Effects of Different Levels of Selenium on Performance, Blood Parameters and Nutrient Digestibility in Mehraban Male Lambs

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the different levels of selenium supplements on performance, blood metabolites and nutrient digestibility in Mehraban male lambs. The first experiment consisted of 18 lambs, 4-5 months of age and 35.9±2.7 kg average in weight randomly allotted to 3 treatments. Treatments were: 1) Control diet (a diet without selenium, containing 0.06 ppm of selenium), 2) Control diet + 0.2 ppm Se as sodium selenite and 3) control diet + 0.4 ppm Se as sodium selenite. This trial lasted for 70 days. Blood samples were taken on days 0, 35 and 70. In the second experiment, 4 lambs were randomly selected from each treatment group and moved to digestibility boxes to evaluate the effects of different selenium levels on apparent nutrient digestibility. The experiment continued for 18 days with the first 12 days as the adaptation period plus 6 days of sampling. The trial were carried out as a completely randomized design. Supplementations of selenium to diet did not have significant effect on lambs performance. There were no significant differences in concentrations of plasma minerals, serum lipid profile and apparent nutrient digestibility. The serum level of tetra-iodothironine (T4) were decreased significantly. Furthermore, supplementation of selenium increased serum tri-iodothironine (T3) level and whole blood GPX activity. Overall, the results of this study showed that requirement of growing Mehraban lambs, met with 0.2 ppm selenium

The Effect of Silver Nanoparticles, Thyme and Savoury Extracts Injection to Egg on the hatchability, digestive and Immunity Parameters at Hatchability

An experiment was conducted with 855 fertilized eggs in 8 treatments (injection in 5th day of incubation) and 11 treatments (injection in 17th day of incubation) with 3 replicates of 15 eggs each. Treatments included first control (no injection), second control (injection of 0.5 ml. of sodium chloride); in 5th day, experimental treatments included 30 and 45 mg. silver nanoparticles, and 100 mg. of thyme and savoury. In 17th day treatments included 30, 45, and 60 mg. silver nanoparticles, and 100, 150, and 175 mg. of thyme and savoury extracts. Injection in 5th day indicated that the bursa weight reached its maximum in treatments 75 and 100 mg. of thyme, and 75 mg. of savoury, and in treatments with 30 and 45 mg. of silver nanoparticles had a minimum level‎ (

Effect of Different Sources of Supplemental Zinc on Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, and Antioxidant Enzyme Activities in Lambs.

Zinc (Zn) is an essential element in the growth of all animals and plays structural and catalytic roles in many enzymes and functional proteins. Two completely randomized trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of different sources of zinc on performance, nutrient digestibility, blood mineral profile, and antioxidant enzyme activities in male growing lambs on a barley-based diet. The first trial was conducted for 70 days and consisted of 30 lambs (30.8 ± 2.8 kg mean body weight, 4-5 months of age) which were randomly allocated to five treatments consisting of a basal diet (19.72 mg Zn/kg DM), or the basal diet supplemented with 30 mg Zn/kg DM, added as either zinc-sulfate (ZnSulf; inorganic), zinc-methionine (ZnMet), zinc-proteinate (ZnProt) or zinc-glycinate (ZnGly). For the second trial, to measure the effects of dietary Zn on nutrient digestibility, four lambs from each group of the first experiment were randomly allocated to individual digestibility cages for 12 days (first 7 days as an adaptation period followed by 5 days of sample collection). Among the groups, dietary Zn supplementation above basal level significantly improved average daily gain, average daily feed intake, feed/gain ratio, and superoxide dismutase activity of red blood cells (P < 0.05). Glutathione peroxidase activity of lambs supplemented with organic Zn was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than inorganic and control groups. At the end of the trial, the concentration of plasma Zn, tri-iodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), and the activity of alkaline phosphatase was increased (P < 0.05) in all groups receiving Zn as compared with controls (P < 0.05). In addition, thyroxine level in animals supplemented with Zn-methionine and Zn-proteinate was greater than in animals receiving Zn-glycine and Zn-sulfate. The results of the second trial revealed that the supplementation with Zn-methionine and Zn-proteinate increased the digestibility of crude protein (CP) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) compared to groups supplemented with Zn sulfate and control (P < 0.05). All organic sources of Zn improved organic matter (OM) digestibility compared to inorganic and control (P < 0.05). Results indicated that, regardless of source, supplementation of Zn in growing lambs improved growth performance, blood antioxidants, and thyroid hormone levels. Furthermore, Zn-methionine and Zn-proteinate supplementation appeared to improve the digestibility of CP, OM, and ADF more effectively than Zn-sulfate

Effects of Various Levels of Oxidized Oil on Performance, Egg Quality and Some Blood Metabolites in Laying Hens

The influence of dietary oxidized oil was studied on laying hen performance, egg quality and blood metabolites.  Experiment was conducted on 160 laying hens (Hy-Line W-36, 54-61 wk of age) in a completely randomized design with five treatments and four replicated cages containing eight birds per cage. Dietary treatments replaced fresh soybean oil in the control diet (3% fresh soybean oil, 15.25% crude protein, and 2858 Kcal/kg metabolizable energy) with 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% oxidized oil. Egg production and egg weight were recorded daily and feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and egg mass were calculated weekly. Egg quality traits were recorded on a biweekly basis. Hen’s body weight was measured individually at the beginning and end of the experiment. Serum metabolites were determined at the end of the experiment. There was a significant difference between diets with different oxidized oil levels in egg weight, egg mass, Egg production, and feed conversion ratio (P < 0.05). Feed intake was not affected by dietary treatments. There was no significant difference between oxidized oil levels on blood serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein and very low-density lipoprotein. Malondialdehyde of the liver was not affected by oxidized oils. The results of this study have clearly demonstrated that maximum 25% oxidized oil could be replaced by fresh oil in the diets without any adverse effect on the performance of laying hens

Temporal changes in milk fatty acid distribution due to feeding different levels of rolled safflower seeds to lactating Holstein cows.

The objective of this experiment was to follow the time-course changes of the milk fatty acids (FA) and particularly conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), n-3, and n-6 FA in response to feeding whole rolled safflower seed (SS). Eighteen cows were blocked by milk production, days in milk, and parity, and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 diets by replacing whole cottonseed with SS. The control diet contained no SS (SS0), whereas the other diets contained 3% of dry matter as SS (SS3) or 6% SS (SS6). The study was conducted for 8 wk. Cows fed SS produced more milk than SS0, with SS3 producing more milk than SS6, but without a change in milk fat yield or milk fat %. Except for C8:0 FA, changes in milk FA were not observed until the third week of SS feeding. The C8:0 began decreasing during wk 1 of SS feeding and continued to decline to wk 8. Short-chain FA (C6:0 to C11:0) and medium-chain FA (C12:0 to C16:1) concentrations decreased in milk when cows were fed SS, whereas long-chain FA (C18:0 and higher) increased after wk 3. The milk long-chain FA increased from wk 3 until wk 5 and then reached a plateau with little difference between SS3 and SS6, whereas the short-chain FA decreased more in milk from cows fed SS6 than SS3. Total CLA increased slightly less than 5× in milk from cows fed SS compared with SS0. Over the same time frame, n-3 FA declined and n-6 FA increased in the milk from cows fed SS, with no difference between SS3 and SS6. This study indicated that SS fed at 3 and 6% of DM had the potential to increase milk production and the CLA in milk, but with a corresponding increase in n-6 FA

Effect of Dietary Cation-Anion Difference during Prepartum and Postpartum Periods on Performance, Blood and Urine Minerals Status of Holstein Dairy Cow

Twenty four periparturient cows were used to determine the effects of DCAD on acid-base balance, plasma and urine mineral concentrations, health status, and subsequent lactation performance. Each group of 12 cows received either a diet containing −100 DCAD or +100 DCAD for 21 d prepartum. Both anionic and cationic groups were divided into two groups, one received a +200 DCAD and the other +400 DCAD diet for 60 d postpartum. Prepartum reduction of DCAD decreased DMI, urinary and blood pH, urinary concentrations of Na or K and increased plasma and urinary Ca, Mg, Cl and S. Also cows fed −100 DCAD diet consumed the most dry matter in the first 60 d after calving. Postpartum +400 DCAD increased milk fat and total solid percentages, urinary and blood pH and urinary Na and K concentrations, but urinary Ca, P, Cl and S contents decreased. Greater DMI, FCM yields were observed in cows fed a diet of +400 DCAD than +200 DCAD. No case of milk fever occurred for any diets but feeding with a negative DCAD diet reduced placenta expulsion time. In conclusion, feeding negative DCAD in late gestation period and high DCAD in early lactation improves performance and productivity of dairy cows