Effects of dietary energy and protein dilution and time of feed replacement from starter to grower on broiler chickens performance

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of dietary energy and protein dilution and time of feed replacement from starter to grower on performance of broilers with a 2×3 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design with 480 day-old broilers from 1-42 day of age. Experimental treatments were 5% energy and protein diluted diets and starter diet was fed to 7, 14 or 21 days and finisher diet was fed beginning at 35 days. Grower diet was fed for variable times depending upon termination of feeding starter diet and initiation of finisher diet. Dilution of both energy and protein had no (P>0.05) significant effect on chicks performance, but significantly (P<0.05) increased breast meat yield. Reduction the time of feeding starter diet did not show any significant effects on bird\u27s performance. From 1-42 days of age, the interaction between dilution of both energy and protein and changing time from starter to grower diets on body weight and feed intake was not significant(P<0.05). The results from this study suggest that diluting of both energy and protein up to 5% from 1-42 days of age and decreasing the time of starter diet had no adverse effect on broiler chickens performance and it may be beneficial economically

Effect of replacing dietary FeSO4 with cysteine-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles on quails

Iron is an important mineral for animal development and function. The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of FeSO4 replacement with cysteine-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles in quail. We hypothesised that the iron nanoparticles could be used as a dietary supplement. The quails were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments with four replicate pens and 10 birds per pen. The treatments consisted of: negative control without any iron supplementation, positive control with 120 mg/kg of FeSO4 and three experimental groups that contained 1.2, 12 and 120 mg/kg of l-cysteine coated iron oxide nanoparticles, organic iron, in their diet, respectively. The least weight gain was recorded in the negative control group. Similar weight gain, FCR, haematological and biochemical parameter results between the experimental and positive control groups show that organic iron successfully performed the biological role of iron in the quail. We concluded that 1.2 mg/kg cysteine-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles are required and sufficient for quails’ optimal maintenance and growth. The results confirm that cysteine-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles can be used as an iron source in the quail diet

Positive and negative perfectionism and their relationship with anxiety and depression in Iranian school students

Background: Although many studies have investigated the relationship between perfectionism, anxiety, and depres-sion among the adults, little is known about the manifestations of perfectionism among school-age youths. This study has investigated this relationship in an Iranian sample. Methods: Using multistage cluster random sampling, 793 Iranian school students in 2007 were studied. Data of demo-graphic characteristics, children′s depression inventory, revised children′s manifest anxiety scale, and the positive and negative perfectionism scales were obtained using questionnaires. Results: The results indicated that both aspects of perfectionism are associated with depression and anxiety. Negative and positive perfectionism have positive and negative associations, respectively, with depression and anxiety. The inter-action of anxiety and depression with perfectionism reveals that depression is in association with lower scores of posi-tive perfectionism, whereas in students with higher scores of negative perfectionism, the anxiety scores are also higher. Moreover, the accompaniment of anxiety with depression is in association with relatively lower levels of negative per-fectionism. Conclusions: It was concluded that negative perfectionism is a risk factor for both depression and anxiety, while posi-tive perfectionism is a protective factor. However, the interventions which encourage the positive aspects of perfection-ism and decrease its negative aspects may be able to diminish psychopathological subsequence