Supplementing glycine, serine, and threonine in low protein diets for meat type chickens

Reducing dietary protein has been of interest to the global poultry industry to improve bird health, welfare, and industry sustainability. Low protein (LP) diets are typically glycine (Gly) deficient and produce poor performance. Supplementing the diet with Gly or precursors of Gly can overcome this deficiency. A feeding experiment was conducted with 330 Ross 308 off-sex males across 5 treatments in a randomized design using 11 birds per pen replicated 6 times. Grower and finisher treatments were fed from day 7 to 21 and day 21 to 35, respectively. The objective was to test the efficacy of supplementation with Gly and Gly equivalents (Glyequiv), serine (Ser) and threonine (Thr), in plant-based LP diets on bird performance against a standard protein (SP) diet containing meat and bone meal. Glycine, Ser, or Thr were supplemented on Glyequiv basis to an approximately 3% lower CP diet to achieve the same digestible Gly and Ser level as the SP diet. Nitrogen efficiency, serum uric acid, blood plasma amino acids (AA) and AA digestibility were also investigated to monitor potential metabolic effects. Birds fed the LP diet were only 3.3% lower in final body weight than the SP treatment (2,556 vs. 2,641 g) while the supplementation of Gly or Ser had no effect. Supplementation of Thr reduced final body weight by 9.5% (P P P P equiv basis

Using crystalline amino acids to supplement broiler chicken requirements in reduced protein diets

Reducing dietary CP can reduce N pollution. Much research has been reported in corn-based diets; however, the amino acid (AA) profiles of wheat-based diets differ. Poor performance as a result of reduced protein (RP) has been overcome in corn-based diets with essential AA and glycine (Gly) supplementation. The current study examined RP levels and Gly in wheat-based diets. An industry standard protein (SP) diet plus 3 RP diets with and without Gly supplementation, to match the SP treatment at 0.713 and 0.648% digestible Gly for the grower and finisher periods respectively, were fed to male broilers from day 10 of age. Grower CP included 22.5, 20.6, 18.3, and 17.7% (days 10-21) and finisher CP included 19.7, 17.8, 16.2, and 15.5% (days 21-35). Performance, meat yield, N efficiency, water intake, and apparent ileal digestibility of N and AA were measured. No difference in body weight gain (BWG), feed intake, or feed conversion ratio (FCR) were observed at 20% CP compared to the SP treatment. However, further reducing protein reduced BWG (P P P P P P 2 = 0.69) and finisher (R2 = 0.80) treatments. Water intake decreased (R2 = 0.83) with decreasing CP intake. Apparent ileal digestibility of AA and N were higher in RP diets (

Do intoxicated witnesses produce poor facial composite images?

The effect of alcohol intoxication on witness memory and performance has been the subject of research for some time, however, whether intoxication affects facial composite construction has not been investigated. Intoxication was predicted to adversely affect facial composite construction. Thirty-two participants were allocated to one of four beverage conditions consisting of factorial combinations of alcohol or placebo at face encoding, and later construction. Participants viewed a video of a target person and constructed a composite of this target the following day. The resulting images were presented as a full face composite, or a part face consisting of either internal or external facial features to a second sample of participants who provided likeness ratings as a measure of facial composite quality. Intoxication at face encoding had a detrimental impact on the quality of facial composites produced the following day, suggesting that alcohol impaired the encoding of the target faces. The common finding that external compared to internal features are more accurately represented was demonstrated, even following alcohol at encoding. This finding was moderated by alcohol and target face gender such that alcohol at face encoding resulted in reduced likeness of external features for male composite faces only. Moderate alcohol intoxication impairs the quality of facial composites, adding to existing literature demonstrating little effect of alcohol on line-up studies. The impact of intoxication on face perception mechanisms, and the apparent narrowing of processing to external face areas such as hair, is discussed in the context of alcohol myopia theory

Reflections on the mentoring process with academics entering a 'new' educational experience

PURPOSE - Increasingly, academics new to higher education find themselves in a 'publish or perish' environment, with little if any formal or informal support structures. This is a situation that many academics have faced and lamented. The discussion in this paper emanates from the objective of seeking to change this environment. The mentoring provided an opportunity to work collaboratively with accounting academics who are new to the higher education sector, and focuses on developing and/or enhancing a scholarly approach to teaching and learning. DESIGN / METHODOLOGY / APPROACH - The reflective practitioner model provides the theoretical framework that underpins this mentoring process. The discussion in this research paper provides an opportunity to explore this mentoring process, primarily aimed at developing and encouraging a scholarly approach to teaching and learning by academics new to the environment. Data on the process were collected using a survey questionnaire and as a result of informal discussions during the mentoring process. FINDINGS - The findings indicate an overall positive response to the process for both the mentor and the mentee and the achievement of the planned research outcomes. ORIGINALITY / VALUE - The discussion in this paper outlines a framework and process that others may follow when mentoring academics entering a 'new' educational experience

Black Soldier Fly Larvae in broiler diets did not affect performance but decreased cellular immune parameters

To evaluate the effects of different inclusion levels of dried Black Soldier Fly larvae (BSF) in broiler diets, five inclusion levels of BSF were investigated in the starter diets (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10%), and the grower and finisher diets (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%). Diets were fed to a total of 400 broilers, placed in cages with 8 replicates per treattnent. For the starter (2d to l0d), there was no significant difference in total broiler performance across the treatments. However, during the grower period (lld to 21d), means feed intake (FI), body weight (BW), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly different across five treatme1f s (ANOVA,

Reducing protein and supplementing crystalline amino acids, to alter dietary amino acid profiles in birds challenged for subclinical necrotic enteritis

Necrotic enteritis (NE) is an infection of the gastrointestinal tract and is estimated to cost the global poultry industry billions of dollars annually. A study was conducted to examine whether reducing the crude protein might offset the severity of NE in broilers experimentally challenged with Eimeria spp. on day 9 and Clostridium perfringens on days 14 and 15. Furthermore, increasing the dietary amino acid (AA) density of the diet was also examined owing to identified benefits of improving performance compromised from low protein (LP) diets or NE. A 2 × 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments at 6 replicates per treatment was used with 972 Ross 308 cockerels fed wheat-sorghum-soy-based diets to 35 D. Factors were NE challenge: no or yes; protein: standard (SP) or LP; and AA density: 100% AA, 115% with only essential AA (115% EAA) increased, and 115% AA with both essential and nonessential AA (115% AA) increased. The performance was measured in grower (days 7-21), finisher (days 21-35), and overall (day 7-35) periods. In addition, on day 16, intestinal lesion score and cecal short-chain fatty acids were measured. Only in nonchallenged birds fed LP diets, 115% AA increased grower feed intake (P P P P P

Investigating the Effects of Glycine and Glycine Equivalents on Meat Chicken Performance Under Low Protein Diets

Low protein diets are being investigated to reduce feed cost and address health, welfare and environmental concerns associated with feeding meat chickens excess dietary crude protein (CP). Low CP diets supplemented with only essential amino acids (AA) have failed to improve performance to that observed with standard CP diets (Dean et al., 2006). The non-essential amino acid glycine (Gly) is believed to become conditionally limiting as supplementation of Gly and essential AA in low CP diets have improved performance (Dean et al., 2006). Threonine (Thr) and serine (Ser) in vivo degradation both produce Gly as a product (Wu et al., 2013). Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of supplementing Gly in comparison to Ser and Thr in low CP diets on meat chicken performance. Male day-old Ross 308 chicks (n=528), were fed a common starter diet containing wheat, sorghum, soybean meal and meat and bone meal from d 0 to d 7. On d 7, chicks were allocated to 48 pens of equal weight, resulting in 6 replicate pens of 11 chicks per pen for each treatment. Feed and water were provided ad libitum throughout the trial. Essential AA were supplemented when determined limiting using AMINOChick®2.0 software. The dietary treatments were: a standard CP diet containing meat and bone meal with a CP of 227 g/kg (SP), a LP vegetarian diet with a CP of 191 g/kg (LP) and the LP diet supplemented with Gly, Ser and Thr at two different concentrations, resulting in 8 treatments. The first AA level was to equal the amount of Gly+Ser in SP (16 g/kg), with Gly, Ser and Thr supplemented on an equimolar basis. The second AA level was based on a recommended Gly+Ser level of 18 g/kg suggested by Shutte et al. (1998). Feed intake and weight gain per pen from d 7-21 were recorded and the feed conversion ratio (cFCR) calculated, and corrected for mortalities. The SP diet had significantly lower cFCR compared to LP (1.241 vs 1.351,

Impact of loading and transport on effectiveness of external chest compressions : a simulation study

Introduction: Effective external chest compressions (ECC) are recognised as being critical for increasing chances of survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The aim of this study was to: 1) determine the impact of movement and transport on effectiveness of ECC performed by student paramedics; 2) provide results to inform a future larger study; and 3) validate teaching methods in an undergraduate paramedicine program. Methods: A prospective cohort design was utilised. Student paramedics performed ECC on a manikin under three different conditions: at ground level on a hard floor surface (ground ECC); at waist-height on a moving ambulance stretcher (extrication ECC; and during transport in the rear of a moving ambulance (transport ECC). Three minutes of ECCs was performed under each condition, with periods of rest between phases. The primary outcome was the composite ‘compression score’ (CS) (%). Results: Twenty-seven student paramedics performed chest compressions under all three conditions. For the primary outcome comparison of CS, there were clinically significant differences in ECC quality across the three conditions. Ground ECC produced the highest CS (89%; IQR 46), followed by transport ECC (54%; IQR 40). Extrication ECC was least effective (CS 0%; IQR 14). Conclusion: The conditions under which ECC are performed significantly affects ECC quality. The quality of ECC is substantially reduced if performed in the back of a moving ambulance, and futile if performed on a moving ambulance stretcher. Paramedics should consider these findings when deciding whether or not to move or transport patients before return of spontaneous circulation. Lower than expected CS on hard ground surfaces may indicate a need to review teaching of ECC in this cohort of students