Growth performance and intestinal morphometric features of broiler chickens fed on dietary inclusion of yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) larvae powder.

BACKGROUND: Climate change and the lack of conventional feed ingredients have made edible insects a highly nutritious alternative to feed production. The use of insects as food may help solve socio-economic and environmental problems around the world and be in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. OBJECTIVE: In this study, the growth performance and intestinal morphology of broiler chickens were evaluated under the influence of adding different levels of Tenebrio molitor larvae meal (TM meal) to their diets. METHODS: One hundred and eighty one-day-old broiler chickens were divided into three treatments and five replications (12 chickens/pen). The experimental diets included a control diet and treatments containing 2.5% and 5% TM meal, which were fed to birds in the starter (0-10 days) and grower (11-25 days) stages, and during the final period (26-42 days), all birds were fed a regular finisher diet. RESULTS: The results showed that the diet containing TM meal had no remarkable effect on the mortality rate and feed intake of broilers (p > 0.05). In the starter period, the addition of 2.5% TM meal to broilers' diet increased body weight gain than the control group (p ≤ 0.05). Also, the use of 2.5% TM meal in the starter period showed a significant effect on reducing the feed conversion ratio, compared to the birds fed by the control diet (p ≤ 0.05). Besides, the height of the villus, the depth of the crypt and their ratio were not altered among the different treatments (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, it can be concluded that TM meal could improve growth performance in the starter period and had no negative effects on broilers' performance and intestinal morphology in all the periods of the experiment.

The "Molecular Biodiversity of Bacteria Isolated from Medicago sativa Rhizosphere in Hail District, Saudi Arabia.

Global biodiversity is affected remarkably by global climate change, which in turn its effect reflected on all life aspects. Identifying microorganisms in environmental samples, particularly soil could be a valuable interest to study their effect on soil quality and plant growth. Through this study, we conducted a molecular characterization of bacteria found in the rhizosphere of Medico sativa plants grown in Hail soil and we highlighted their main properties. The sequences analyses revealed that the main bacterial isolates Pseudarthrobacter, Metabacillus, Priestia, and Massilia species. According to the sequences analysis and the phylogeny tree results, some of the identified bacteria were classified at the species level: Pseudarthrobacter was identified clearly as Pseudarthrobacter phenanthrenivorans; Metabacillus isolates grouped with Metabacillus sediminilitoris and the two Priestia isolates closely related to Priestia aryabhattai. We concluded that Hail soil is a niche of diverse bacteria with a high interest in soil environment and ecosystems. Further studies are required for further classification of all identified bacteria and to define their specific role in the environment.

Yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor (Col: Tenebrionidae), larvae powder as dietary protein sources for broiler chickens: Effects on growth performance, carcass traits, selected intestinal microbiota and blood parameters.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary Tenebrio molitor larvae meal (TM meal) inclusion on the performance, carcass traits, caecum microbiota and blood parameters of broiler chickens. A total of 180-day-old chickens were allocated to three dietary groups with five replicate pens (12 birds/pen). Experimental diets were included a corn-soybean basal diet, and two diets with 2.5% and 5% TM. TM-included diets have been administered for periods of starter (1-10 days) and grower (11-25 days). A regular finisher diet was given to all groups during the 26-42 days of age. Diets containing TM meal did not influence feed intake and mortality percentage. Feed conversion ratio was lower with the 2.5% TM meal diet compared with the control group at starter period (p < .05). Besides, broiler chickens fed TM meal included diet had a higher body weight gain than the control group during 1-10 days of age (p < .05). The carcass characteristics and length and weight of different parts of small and large intestines were not influenced by diets. TM meal inclusion decreased the albumin-to-globulin ratio compared with the control group (p < .05). Additionally, lower total count of aerobic and Escherichia coli bacteria was observed in response to diet inclusion of 5% TM meal. Overall, the inclusion of TM meal in broilers' diet improved body weight gain and feed conversion ratio in the starting period, decreased albumin-to-globulin ratio and E. coli bacteria content.

Effects of Silymarin on milk production, liver enzymes, oxidative status and HSP70 gene expression in postparturient Sanjabi ewes.

In the sheep farming industry, breeders need suitable strategies in order to improve milk yields. Meanwhile, silymarin (a natural hepatoprotector substance) has beneficial effects on common oxidative stress at the beginning of lactation. This study was the first research to evaluate the effect of silymarin on milk production, liver enzymes, oxidative and HSP70 responses in the postpartum period. Total 20 Sanjabi ewes were divided into two groups: control (group C: no addition) and treated (group T: received a diet supplemented with silymarin at 2000 mg/kg feed for 15 d after lambing). Data indicated that silymarin reduced postpartum body weight(BW) loss. At the same time, the feed intake (FI) rate increased. In addition, the peaks of milk yields could be achieved earlier compared with control ewes (P< 0.05). Treatment decreased milk compositions (fat and protein) on days 10 and 15. Furthermore, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents in group T were significantly lower than group C (P< 0.05). Also, the activities of endogenous antioxidant enzymes (Glutathione peroxidase, Superoxide dismutase, and Catalase) were increased. Silymarin remarkable increased the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) values (P< 0.05). Meanwhile, an increasing trend in the total protein levels was recorded in group T as compared to group C (P> 0.05). The QRT-PCR analysis showed that silymarin supplemental reduced expression of HSP70 gene in blood serum (P< 0.05). It means that changing the diet can affect the activity of heat shock proteins that consequently changes the quality of animal products. In conclusion, our observation relieved that silymarin treatment in the puerperium periodis potentially an effective strategy to improve milk quality via dual hep at oprotective and antioxidant functions.

Evaluation of SRAP marker efficiency in identifying the relationship between genetic diversities of corn inbred lines with seed quantity and quality in derived hybrids.

In order to estimate the efficiency of SRAP markers for identifying the performance of seed quantity and quality in maize single crosses, 13 inbred lines obtained from CIMMYT germplasm bank were crossed to A679, K166B, K18 and MO17 testers using the line×tester method. The inbred lines and derived hybrids were evaluated in two experiments separately in a randomized complete block design with three replications during two growing seasons in 2014 and 2015. In order to evaluate genetic variation in the inbred lines, 25 SRAP markers were also used. The results of variance analysis between inbred lines were showed a significant variation (P≤0.01) for seed quantity and quality. The analysis of variance among the hybrids derived from inbred lines was showed a significant variation (P≤0.01) for oil percent, starch content, protein content, seed yield and thousand seed weights and a significant variation for the dry matter (P≤0.05). The maximum Euclidian distance between the two lines was 24.5 times greater than the minimum distance between two lines. The PCR amplification for the 17 parentallines with the 25 combinations of SRAP primers generated a total of 205 clear and scorable bands, of which 135 were polymorphic (65.75%). The average distance between the studied lines was 0.324 on the bases of the Jaccard coefficient and maximum distance between two lines was 2.87 times greater than the minimum distance between two lines. The M1E1, M1E5, M5E3, M5E4, and M5E5 were superior to other primer combinations in expressing genetic diversity based on the primer information indices. The banding pattern of the studied primer combinations related to the genetic variation of the inbred lines based on the studied traits revealed that the M5E1 primer pair can predict the distance of inbred lines for dry matter better than other primers. Also, the primers combination of M4E4 for protein percentage, M4E4 for starch percentage, M2E3 for crude fiber, M4E3 for oil percentage, M2E5, M4E1 and M5E1 for thousand seed weight and M3E1 for seed yield, can be introduced as informative primer combination, to estimate genetic distance determination of inbred lines based on these traits. Due to the relationship between inbred lines variation based on primers combinations with the traits in hybrids progenies showed that the M2E1, M2E2, M4E1 and M5E3 for dry matter and M2E4 for starch percentage have the ability to detect hybrid performance for these traits. For traits, protein percentage, crude fiber and oil percent no suitable primers combination were found. Also, for the seed yield, three primer combinations of M1E5, M2E2 and M3E2 had the highest negative correlation. Therefore, the hybrids derived from the inbred lines with high genetic distance based on these primers combinations will have a low seed yield. The M1E2, M2E3 and M5E5 can be introduced to identify the prediction of higher thousand seed weight.