been isolated from numerous sources including human, mouse, rabbit, and chicken with potential clinical and agricultural applications. MSCs from chicken compact bones have not been isolated and characterized yet. In this study, MSCs were isolated from compact bones of the femur and tibia of day-old male broiler chicks to investigate the biological characteristics of the isolated cells. Isolated cells took 8–10 days to expand, demonstrated a monolayer growth pattern and were plastic adherent. Putative MSCs were spindle-shaped with elongated ends and showed rapid proliferation. MSCs demonstrated osteoblastic, adipocytic, and myogenic differentiation when induced with specific differentiation media. Cell surface markers for MSCs such as CD90, CD105, CD73, CD44 were detected positive and CD31, CD34, and CD45 cells were detected negative by PCR assay. The results suggest that MSCs isolated from broiler compact bones (cBMSCs) possess similar biological characteristics as MSCs isolated from other chicken tissue sources.