An experiment with 495 one-day-old male broiler chicks was conducted to investigate the effects of different dietary levels of canola meal (0, 10, 20%) and copper (0, 125, 250 mg/kg) on performance, carcass characteristics and some blood parameters. A completely randomized design with 3×3 factorial arrangement was used with 5 replicates from 1 to 42 of age. Feed intake was not significantly affected by treatments during 1 to 21 d, 21 to 42 d and throughout the study (P＞0.05). The body weight gain and feed conversion ratio was significantly impaired (P＜ 0.05) when 20% canola meal was added in the diets between 1 to 21 d. Addition of copper significantly improved body weight gain (P＜0.01) and feed conversion ratio (P＜0.05) of the birds during the 21 to 42 d and throughout the study. Carcass yield significantly (P＜0.05) increased due to addition of 250 mg/kg of copper. Proportion of thyroid glands (P＜0.0001), breast, liver, gizzard, pancreas and cecal significantly (P＜0.05) were affected by 20% canola meal. Plasma alkaline phosphatase and blood glutathione peroxidase activities were unaffected (P＞0.05) by dietary treatments. An added level of 20% canola meal was significantly reduced plasma zinc concentration. Levels of copper supplementation increased (P＜0.001) plasma copper and decreased (P＜0.05) plasma zinc levels. Plasma lipids altered by supplementation of copper, so that decreased plasma triglycerides (P＜0.01) and cholesterol (P＜ 0.05) concentrations and also increased high density lipoprotein (P＜0.05). In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that no effects of added canola meal up to 20% of the diet on the growth performance. In addition from this study it can conclude that supplementation with dietary copper had beneficial effects on growth performance and plasma biochemical characteristics of broiler chickens.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of rosemary essential oil (REO) on feed digestibility, ruminal fermentation and blood metabolites of Ghezel sheep. Four male sheep with average body weight 46 ± 2.0 kg were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Treatments were control (no REO added), 100 mg d -1 of REO (low), 200 mg d -1 of REO (medium) and 400 mg d -1 of REO (high). Sheep were fed the 4 diets for 4 periods of 21 days (14 days as adaptation and 7 days for sample collection). The results showed that digestibility of dry matter, neutral-detergent fiber, aciddetergent fiber and crude protein were not affected by REO feeding (p > 0.05). The concentration of ammonia-N across sampling times was lower (p < 0.05) at low REO dosage compared with control. The molar proportion of acetate and butyrate across sampling times were lower at low REO dosage compared with control (p < 0.05). Total volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations at 4 h after morning feeding were reduced (p < 0.05) by adding 100 mg of REO d -1 to diet compared with the control, whereas medium REO dosage increased (p < 0.05) total VFA concentrations at 4 h post feeding compared with the control. The addition of REO had no effect on total protozoa counts across sampling times (p > 0.05). Supplementation with REO had no effect on plasma concentrations of glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, total protein and albumin (p > 0.05). The results of this study indicate that, although a medium dose of REO may have positive effect on rumen fermentation, a low dose of REO may have adverse effects on ruminal fermentation.

This study was carried out to determine the effects of dietary inclusion level of canola meal (CM) on performance, organ weights and hepatic type I deiodinase gene expression in broilers. A completely randomized design with 4 levels of CM (0, 10, 20 and 30%) as a substitute for soybean meal (SBM) was utilized with 5 replicates of 9 birds each. The results showed that body weight gain (1 to 42 d) decreased linearly (P＜0.01) as the inclusion of CM increased. An increase in dietary level of CM also resulted in a linear (P＜0.05) increase in feed conversion ratio (1 to 42 d). Proportion of thyroids (P＜0.05) and liver (P＜0.01) increased linearly with increased levels of CM. A significant linear increase in right ventricular weight: total ventricular weight ratio (P＜0.01) and heart weight (P＜ 0.05) were observed by substituting CM for SBM. The concentration of plasma triiodothyronine and triiodothyronine: tetraiodothyronine ratio decreased linearly (P＜0.01) with increasing level of CM. Expression of hepatic type I deiodinase gene (D1) decreased linearly (P＜0.01) as inclusion level of CM in diets increased. Moreover, increasing linear (P＜0.01) and quadratic responses (P＜0.05) were observed in follicles number and epithelial thickness in broilers thyroids followed by increased levels of CM. In addition, increases in dietary CM inclusion led to a linear (P ＜0.01) increase in thyroid follicles diameters. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that feeding increasing CM inclusions from 0 to 30% negatively affect growth performance of broiler chickens. From this study, it can also be concluded that substitution of CM for SBM adversely interferes with thyroid and liver functions and decrease D1 gene expression, likely because of higher dietary concentration of glucosinolates.

Effects of arginine and guanidinoacetic acid supplementation with or without phenylalanine on performance and ascites susceptibility in cold-stressed broilers fed canola meal-based diet Running Title (within 10 words)Reduced adverse effects of canola meal feeding to cold-stressed broilers

The present evaluated the effects of copper sulfate solution (CSS) and arginine powder (Arg) supplements on performance, thyroid hormones and blood biochemistry of broiler chickens fed with canola meal (CM)-based diets. The experimental design was completely randomized with a 3 × 3 factorial and 9 treatments, corresponding to 3 levels of CSS (0, 125 and 250 mg/kg) and 3 levels of Arg (0, 0.1 and 0.2%) (n = 45 per treatment). Feeds were offered ad libitum for 21 days, from 22 to 42 days of age. Feed efficiency was significantly affected by the dietary addition of 250 mg/kg CSS and 0.2% Arg, and by the CSS × Arg interaction. CM supplemented with CSS improved the thyroid gland status and increased the plasma levels of triiodothyronine and thyroxine. Birds fed diets supplemented with 0.2% Arg had lower blood glucose level than the other treatments. The addition of 250 mg/kg CSS and 0.2% Arg reduced the stress caused by the rapid growth of broilers, also increasing the overall bird welfare.