Efficacy of probiotic supplementation on growth performance and carcass traits in Japanese quails

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of probiotics on fattening performance and carcass parameters in 1– to 35–day-old Japanese quails. Day-old male Japanese quail chicks (288) were randomly divided into 4 treatments with 3 replicates of 24 / pen (mean body weight 8.39 g). The dietary treatments were as follows: Group A, basal diet; group B, basal diet supplemented with 0.5 kg/tonne protexin; group C, basal diet supplemented with 1.0 kg/ tonne protexin; and group D, basal diet supplemented with 1.5 kg/tonne protexin. The study lasted for 5 weeks. Results showed that probiotic did not influence body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and carcass traits of 35–d-old broilers (P> 0.05). Inclusion of 1.5 kg/tonne probiotic in the diet of quails decreased average weekly body weights, compared with those fed with basal diet and another groups (P< 0.05)

Nutrient and Mineral Contents, and in vitro Digestibility of Kermes Oak (Quercus coccifera L.) and Mock Privet (Phillyrea latifolia L.)

This study was conducted to exhibit the importance of kermes oak (Quercus coccifera L.) and mock privet (Phillyrea latifolia L.) in the grazing system and animal feeding. For this purpose, the leaves of these two evergreen shrubs were harvested by hand-clipping in their early vegetative stages at Sarkoy, Tekirdag, Turkey, in April 2019. The nutrient and mineral contents and in vitro digestibility of kermes oak and mock privet was determined by using in vitro gas production technique. In this study, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference between the kermes oak and mock privet in terms of the contents of dry matter, crude ash, crude cellulose, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and acid detergent lignin, and the minerals of zinc, copper, iron, and potassium (p<0.05). Furthermore, it has been observed that these two shrub plants yielded different values in terms of metabolizable energy and organic matter digestibility (p<0.05). In this study, the time-dependent mean gas production of the two evergreen shrubs was found to be significant at all times except the 96th hour; and gas production kinetics made a significant difference in b, the volume of the gas production from slowly fermentable (p<0.05). The volume of the gas production from slowly fermentable (b) was found to be higher in the mock privet than the kermes oak. Results derived from this study indicate that even the differences between the kermes oak and mock privet in terms of nutrient and mineral contents, both shrubs might be used more adequately as an alternative feed source during the grazing season where they are widely distributed

Determining the energy usage efficiency and economic analysis of broiler chickens raised under organic conditions

This study was conducted to determine the energy usage efficiency of broiler chickens raised under organic conditions. To accomplish this goal, the energy input-output of every 1,000 broiler chickens raised in organic conditions was calculated. Efficiency of energy use, energy productivity, specific and net energy for broiler chickens were calculated as 0.30, 0.03 kg/MJ, 35.36 MJ/kg and –75557.96 MJ/1,000 bird, respectively. If we were to categorize the energy input total that was consumed, 9.57% was direct, 90.43% was indirect, 89.57% was renewable and 10.43% was non-renewable. In this sense, organic broiler production cannot be deemed as economically viable considering the energy usage. Feed energy was observed as the highest rate of total energy input. To reduce feed energy input, chicks should not be kept under stress and total output energy should be increased by increasing bird production number. Benefit-cost ratio was determined as 2.41

Dietary ascorbic acid and chromium supplementation for broilers reared under thermoneutral conditions vs. high heat stress

The present study evaluates the effect of dietary ascorbic acid and chromium (AACr) on performance and microflora balance of broiler reared under thermoneutral conditions (TN) vs. high heat stress (HS). Two experiments were conducted on 112 Cobb 500 broilers, assigned in two experimental groups (28 chickens/group) and housed in an environmental controlled hall. Two groups (C-TN and AACr-TN) were kept in thermoneutral conditions. In the second experiment, other two groups were kept (C-HS and AACr-HS) in high heat stress (32° C). The structure of diets was the same in both experiments. Compared with the control diet (C), the experimental diet included the addition of a premix with 25 g ascorbic acid / kg premix + 20 mg chromium picolinate/ kg premix (AACr). At the end of the experiment, 8 broilers / group were slaughtered and samples of intestinal and caecal content were collected for bacteriological assessment. Dietary AACr did not affect (p>0.05) body weight, daily feed intake, feed conversion rate neither under TN nor under HS condition. The use of AACr in broiler diet led to a significantly reduction of staphylococci in the caecum. Both in caecum and intestinal content of AACr broilers, irrespective the temperature conditions the number of lactobacilli was significantly higher than in the C broilers. Combination of ascorbic acid and Cr (AACr) has a positive effect in limiting the development of the pathogenic bacteria colonizing the intestine and caecum during the heat stress

Yield, Quality and Water Use Efficiencies of Silage Maize as Effected by Deficit Irrigation Treatments

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of different water deficit levels applied through growing season on silage yield, quality and water use efficiency (WUE) of main crop silage maize under semi-arid climate conditions during the years 2014 and 2015. Irrigation treatments were set as 100% (I100), 70% (I70) and 35% (I35) supply of depleted water within 0-90 cm effective root zone in 7-day intervals. Applied irrigation water quantities in I100(control) treatment of the first and second year (in 8 irrigations) were respectively observed as 693 and 666 mm. Plant water consumptions in control treatment were respectively measured as 770 and 738 mm. Silage yield was 10650 kg da−1 in the first year and 10600 kg da−1 in the second year. The silage yield obtained from I70 treatment with 30% water deficit was statistically placed in group (B) following I100 (control) treatment. The water deficits over 30% resulted in significant decreases in silage yield and quality. The correlation coefficient between ETa and dry matter was respectively identified as (r: 0.78), (r: 0.87) in 2014 and 2015 and the correlation coefficient between plant water consumption (ETa) and protein content was respectively identified as (r:0.81), (r:0.80) and the correlations between ETa and quality parameters were found to be positive and highly significant. There were significant linear correlations between ETa and kernel yield (Y). Yield response factor (ky) of experimental years were respectively calculated as 0.74 and 1.06. Irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) values varied between 3.80-5.10 kg da−1 mm and water use efficiency (WUE) values varied between 3.62 and 4.42 kg da−1 mm

Effects of adding spirulina platensis to laying hen rations on performance, egg quality, and some blood parameters

This study was conducted to determine the effect of adding different levels of Spirulina platensis (SP) to laying hen diets on performance, egg quality, egg yolk color and some blood parameters. Sixty 60-week-old Lohmann LSL Classic laying hens were used in the study. The experiment was conducted in 15 subgroups with 4 hens in each cage, with 5 replications in 3 treatment groups. Three different diets were offered to laying hens; one control (based to wheat) and two supplemented with different levels (1 and 2%) of SP. As it was observed, the addition of SP to laying hen diets had no significant effect on live-weight change (LWC), egg yield (EY), egg mass, egg weight (EW), feed intake (FI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (p>0.05). Concerning the egg quality characteristics that were examined, the effects of SP on shell strength (SS), shell ratio (SR), shell thickness (ST), shape index (SI), albumen index (AI) and serum parameters were not statistically significant (p>0.05); egg yolk color characteristics (Roche Color Scale and L*, a*, b*) were affected by dietary SP supplementation (p<0.01). Addition of different levels of SP (1% and 2%) to laying hen diets caused a significant increase in egg yellow color values compared to the control group. According to the results of the study, the addition of 1% and 2% SP to the laying hen rations had a significant positive effect on egg yolk color, but did not cause a significant change in other parameters

Classification of Holstein Dairy Cattles in Terms of Parameters Some Milk Component Belongs by Using The Fuzzy Cluster Analysis

This study was carried out on classification of Holstein Friesian breed dairy cattles in terms of some milk component parameters and on investigating the relevant parameters in the resulting cluster structures. Within the scope of this study, thirteen different criteria were used including somatic cell count (SCC), milk fat (\%), milk protein (\%), milk lactose (\%), casein (\%), urea (\%), dry matter (\%), non-fat dry matter (\%), density (g/cm(3)), acidity (degrees SH), free fatty acids (mmol/10L), citric acid (\%) and freezing point (degrees C). As a result of the analysis using Fanny algorithm based on the principle of fuzzy equality, the fuzziness level was found to be minimum when a total of 282 cattles were divided into 2 clusters with the accuracy rate of 97.5\%. Accordingly, the cattles were classified in terms of the investigated characteristics in 2 different clusters in which 25 cattles were in Cluster 1 and the rest of the cattles were in Cluster 2. When the resulting cluster structures were studied, it was found that Cluster 2 has a more stable clustering than Cluster 1. When evaluating the change in milk components according to the clusters, it was concluded that somatic cell count, dry matter (\%), milk fat (\%) and density (g/cm(3)) have significant differences between clusters (P<0.05), while the other parameters were found statistically non-significant (P>0.05)

Yavruların Yaşı ve Cinsiyetinin Safkan Kısrakların Gebelik Uzunluğu Üzerine Etkileri

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of age and sex of the foal on the gestation length of thoroughbred mares. The study covered six stallions (of average age of 10.25 years) and 34 mares (of average age of 10.51 years) with descent records (pedigree), English Thoroughbred horses raised and actively used for breeding at a study farm called Ljubicevo, located in Serbia. The following average morphological body measures were established: body weight (473.10 kg), withers height (159.55 cm), body length (160.54 cm), chest circumference (188.00 cm), and tibia circumference (19.21 cm) were found to be within the scope of standard measures for this breed and particular ages e.g. 9 to 15. The average gestation length, regardless of the sex of the foal, was 336.57 days. The gestation of mares carrying male foals was somewhat longer (337.70 days) than of mares carrying female foals (335.80 days). The difference (1.90 days) in gestation length was not statistically significant (P>0.05). A weak positive correlation (r(p)=0.321) was observed between the age of the mare and the gestation length (regardless of foal sex). Additionally, a medium correlation (r(p)=0.444) was observed between the mare's age and the gestation length in the case of male foals, and a very weak correlation (r(p)=0.210) in the case of female foals