Dietary Supplementation of Nano Zinc Oxide on Performance, Carcass, Serum and Meat Quality Parameters of Commercial Broilers.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementation of zinc in the diet in the form of nano zinc oxide (nano ZnO) on the performance of broilers. A total of 240 day-old commercial broiler chicks were distributed in a completely randomized design into 6 treatments with 8 replicates of 5 chicks each. Treatments comprised of T1- basal diet (BD) without ZnO supplementation, T2- 2.5 ppm ZnO, T3- 5 ppm ZnO, T4- 10 ppm ZnO, T5- 20 ppm ZnO, and T6- 40 ppm inorganic ZnO. The results revealed that supplementation of nano ZnO at 2.5 ppm recorded significantly (P < 0.05) higher body weight gain, feed intake, and better feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to control and other treatment groups at 42 days of age. All dietary treatments failed to exert any significant (P > 0.05) effect on various carcass parameters (dressing percentage, abdominal fat, giblet yields), serum protein and cholesterol concentrations, and meat quality parameters (water holding capacity and pH) of broiler chicken at 42 days of age. Finally, it could be concluded that supplementation of nano ZnO at 2.5 ppm improved the performance of broilers.

Effect of Different Zinc Sources and Concentrations on the Biomass Yield of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Yeast.

Zinc incorporation and the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were investigated in a culture supplemented with three inorganic zinc salts, i.e. zinc sulphate, zinc chloride and zinc nitrate. The cultivation was performed on a yeast extract peptone dextrose (YEPD) broth medium. The growth of yeast was carried out at different concentrations of zinc, i.e. 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 mg 100 ml-1. It was found that the addition of different zinc sources at 30 mg 100 ml-1 concentration produced higher biomass yield ranging 1.00-1.03 g from 100 ml-1 of cultivation medium, while higher zinc concentration in the medium caused significantly lower yields of yeast biomass. The amount of zinc in yeast cells was determined by an atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). The highest amount of zinc in yeast cells was achieved when added in the form of zinc sulphate at a concentration of 120 mg 100 ml-1. The increment of intracellular zinc was up to 9889.67 mg kg-1 of biomass.

Feeding value of sorghum stover fed to tropical hair sheep as complete rations in chop, mash, pellet, and block forms.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Poor palatability, low bulk density, and low nutritive value restrict the utilization of the crop residues as animal feeds. Altering the physical characteristics of feed by blending the roughage and concentrates in the form of complete feed improves the nutrient use efficiency and reduces the feed wastage, feed cost, and labor cost. The study aims to determine suitable processing methods (mash, pellet, or block forms) for efficient utilization of sorghum stover-based complete rations vis-a-vis conventional feeding methods in sheep. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sorghum stover was incorporated in complete rations with roughage to concentrate ratio of 50:50 proportion in a growth trial of 120 days. The feed ingredients were chaffed, ground in a hammer mill, passed through expander-extruder, and compressed by feed block machine to prepare chop, mash, pellet, and block form of rations, respectively. Twenty-four male intact growing Nellore×Deccani cross lambs (3.5±0.5 months age, 14.50±0.41 kg (mean ± SD) at the start of the experiment) were divided into four experimental groups of six animals each in a complete randomized design. The experimental rations were randomly allotted to each group and evaluated for their intake, nutrient utilization, and growth performance. RESULTS: The sheep fed on pellet-based ration consumed a higher (p<0.05) quantity of dry matter. The digestibility coefficients of organic matter, crude protein, and neutral detergent fiber were higher (p<0.05) in processed rations (mash, pellet, or block). Further, the nitrogen balance (g/d) was higher (p<0.05) in the mash, pellet, and block form of rations, compared to chopped ration. The processing method did not influence calcium or phosphorous balance parameters, except for their urinary losses, which showed an increasing trend (p=0.07). The ram lambs fed with pelleted ration showed higher (p<0.05) weight gain than mash, block, or chaff forms. The efficiency of feed utilization in gaining one kg body weight was higher (p<0.05) in lambs fed a pelleted diet. Feeding pelletized ration was more economical to gain one kg body weight. The bulk density was highest for block-based ration followed by pellet, mash, and conventional rations, and the carrying capacity of truck was highest with the least transport cost in block-form of rations. CONCLUSION: Physical processing (mash, pellet, and block) of sorghum stover-based complete rations increased the nutrient utilization and growth performance of sheep compared to conventional chopped form. Pelleting the mash with expander-extruder procedure was found to be more profitable. Nevertheless, the cost economics revealed blocks as more preferable forms for transporting the complete rations to larger distances.

Comparative evaluation of herbal coccidiostat with chemotherapeutic coccidiostats on performance of broilers to control coccidiosis.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the comparative efficacy of recommended dose of selected anticoccidial drugs Salinomycin, Dinitolmide, while Cocciban at three dose levels on the performance of broilers. For this purpose, 420-day-old commercial male broiler chicks were randomly divided into 7 treatment groups with 10 replications of 6 birds each and reared in battery brooders up to 42 days of age. Groups were designated as uninfected unmedicated (T1), infected unmedicated (T2), Cocciban 500 g/ton and infected (T3), Cocciban 750 g/ton and infected (T4), Cocciban 1000 g/ton and infected (T5), Salinomycin 500 g/ton and infected (T6), and Dinitolmide and infected (T7). Groups T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, and T7 were experimentally infected at 21 days old by 50,000 oocysts of Eimeria species. The broilers were fed with starter (0-21 days) and finisher diets (22-42 days). The herbal product Cocciban 1000 g/ton alone had significantly (P < 0.05) higher body weight gain and feed efficiency than all other infected groups during the overall experimental period (0-42 days), but significantly lower than healthy control. All the groups did not show significant (P > 0.05) effect on mean feed intake, percent carcass yields and percent weights of liver, heart and gizzard. Similarly there was no significant (P < 0.05) influence of treatment groups on the organoleptic characteristics of meat. Treatment groups did not have any significant (P < 0.05) influence on humeral immune response to ND vaccine and cell-mediated immune response to PHA-P. Among all the infected groups, Cocciban 1000 g/ton group (78.33%) recorded more mean percent livability than all other infected groups.

Effect of Cocciban herbal coccidiostats on hematobiochemical, fecal parameters and cecal histopathology of broiler chicken.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the comparative efficacy of recommended dose of selected anticoccidial drugs Salinomycin and Dinitolmide, while Cocciban at three dose levels on the hematobiochemical, fecal parameters and histopathology of broilers. For this purpose, 420-day-old commercial male broiler chicks were randomly divided into 7 treatment groups with 10 replications of 6 birds each and reared in battery brooders up to 42 days of age. Groups were designated as uninfected unmedicated (T1), infected unmedicated (T2), Cocciban 500 g/ton and infected (T3), Cocciban 750 g/ton and infected (T4), Cocciban 1000 g/ton and infected (T5), Salinomycin 500 g/ton and infected (T6), and Dinitolmide and infected (T7). Groups T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, and T7 were experimentally infected at 21-day-old by 50,000 oocysts of Eimeria species. The mean fecal, lesion scores and oocyst per gram of feces were significantly (p < 0.05) highest in infected unmedicated group, while lowest in the herbal Cocciban 1000 g/ton group than all other infected medicated groups. The hematological studies revealed a reduction in TEC, Hb, and PCV from 0 to 5th day of P.I. in all infected groups except healthy control group. The birds of all the infected groups improved in the values of TEC, Hb, PCV, blood glucose, and total serum protein on 7th day of P.I., but, the improvement was significantly (p < 0.05) better in herbal Cocciban 1000 g/ton treated birds than all other infected groups. Whereas, the TWBC counts were raised from 0 to 7th day of P.I. in all the infected groups compared to healthy control and no significant (p < 0.05) difference was observed in between the infected groups. The histopathological changes consisting of desquamation of epithelial cells, cellular infiltration, hemorrhages, edema, fibrous tissue proliferation, and developing stages of E. tenella at various depths of cecal wall were higher in all the infected groups when compared to Cocciban 1000 g/ton group.