New Nutritional Strategies for Improving the Quality of Meat

Few studies of using locally legume grains in lamb nutrition have been studied that their use had no negative impact on meat quality such as fatty acid composition. One of the strategies of increasing functional food availability is to increase polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially the ω-3 series, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) level and reduce saturated fatty acids in animal products. The CLA isomers appear to be concentrated in intramuscular and subcutaneous fat of meat ruminants and the concentration of c9, t11-CLA being greater than the concentration of t10, and c12-CLA in all tissues. To increase the CLA yield in lamb meat, it is essential to provide lamb an appropriate substrate for the formation of CLA. The provision of source of dietary linoleic acid appears to increase the CLA concentration to the greatest extent. Regarding the recommended daily intake for the appreciation of health benefits in humans (3500 mg/d), this amount of CLA supplied to meat lamb will partially provide the CLA requirement for everyone under certain conditions; deposition of CLA in the tissues using the provision of modest amounts of locally legume grains is more conducive to CLA synthesis rather than high levels of grain

Effect of Dietary Garlic Meal on Histological Structure of Small Intestine in Broiler Chickens

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of garlic (Allium sativum) meal on the intestinal mucosal morphology of broiler chickens between 21 and 42 days of age. A total of 1800, 21 days old Ross 308 broiler chicks were weighed and randomly allotted into 0, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2% dietary garlic meal groups of each 100 birds. Experimental diets were formulated by addition of each level of garlic meal to commercial finisher mash diet (CP : 20.45%, ME : 3,130kcal/kg), and fed ad libitum for 21d. At day 42, 15 chicks from each treatment were randomly killed to obtain intestinal samples.Villus height, epithelial thickness, goblet cell numbers, crypt depth and the ratio of crypt depth to villus height in each intestinal segment were compared using a light microscope. Garlic meal as a feed additive significantly enhanced villus height and crypt depth and decreased epithelial thickness and goblet cell numbers in duodenum, jejunum and ileum of birds. Fundamentally, jejunum and ileum revealed an almost similar morphological alteration to that in the duodenum except that dietary garlic meal supplement resulted in an increase in the ratio of crypt depth to villus height in duodenum but a decrease in jejunum and ileum. In present study, small intestinal morphological changes in chickens due to dietary garlic meal supplement demonstrate that absorptive process could be activated by garlic meal as an antibiotics alternative growth promoter

The effects of a medical plant mix and probiotic on performance and health status of suckling Holstein calves

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of a medical plant mixture and probiotic on performance, blood parameters, digestibility of some nutrients, and health status of suckling Holstein calves. Thirty newborn calves (1–10 days) with 42 ± 8 kg of average birth weight were used in a factorial arrangement (3 × 2) with 6 treatments and 5 replicate. The treatments were: (1) control diet, (2) control diet +2g probiotic per day, (3) control diet + 1.5% medical plant, (4) control diet +1.5% medical plant +2g probiotic per day, (5) control diet + 3% medical plant and (6) control diet +3% medical plant +2g probiotic per day. During first month, experimental factors have no effect on starter and hay intake, whereas total DMI was affected by herbal (H) effect in second month (p < .01). Calves fed on H1.5 diet had the highest starter and total DMI and calves fed on PH3 diet had the lowest value. Daily weight gain (DWG) was affected significantly by H (p < .01) whereas no effect from P was observed. Treatments had no significant effect on blood glucose, cholesterol and albumin content, whereas addition of H1.5 in starter feed increased beta-hydroxy butyric acid (BHBA) concentration in comparison to other groups (p < .05). In conclusion and based on better growth performance, it is recommended to feed H1.5 to milk suckling calves and feeding herbal additives with probiotic is not recommended