Nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy values of barley varies by treatment and species.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of two species of poultry (cockerel and Japanese quail), two levels of enzyme (0 and 0.5 g/kg), and 6 processing methods (control (C), gamma irradiation 25 (GI25), and 50 kGy (GI50), autoclaving (AU), fermentation without lactobacillus (F), and fermentation with lactobacillus (FL)) on the nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn) of barley. In this experiment, each processing method was tested at two levels of enzyme (0 and 0.5 g/kg) in six replications with two cockerels or four quails per replication. The results showed that the AMEn values by barley processing methods were: C-11.45 and 12.27; GI25-11.50 and 11.30; GI50-11.49 and 11.29; AU-11.70 and 11.46; F-12.90 and 12.30; FL-1295 and 12.51 MJ/kg in cockerels and quails, respectively. The AMEn (11.49 MJ/kg) of enzyme 0 was significantly lower than that of enzyme 0.5 (12.35 MJ/kg). There was a significant difference in the AMEn of processed barley between cockerels and quails. In conclusion, the most effective processing method of barley for AMEn is fermentation with lactobacillus and enzyme.

Bio-efficacy comparison of herbal-methionine and DL-methionine based on performance and blood parameters of broiler chickens.

This study was conducted to compare the bio-efficacy of herbal methionine (H-Met) relative to DL-methionine (DL-Met) on 160 "Ross 308" broiler chickens. DL-Met and H-Met were added to the basal diet in eight experimental treatments with three and four concentrations respectively in starter, grower and finisher period. Blood parameters which were measured at 24 and 42 days of age consisted of: serum proteins (total protein, albumin and globulin), serum uric acid, serum fats (low density lipoprotein, high density lipoprotein, triglyceride and cholesterol) and serum enzymes (alanine amino transaminase and aspartate amino transaminase). Completely randomized design, multi-exponential and multilinear regressions were used to determine bio-efficacy of H-Met in terms of performance and blood parameters of broilers. The results showed that supplemented methionine (Met) sources had no significant effect on blood parameters at 24 day of age. At 42 day of age the amounts of globulin and serum high density lipoprotein (HDL) increased with supplemented Met, (p < 0.05). Regression analysis revealed that H-Met was 55.00, 71.00, 78.00, 47.00, 58.00 and 73.00% as efficacious as DL-Met for body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, albumin, globulin and high density lipoprotein criteria, respectively. The average of bio-efficacy of H-Met compared to DL-Met was 67.00% and 59.00% on average across performance criteria and blood criteria respectively and was 63.00% across these two criteria tested. The results of the present study indicated that H-Met can be administered as a new and a natural source of Met in poultry industry.

Effects of different levels of vitamin premix in finisher diets on performance, immuno-competence and meat lipid oxidation of chickens fed on corn-soybean meal.

The present study was carried out to examine the effects of a vitamin premix (VP) reduction or withdrawal from finisher diet (29-43 days) on performance, immuno-competence, and characteristics of leg bones and meat lipid oxidation of chickens fed on corn-soybean meal based diet. A total of 900 male broiler chickens (Ross 308) were allocated to five treatment groups (0, 33%, 66%, 100% and 133% VP), with nine replicates per treatment group. At 29 and 36 days of ages, four birds from each replicate were injected with sheep red blood cells (SRBC). The cell-mediated immunity was determined via phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and 1-chloro 2-4-dinitrobenzen (DNCB) at 34 and 42 days of ages. At 33, 38 and 43 days of age, 42 days of ages, and two birds of each replicate were slaughtered and bone parameters measured. The oxidative stability was evaluated by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) on the thigh samples that were stored for 90 day at -80 ˚C. The results showed that reduction or withdrawal of VP from diets at different time points of the finisher period did not affect performance, immunocompetence and characteristics of leg bones. Results of TBARS showed that lipid peroxidation of the treatment without VP was significantly higher than of the other treatments when slaughtered at 43 days of age. Finally, the results of this study demonstrated that it is not possible to reduce the VP in finisher broilers' diets without negative effects on meat quality during the time of freezing.