Effect of Different Levels of Multienzymes on Immune Response, Blood Hematology and Biochemistry, Antioxidants Status and Organs Histology of Broiler Chicks Fed Standard and Low-Density Diets.

This study was executed to investigate the effect of supplementing three multienzyme levels (0, 0. 1, and 0.2%) with two types of diet [standard diet (SD) vs. low-density diet (LDD)] on immune response, blood hematology and biochemistry, antioxidant status, and organ histology of broilers during 1-38 days of age. A total of 216 unsexed 1-day-old Arbor Acres broiler chicks were randomly distributed, on a factorial design (2 × 3), to six treatments each with six replicates. There were six chicks per replicate. Results showed that LDD significantly decreased body weight gain (BWG) of broilers, but did not affect the European Production Efficiency Index (EPEI). Addition of multienzymes at both levels (0.1 and 0.2%) significantly increased BWG and improved EPEI, compared to the control diet. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspirate aminotransferase (AST), malondialdehyde (MDA), lymphocyte, lymphocyte transformation test (LTT), and phagocyte activity (PA) were significantly higher for LDD than the SD, but eosinophil was lower. Supplementation of multienzymes significantly decreased ALT, AST, and MDA, compared to the control group, but increased packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin (Hgb), lymphocytes, and monocytes. Immune organs, such as spleen, thymus, and the bursa of Fabricius were significantly increased with multienzyme supplementation. It could be concluded that multienzyme supplementation at either 0.1 or 0.2% to SD or LDD improved EPEI and immune status of broiler chicks.

Secondary School Students' Orientation Toward Brain Death and Organ Donation in Southern Region of Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: To measure the awareness regarding the concepts of brain death and organ donation among secondary school students within the age range of 12-18 years in the southern region of Saudi Arabia. METHOD: In the southern region of Saudi Arabia, 10 secondary schools were randomly chosen to participate in this study for which all the tree levels of secondary schools were visited and a written questionnaire was distributed to a randomly selected student from all 3 levels. The questionnaire was filled and completed anonymously and then analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 649 students surveyed, 47.22% were aware of brain death and 53.78% did not know anything about organ donation. Further, among those who had heard about these terms, 60% had received the information from informal sources like their friends or through casual web surfing; only a few had received the information from formal sources like television and the radio. The students' understanding of concepts regarding the nature of death and the causes of brain death was, as expected, inadequate and inappropriate. The Islamic perspective on brain death and the knowledge about the Sharia ruling on organ donation was also poor. Regarding the students' knowledge about organ donation, 21.57% of the students knew that organs can be donated from a brain-dead person. 24.6% knew that only living persons can donate organs, while the rest (53.78%) were not aware about organ donation at all. CONCLUSION: The knowledge of and attitude toward brain death and organ donation are very poor among the young Saudi population, and have not evolved over a period of time. The information regarding the religious fatwas has not been transmitted to the level of the educational institutions.

Blood Hematological and Biochemical Constituents, Antioxidant Enzymes, Immunity and Lymphoid Organs of Broiler Chicks Supplemented with Propolis, Bee Pollen and Mannan Oligosaccharides Continuously or Intermittently.

This study investigate the effect of bee pollen (BP) and/or propolis (Pro) as an alternative to Mannan oligosaccharides (Bio-MOS, a hydrolyzed yeast with natural and artificial flavors Alltech Inc) when given continuously or intermittently on antioxidant enzymes, immunity, weight and morphology of lymphoid organs of broilers. Thus, 324 unsexed one-day-old Arbor Acres broilers were randomly distributed into nine treatment groups, each replicated 6 times of 6 birds per replicate. The chicks were kept in wire cages and fed the same basal diet and were submitted to the following treatments: control without supplementation (control) or supplemented with BP at 300 mg, Pro at 300 mg, BP+Pro at 300 mg each and Bio-MOS at 0.5 g/kg diet. Each supplemented group was subdivided into two subgroups in which the additives were supplied continuously or intermittently. In the continuously supplemented groups, supplementations were given from one till 36 days of age, and in the intermittently supplemented groups, the administration was only three days before, on the day of and day after vaccination. The BP and Pro supplied continuously or intermittently was equally potent for improving immunity, antioxidant enzymes similar to Bio-MOS. All supplements supplied either continuously or intermittently resulted a significantly higher thymus (P < .04) and bursa weights (P < .001) than the control group. Combining BP with Pro resulted in a further increase in thymus weights and small follicle diameter compared to the control group. In addition, thymus percentage in the group received BP+Pro showed a further increase compared to the control and Pro supplemented intermittently. Bio-MOS, when supplied continuously or intermittently, resulted in the greatest response in splenic lymphoblasts. Supplementation with either BP or Pro intermittently, is adequate to promote health and immune response of broiler chicks, with 40% saving of supplementation costs.

Effect of zinc bacitracin and phytase on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, carcass and meat traits of broilers.

A total of 336 one-day-old Hubbard broiler chickens were randomly distributed among 8 groups, each containing six replicates (7 chickens/replicate). From 1 to 40 days of age, the groups fed the same starter, grower and finisher diets. The control group was unsupplemented; zinc bacitracin (ZnB) group received the antibiotic at 0.5 g/kg; fungal phytase (FP) groups received 250, 500 and 1000 U/kg diet of Aspergillus niger phytase (FP_250, FP_500 and FP_1000 groups), respectively; bacterial phyatse (BP) groups received 250, 500 and 1000 U/kg diet of Escherichia coli phytase (BP_250EP, BP_500EP and BP_1000EP groups) respectively. Considering the whole experimental period, body weight gain was unaffected by ZnB and different concentrations of bacterial and fungal phytase; however, the feed conversion ratio of the group fed a diet supplemented with 500 U of BP was better (p < 0.01) than those fed with a diet supplemented with 500 U of FP. BP_250 group had a higher (p < 0.05) apparent digestibility of ether extract compared to FP_250 group. In conclusion, bacterial phytase at 500 U may enhance performance of broiler chickens fed during days 1-40 of age and yield similar growth performance and economic efficiency to those of eB-supplemented groups.

Impacts of dried whole eggs on productive performance, quality of fresh and stored eggs, reproductive organs and lipid metabolism of laying hens.

1. Rejected eggs were processed by freezing, freezing and boiling, or autoclaving, dried at 55°C, and the chemical and amino-acid analysis and microbiological properties of the dried whole eggs (DWE) determined. The processed DWE was included in a laying-hen mash diet at 50 or 100 g/kg, mainly to replace soybean meal and maize, in a factorial design of 3×2 and fed to hens between 25 and 41 weeks of age. In addition, a control diet without DWE was used to create a total of 7 treatments; each having 5 replicates of 5 hens. 2. Hens fed the diet containing 50-g/kg frozen and boiled DWE and 100-g/kg frozen DWE laid the largest egg size, while hens fed the 50-g/kg frozen and boiled or autoclaved DWE diets yielded the highest egg mass and best feed conversion efficiency. 3. Hens fed the 50-g/kg frozen DWE laid eggs with a higher yolk indices, Haugh unit scores, and eggshell thickness and maintained higher Haugh unit scores during egg storage. 4. Yolk cholesterol significantly decreased in eggs from groups fed either the 50-g/kg frozen or autoclaved DWE diet, with freezing having the stronger effect. 6. In conclusion, 50-g/kg autoclaved DWE diets fed to laying hens between 25 and 41 weeks of age had no adverse effects on production, egg quality or reproductive organs, but decreased yolk cholesterol, and thus could be beneficially included in laying-hen diets.

Whole inedible date in the grower-finisher broiler diets and the impact on productive performance, nutrient digestibility and meat quality.

The growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality measurements were evaluated on broiler chicks fed different dietary levels of whole inedible dates (WID). WID used in this study were consisted of date fruits (∼850 g/kg) and date pits (∼150 g/kg). Three hundred unsexed Lohman broiler chicks were randomly and equally distributed into six groups. Each was formed of 50 chicks (five replicates, 10 chicks per replicate), and was assigned to a dietary treatment. Six dietary treatments of WID (0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 g/kg feed) were included in the formation of isocaloric (metabolizable energy of ∼3060 kcal/kg feed) and isonitrogenous (CP of ∼192 g/kg feed) broiler rations. The treated rations were fed to the group chicks between 15 and 42 days of age (the experimental period). A straight-run design was considered. At 42 days of age, five males from each treatment were randomly chosen and slaughtered to determine carcass characteristics, internal organs and meat quality measurements. Digestibility of nutrients was measured at the end of the experimental period using five caged-individual males per treatment. The inclusion of broiler rations on WID for up to 150 g/kg feed, over the experimental period, did not significantly influence body weight gain (1452 to 1521 g/chick), feed intake (3268 to 3621 g/chick), feed conversion ratio (2.26 to 2.36 kg/kg) and dressed carcass (63.4% to 67.3%). In addition, levels of WID for up to 150 g/kg feed did not significantly influence the digestibility of nutrients and meat quality measurements. Such results suggest the possible inclusion of broiler rations on WID for up to 150 g/kg feed, during the period of 15 to 42 days of age without adverse effects on growth performance and meat quality.

Effect of different dietary levels of mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) leaves and spice supplementation on productive performance, egg quality, lipid metabolism and metabolic profiles in laying hens.

In order to study the influence of white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) leaves on productive performance, egg quality, lipids metabolism and metabolic profiles, 180 Hy-line laying hens were randomly distributed to 6 dietary treatments each contained 6 replicates of 5 individually caged hens during the period from 50 to 60 weeks of age. 2. Three isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diets were formulated to contain 0, 50 and 100 g/kg of sun-dried mangrove leaves. Each diet was fed with or without supplementation of 2 g of cardamom, cumin, hot and black pepper mixture (1:1:1:1)/kg diet. 3. Mangrove leaves at either 50 or 100 g/kg adversely affect laying rate, egg mass and FCR, whilst increasing water intake and water to feed ratio. Mangrove leaves had no significant effect on dry matter, protein, lipid, cholesterol and ash content of liver, or on dry matter, protein and ash of yolk. 4. Plasma total protein, total lipids; liver enzymes AST and ALT and mortality rate were not significantly affected by mangrove leaves. On the other hand, yolk lipid, yolk cholesterol and plasma cholesterol significantly decreased, while yolk colour significantly increased with inclusion of 50 or 100 g/kg mangrove leaves, and Haugh unit score significantly increased with 100 g/kg mangrove leaves. 5. Spice mixture significantly increased egg weight by 2.2%. Yolk lipid content significantly decreased by 2.6%, while yolk colour and Haugh unit significantly increased with inclusion of spice mixtures. 6. In conclusion, mangrove leaves at 50 g/kg may be included in the laying hen diets as a means of decreasing lipid and cholesterol in yolk and plasma cholesterol and increasing yolk colour. Spice mixture at 2 g of cardamom, cumin, hot and black pepper mixture (1:1:1:1)/kg diet increased laying rate, egg mass, Haugh unit score and yolk colour while decreasing yolk lipids.