Effect of ultrasound-assisted cold plasma pretreatment to obtain sea asparagus extract and its application in Italian salami.

The effect of the glow discharge cold plasma pretreatment (CPT) was investigated on the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of phenolic compounds from sea asparagus Salicornia neei. The extract was applied in dry fermented sausage (Italian salami). Thermal extraction methods demand a long processing time, are highly energy-consuming and cause irreversible nutrient losses. It was found that CPT (discharge power of 14 W for 5 min) prior to UAE increased the antioxidant activity by 22% and 19% measured by the DPPH and ABTS assays, respectively. The S. neei extract showed high antioxidant activity, low antimicrobial activity, and was added to salami formulations with reduced-sodium nitrite content and no addition of sodium erythorbate. Despite a slight color change, lipid oxidation and texture parameters were similar to the control at the end of ripening. Furthermore, higher antioxidant activity was observed in S. neei extract supplemented salami with no impact on its sensory overall acceptability, indicating its potential as a natural alternative to synthetic additives.

Increasing dietary vitamin D3 improves the walking ability and welfare status of broiler chickens reared at high stocking densities.

A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of varying dietary vitamin D3 and stocking density on growing performance, carcass characteristics, bone biomechanical properties, and welfare responses in Ross (308) broilers. Experimental diets, containing 1, 10, or 20 times the NRC recommended level of vitamin D3 (200 IU/kg), were formulated with low, medium, or high vitamin D3 levels for 3 growing phases. Two stocking densities were 10 and 16 birds/m(2). One-day-old hatchlings (1,872 males) were randomly assigned to 6 pens in each treatment. Results showed that high stocking density decreased the feed intake, BW gain (P < 0.01), breast muscle yield (P = 0.010), and tibial development (P < 0.01), whereas increasing feed conversion ratio (P < 0.001), and the scores of gait, footpad and hock burn, and abdominal plumage damage (P < 0.01), particularly toward the age when birds attained their market size. Increasing dietary vitamin D3 improved the birds' walking ability and tibial quality (P < 0.05), and reduced the development of footpad or hock dermatitis and abdominal plumage damage (P < 0.01), some aspects of which were age-dependent and appeared to vary with stocking density. These data indicate that increasing supplemental vitamin D3 has a favorable effect on walking ability and welfare status of high stocking density birds, but not on performance.