The Interactive Impacts of Corn Particle Size and Conditioning Temperature on Performance, Carcass Traits, and Intestinal Morphology of Broiler Chickens.

This study aimed to investigate the interactions between corn particle size (PS) and conditioning temperature (CT) on the performance, carcass traits, intestinal morphology, and immune responses in broilers fed a corn-soybean meal-based diet. A total of 360 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly allocated into six dietary treatments in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement, consisting of two corn PS (finely ground with geometric mean diameter (GMD) of 357 µm (PSF) vs. coarsely ground corn with GMD of 737 µm (PSC), and three CT [unconditioned (CTU), conditioned at 75 °C (CT75) and 90 °C (CT90)]. Birds were accommodated in 30 pens with five replicates and 12 chicks per each pen. There was no interaction between corn PS and CT on the growth performance and immune response of broilers at any growth phases. However, during the starter (0-10 days) period, the average daily weight gain (ADWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of PSF-fed birds were significantly improved compared to those fed PSC (p < 0.05). During the starter (0-10 days) and grower (11-24 days) periods, increasing the conditioning temperature of corn increased the ADWG, while in the starter phase only the CT75 caused a lower FCR (p < 0.05). Broilers fed PSF corn showed the lowest FCR during the finisher (25-42 days) period compared to those fed PSC (p < 0.05). Conditioning corn at 75 °C reduced FCR during the finisher (25-42 days) period compared to the birds fed CTU and CT90 corn (p < 0.05). In whole experimental periods (1-42 days), PSF and CT75 treatment increased the ADWG compared to the PSC and CTU (p < 0.05). The CT75 treatment improved primary total anti-sheep red blood cell (SRBCs) titer (IgT) and IgM and secondary IgT and IgG responses compared to the other experimental groups (CTU and CT90) (p < 0.05). No significant PS × CT interaction was found on the Newcastle disease (ND) antibody titer of broiler chickens (p > 0.05). Feeding CT75 corn reduced duodenum and jejunum relative lengths compared to the birds fed diets containing CTU corn. Significant PS × CT interactions (p < 0.05) were observed for villus height, villus height to crypt depth, crypt depth, muscle thickness, and absorption surface area of the jejunum. The highest carcass yield was observed in the PSF-CT75 group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the use of finely ground corn (PSF) conditioned at 75 °C (CT75) was beneficial to growth performance, development of the digestive tract, jejunum histomorphometry and the immune responses of broilers.

A Comparison of the Effects of Raw and Processed Amaranth Grain on Laying Hens' Performance, Egg Physicochemical Properties, Blood Biochemistry and Egg Fatty Acids.

In order to investigate the effects of using different levels of either raw or processed amaranth (Amaranthus hybridus chlorostachys) grain on performance productivity, egg physicochemical properties, blood biochemistry and egg fatty acids, a trial was conducted using 168 Hy-line W-36 laying hens (67 week of age) in a completely randomized design with seven treatments and six replications of four birds for eight weeks. The trial treatments included the control group receiving no amaranth and the test groups receiving 5, 10 and 15% of raw or autoclaved (120 °C for 5 min) amaranth grain based on dry matter. The results showed that the use of processed amaranth up to the level of five and ten percent of the diet compared to raw amaranth resulted in a better performance than the control group (p < 0.05). The consumption of amaranth decreased blood glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride of trial birds without having a negative effect on their health and blood antioxidant status (p < 0.05). The use of different forms of amaranth in diets of laying hens had no negative effects on the physicochemical properties of eggs and led to the production of eggs with reduced yolk cholesterol and triglyceride; however, the omega-6 content in eggs and the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 increased (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the use of amaranth grain at low levels in the diet of laying hens can enhance the health of the bird and the production of quality and useful eggs.

Effect of Dietary Amaranth (Amaranthus hybridus chlorostachys) Supplemented with Enzyme Blend on Egg Quality, Serum Biochemistry and Antioxidant Status in Laying Hens.

A feeding trial was performed to assess the effects of dietary raw amaranth (Amaranthus hybridus chlorostachys) grain (RAG), with or without an enzyme blend, on the productive performance, blood biochemistry, and antioxidant status in laying hens. The trial was conducted following a completely randomized design by factorial method, including five levels of RAG (0, 10, 20, 30, and 40%, respectively) and two levels of enzyme blend (0 -E and 0.025 +E %). A total of 960 White Leghorn (Hy-line W-36) laying hens (56 weeks of age) were divided into 10 groups with eight repetitions, including 12 birds. The trial period was ten weeks. Results showed that RAG levels in feed (>10%) led to a significant decrease in blood total cholesterol (TC), but they also significantly decreased feed conversion ratio (FCR) (p ˂ 0.05) as measured by feed intake (FI), hen daily production (HDP), egg weight (EW), and mass (EM), leading to overall worse productivity compared to the control group. On the contrary, the addition of the enzyme blend led to an improvement in the investigated production traits (p ˂ 0.05), with the exception of HDP. The enzyme blend was also capable of recovering productive performance when combined with low concentrations of RAG (10%) (p ˂ 0.05), and RAG × enzyme blend groups showed the lowest values of TC (p ˂ 0.05). Moreover, the interaction effects for atherogenic index (LDL/HDL) indicated a significant and promising reduction in response to the addition of RAG both in the presence and absence of the enzyme blend (p ˂ 0.05), and this additive also significantly reduced levels of egg yolk cholesterol (p ˂ 0.05). In summary, the evidence gathered in this trial showed that dietary RAG had positive effects on egg quality characteristics, leading to the production of low-cholesterol eggs, and, at the same time, it may improve the health status of laying hens. Furthermore, the addition of an enzyme blend allowed feeding up to 10% RAG in the diet, leading to an optimal balance between animal productivity and the beneficial effects of RAG.

Egg yolk plasma enriched with ß-carotene through the diet of laying hens and adding it to the extender improves the quality of frozen semen in Arabic stallions.

Equine semen cryopreservation is one of the major procedures for the genetic conservation of rare and endangered genotypes. The current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of egg yolk plasma (EYP) enriched with ß-carotene as an antioxidant supplement on INRA-96 extender regarding freezing Arabic stallion sperm. For this purpose, ß-carotene various concentrations were utilized as a supplementary ingredient in formulating the diets of laying hens. Birds were randomly divided into four groups, fed with 0 (control), 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg in a supplemented diet with ß-carotene. Subsequently, various variants of enriched extender (INRA-96 + 2.5% glycerol [G]) were gained by adding 2% EYP from four treatment groups. The sperm characteristics, including motility, viability, morphology, plasma membrane integrity (HOS test), lipid peroxidation (MDA) and DNA fragmentation, were evaluated after thawing. According to the results obtained in this study, the addition of EYP from T2 and T4 (500 and 2000 mg/kg of ß-carotene in hens' diet) to the extender (INRA-96 + 2.5% G) leads to an increase in total motility (50.50% and 49.49%, respectively), progressive motility (32.6% and 31.8%, respectively), viability (68.7% and 66.1%, respectively) and plasma membrane integrity (57.7% and 50.6%, respectively). Moreover, lipid peroxidation (1.3 and 1.4 nmol/mL, respectively) and DNA fragmentation (8.6% and 9.9%, respectively) were diminished using the mentioned treatments. However, sperm morphology was not affected by the treatments. In the current study, we concluded that the optimal concentration of ß-carotene in the laying hen's diet (500 mg/kg) could reveal the best results about sperm quality. So, EYP enriched with ß-carotene acts as a valuable natural and safe supplementary material that could be exploited for enhancing stallion sperm quality in cryopreservation conditions.

Supplementation of broiler chicken diets with bovine lactoferrin improves growth performance, histological parameters of jejunum and immune-related gene expression.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of dietary supplementation of bovine lactoferrin (bLF) on growth performance, carcass traits, histomorphology of jejunum, immune function and hepatic and splenic gene expression of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and interleukine-2 (IL-2) in broiler chickens. A total of 240 one-day-old Ross 308 male broiler chickens were randomly allotted into six dietary treatments with four replicate pens (10 chicks per pen) and fed experimental diet in 3 feeding phases (starter: d 0-10, grower: d 11-24 and finisher: d 25-42). The experimental treatments were (1) corn-soya bean meal-based basal diet (control), (2-5) basal diet supplemented with 200, 400, 600, 800 mg/kg bLF, respectively, and (6) basal diet supplemented with 200 mg/kg oxytetracycline (OTC). The average body weight gain (ABWG) of broilers fed 800 mg/kg bLF was 8.48% higher than those fed a corn-soybean meal-based diet during the starter period (d 0-10) (linear effect, p = 0.002; quadratic effect, p = 0.24). Average daily feed intake (ADFI) and the feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not affected (p>0.05) by bLF supplementation. At 42 days of age, the breast meat percentage and carcass yield of broilers fed 800 mg/kg bLF compared with the control group significantly increased by 9.51% and 6.03% respectively (p < 0.05). Compared with the chicks fed the control diet, the chicks fed diets supplemented with bLF had higher villus height, muscle thickness and villus surface area (p > 0.05). Dietary bLF inclusion increased the total immunoglobulin (IgT) titre against sheep red blood cells (SRBCs) antigen (linear effect, p = 0.031; quadratic effect, p = 0.035) and improved the phytohaemagglutinin-P (PHA-P)-skin test of broilers. Compared with the control, bLF enhanced the gene expression of IFN-γ in spleen (p = 0.048, linear effect, p = 0.009; quadratic effect, p = 0.093) and liver (p = 0.012, linear effect, p = 0.008; quadratic effect, p = 0.01) and IL-2 expression in spleen (p = 0.021, linear effect, p = 0.026; quadratic effect, p = 0.103). The bLF supplementation had no effect on IL-2 gene expression in liver (p > 0.05, linear effect, p = 0.213; quadratic effect, p = 0.159). In conclusion, we found that supplementation of broiler diets with 800 mg/kg bLF can improve the growth performance, carcass yield, cell-mediated and antibody-mediated immune responses and enhance the IL-2 and IFN-γ gene expression of broilers.

Effects of Using Processed Amaranth Grain with and without Enzyme on Performance, Egg Quality, Antioxidant Status and Lipid Profile of Blood and Yolk Cholesterol in Laying Hens.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of feeding Amaranthus hybridus chlorostachys grain (AG) with (+E) and without enzyme (−E) on performance, egg quality, antioxidant status and lipid profile of blood serum and yolk cholesterol in laying hens. A total of 960 white leghorn (Hy-line W-36) commercial layers (56 weeks) were divided into 10 groups with 8 replicates per group (12 birds per replicate, including 3 adjacent cages with 4 birds each). A completely randomized design was implemented with a 5 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments consisting of five levels of AG (0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 g/kg) and two levels of multienzyme complex addition (0 −E and 0.25 +E g/kg) fed to the hens for 12 weeks (2 wk. adaptation + 10 wk. main experiment). Feed intake (FI) and percentage of hen day production (HDP) were not affected by main effect of the AG level, but egg mass (EM) and egg weight (EW) were decreased (p < 0.01), and the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was impaired (p < 0.01). EM, EW and FCR were improved by enzyme addition (p < 0.01). EM, EW and FCR were affected (p < 0.01) by the interaction of AG and enzyme addition. The highest value of EM and the lowest value of FCR were observed in hens on the diet containing 200 g/kg AG with enzyme addition. Egg yolk cholesterol content was reduced (p < 0.05) by up to 10% with increasing levels AG in experimental diets. The egg quality traits, including Haugh units of protein quality, strength and shell thickness, were not affected by the main effects or interaction of AG and enzyme consumption. Amaranth feeding led to a decrease (p < 0.05) in triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) while also promoting increases (p < 0.05) in the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of the blood. A comparison of the effects of contrasts showed that functional parameters (except FI), yolk cholesterol, antioxidant parameters (except MDA) and blood lipid profile had differed significantly (p < 0.05) between the hens fed amaranth versus those not fed amaranth. These findings indicate that feeding a diet containing up to 200 g/kg of AG with enzyme addition can improve EW, EM and FCR. Feeding laying hens diets containing AG also positively influenced blood traits and antioxidant status in laying hens while reducing egg yolk cholesterol content.

The impact of in ovo injection of l-arginine on hatchability, immune system and caecum microflora of broiler chickens.

The present article was conducted to evaluate the effect of in ovo injection of arginine on hatchability, immune system and caecum microflora of broiler chickens. For this reason, 300 fertile eggs were used in a completely randomized design with three experimental treatments. The experimental groups included: 1%-0.5% l-arginine (100 eggs), 2%-1% l-arginine (100 eggs), 3- control [included both sham control (injection of distilled water; 50 eggs) and control (no injection; 50 eggs)], which were injected on d 14 of incubation. After hatching, chicks of each experimental group (0.5% l-arginine, 1% l-arginine, and control groups) were randomly divided into four equal groups (as replicates) and reared for 30 days. Weight and feeding of chickens were recorded. Next, blood samples of chickens were collected on day 30 to evaluate antibody titre. Also, chickens were slaughtered on 24 and 30 days of the experiment to evaluate immune system organs and caecum microflora. Based on the results, in ovo injection of l-arginine had no significant effect on hatchability, body weight, antibody titre, spleen, bursa of Fabricius and thymus weight (p > .05). On the other hand, treatments significantly affected feed intake and feed conversion ratio (p < .05). As a novel finding, in ovo injection of l-arginine increased caecal Lactobacillus (p < .01), while decreasing Coliform and Escherichia Coli bacteria (p < .01). However, treatments did not influence caecal Enterococcus (p > .05). The overall results indicated that in ovo injection of 0.5% l-arginine had a better improving effect on caecal microflora and then considered as a recommended level of the present experiment.

Laying hen performance, egg quality improved and yolk 5-methyltetrahydrofolate content increased by dietary supplementation of folic acid.

This study was performed to evaluate the effect of folic acid (FA) on performance, egg quality and yolk 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) content. A total of 384 Hy-line W36 strain hens from 52 to 58 weeks of age were randomly assigned to 4 groups, and each group received one of following dietary treatments: 0, 5, 10 and 15 mg FA/kg diet. A completely randomized design was used. Egg production percentage, egg mass and egg weight were increased significantly (P < 0.05) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) was reduced significantly (P < 0.05) by increasing FA content in diets. No significant differences were detected among treatments on egg quality except for shell thickness. The dietary supplementations of laying hens diets with FA significantly increased yolk 5-MTHF content (P = 0.02). Overall, these data demonstrate that dietary supplementation with FA raised 5-MTHF content of yolk and productivity of egg production in laying hens.

Effect of vitamin E and selenium nanoparticles on post-thaw variables and oxidative status of rooster semen.

This study was conducted to determine the combined effects of adding vitamin E (VitE) and selenium nanoparticle (Nano-Se) as antioxidant supplements to rooster semen extender for freezing. Semen samples were collected from 12 White Leghorn roosters and pooled. Subsequently, the samples were divided into nine equal groups using modified Beltsville extender. Extenders were supplemented with either two amounts of VitE (5 and 10µg/mL) or two amounts of Nano-Se (1% and 2%) or a combination of both VitE and Nano-Se, and no antioxidants extender (control group). Using 5µg/mL VitE and 1% of Nano-Se improved (P<0.05) total sperm motility (79.28±3.86%), progressive sperm motility (18.03±1.02%), sperm viability (81.46±2.16%) and integrity of the sperm membrane (77.21±2.12%) after the freeze-thawing process compared with control group (54.08±3.86%, 10.96±1.02%, 60.53±2.16%, and 54.47±2.12%; respectively). Also, extenders supplemented with 5µg/mL Vit E or 5µg/mL VitE and 1% Nano-Se had a lesser malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration compared to control extender (1.15±0.32, and 1.29±0.32, respectively). Total abnormal morphology of sperm was decreased (P<0.05) by adding 5 or 10µg/mL VitE alone or in combined with 1% or 2% Nano-Se. Moreover, extenders containing Nano-Se demonstrated greater glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity compared to other extenders. Catalase (CAT) activity was greater in extender supplemented with 10µg/mL VitE and 2% Nano-Se. Moreover, higher TAC was observed in extenders supplemented with VitE and Nano-Se. It can be concluded that addition of 5µg/mL vitamin E in combined with 1% Nano-Se improved the post-thawing quality and oxidative variables of rooster semen.

Chemical composition and the nutritive value of pistachio epicarp (in situ degradation and in vitro gas production techniques).

The nutritive value of pistachio epicarp (PE) was evaluated by in situ and in vitro techniques. Chemical analysis indicated that PE was high in crude protein (11.30%) and low in neutral detergent fiber (26.20%). Total phenols, total tannins, condensed tannins and hydrolysable tannins contents in PE were 8.29%, 4.48%, 0.49% and 3.79%, respectively. Ruminal dry matter and crude protein degradation after 48 hr incubation were 75.21% and 82.52%, respectively. The gas production volume at 48 hr for PE was 122.47 mL g(-1)DM. As a whole, adding polyethylene glycol (PEG) to PE increased (p < 0.05) gas production volumes, organic matter digestibility and the metabolizable energy that illustrated inhibitory effect of phenolics on rumen microbial fermentation and the positive influence of PEG on digestion PE. The results showed that PE possessed potentials to being used as feed supplements.