Digestible Arginine Requirements in Hy-Line W-36 Laying Hens: Effects on Performance, Egg Characteristics, and Plasma Parameters During 40 to 46 Weeks of Age

This study was conducted to estimate digestible arginine (Arg) requirements for performance and egg quality parameters in Hy-Line W-36 laying hens from 40 to 46 weeks of age. A total of 150 laying hens were arranged in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments, 5 replicates and 6 hens in each. These treatments included 0.81, 0.86, 0.91, 0.96, and 1.01 % digestible Arg. At the end of experiment, data were obtained in performance, egg quality, and quantity parameters as well as plasma levels of cholesterol, uric acid, globulin, and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). Results have shown that feed conversion ratio, egg production, and egg mass improved by supplementing 0.86 digestible Arg in the diet compared to other treatments (P < 0.05). Moreover, these items significantly affected by the interaction of treatments and weeks. In the last three weeks of this experiment, the use of 0.86, 0.91, 0.96, and 1.01 % digestible Arg significantly increased egg mass and egg roduction. Plasma concentrations of globulin, cholesterol, and uric acid were not affected by dietary Arg levels. However, a significant increase in plasma IGF-1 was shown by supplementation of % 0.91 Arg (P < 0.05). Based on quadratic equations, the optimum levels of digestible Arg for egg production, egg mass, feed conversion ratio, and IGF-1 were 0.917, 0.917, 0.908, and 0.970%, respectively

Effect of Licorice Extract and Prebiotic on Laying Hen Performance and Egg Quality in the Pre and Early Laying Periods

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of licorice (Glycyrrhizaglabra) extract, Active-mos®prebiotic, and flavomycin antibiotic on performance, egg quality, and body mass status in the pre and early laying periods. A total of 180 Leghorn pullets (Hy-line W-36), were assigned into 6 treatments (5 cages/treatment, 6 pullets/cage) in a completely randomized design. The experimental treatments included control (feed additive-free- diet), and control supplemented by licorice extract (5 and 10 g/kg of diet; as LIEX5 and LIEX10, respectively), flavomycin antibiotic (400 and 650 mg/kg of diet; as FL400 and FL650, respectively), and Active-mos®prebiotic (1 kg/ton of diet; as ACPR). Birds were raised in a cage-layer facility. Body weight, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio were determined weekly. Body mass index was recorded before and after using the treatments. Also, the growth, egg quality, egg cholesterol, serum cholesterol, and triglyceride were tested. During weeks 18 to 19 of age, birds received control, FL650, and ACPR treatments showed greater feed intake compared to LIEX10. The body weight of birds that received FL400 diet was greater than LIEX5 and ACPR treatments at weeks 17 to 19 of age. All treatments, except for ACPR, decreased serum cholesterol compared with the control treatment (P < 0.05). No significant effect on feed conversion ratio, egg production, and body mass index was observed by treatments throughout the study (17-25 wk). Furthermore, there was no significant effect of treatments on the eggs' internal and external quality status, egg cholesterol, and serum triglyceride by treatments. However, more research is needed on the use of licorice extract and prebiotics as antibiotic alternatives and their effects on the body mass index in laying hens during pre- and early-laying periods

In vitro and in sacco determining the nutritive value of button mushroom stipe and its application in growing lambs diet

Feed shortage is one of the major challenges in livestock production systems in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Hence, wastes of nutritional value from the agro-alimentary industry could be considered as by-product feedstuffs, reducing diet costs in these regions. The current study aimed at determining in vitro and in sacco nutritive value of button mushroom stipe (BMS) and investigating its potential in growing lambs diet. For this purpose, three experiments (Exp.) were conducted. Ruminal degradability characteristics, and gas production kinetics, and energetic value of BMS compared with alfalfa were determined by the nylon bag and gas production techniques in Exp.1 and Exp.2, respectively. In Exp.3, 24 Mehraban growing lambs were assigned randomly to one of the three dietary treatments: (1) the basal ration without BMS (CTRL); (2) and (3) inclusion of 10 and 20% (DM basis) of BMS in the basal ration (BMS10 and BMS20, respectively), to determine their growth performance and the rations digestibility. The soluble (a) and slowly degradable (b) fractions, and degradation rate of ‘b’ fraction of the BMS crude protein (CP) was 43, 59%, and 0.034, respectively. The metabolisable energy (ME) content of BMS was 20.6% lower than that in alfalfa. The inclusion of BMS in the ration of lambs did not affect their growth performance, but reduced diet cost by 7.2 and 14.5% in BMS10 and BMS20, respectively. The BMS tended to increase (p = .089) the blood total protein in lambs fed BMS10 and tended to decrease (p = .07) alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in BMS-based diets. These results reveal that BMS has a slow ruminal degradability and fermentation that can reduce diet cost by partially replacing conventional feedstuffs in the ruminant diet without adversely affecting their health and performance.Highlights The button mushroom stipe (BMS) by-product has relatively high crude protein and acceptable energy contents with a slow ruminal degradability. Including BMS in the diet of growing lambs reduced diet costs, while improving fairly their growth performance, implying that BMS can be considered as a cost-effective by-product feedstuff in a ruminant diet. The inclusion of BMS in the diet of lambs decreased ruminal ammonia production, which can reduce the environmental impact of ruminant production systems