Effect of dietary levels of a modified meat meal on performance and small intestinal morphology of broiler chickens

A locally produced meat meal in Ardabil province in Iran is mixed with 150 g wheat bran, 100 g feather meal and 150 g zeolite per kg. Experimentally, this leads to an improvement in physical texture andpreservation characteristics. In this experiment, six hundred 3-week-old Cobb 500 broiler chicks of both sexes were assigned randomly to 24 floor pens with 25 chicks in each pen. Dietary modified meat mealat six inclusions levels of 0 (control diet containing 50 g/kg fish meal), 20, 35, 50, 65 or 80 g/kg, created the treatments of a completely randomized design to survey analysis the performance traits. For histological data, a completely randomized design with a 2 × 6 factorial arrangement was used. The experimental factors were bird sex at 2 levels and dietary modified meat meal at the corresponding levels noted above. The experiment was carried out at 21 to 42 days of age. Dietary modified meat meal did not affect on birds’ feed intake and body weight gain, but feed conversion ratio improved in the birds fed diet with 20 g modified meat meal/kg in comparison to the control. Compared to the control,the birds fed 20, 35 and 50 g of modified meat meal/kg diet had a significantly lower villus height, crypt depth and crypt depth to villi height ratio, increased goblet cell number and higher epithelium thicknessin duodenum. However, these values significantly altered after feeding of 65 and 80 g of modified meat meal/kg diet and showed an almost similar value to control. The same condition observed in jejunum section, with the exception of the goblet cell number that was not affected by dietary alteration. Ileal histological morphology was not influenced by dietary manipulation. The only significant effect of sex was the higher jejunal epithelial thickness in females compared with males. The results of this study demonstrate that the inclusion of modified meat meal up to 80 g/kg of broiler diets resulted in comparable small intestinal morphometric characteristics to a common commercial fish meal based diet. It seems that the processed meat meal can be used as a suitable alternative to dietary fish meal in broiler chickens diets

Effects of exogenous tannase enzyme on growth performance, antioxidant status, immune response, gut morphology and intestinal microflora of chicks fed grape pomace

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of dietary addition of tannase to feed of chicks including grape pomace (GP) on growth performance, antioxidant status, immune response, blood parameters, gut morphology, intestinal microflora, liver function, and histopathological responses. The experimental diets were i) control (corn and soybean diet) (C); ii) C+10%GP; iii) C+10%GP+T1 (500 mg/kg tannase enzyme); and iv) C+10% GP+T2 (1000 mg/kg tannase enzyme). At 10 days old, the bodyweight (BW) and average daily gain (ADG) of the birds fed the diet supplemented with GP was lower compared with the control group. In contrast with the control, supplementation of diets with 10%GP+1000 mg/kg tannase elevated superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities and depressed the malondialdehyde (MDA) level in serum. The addition of GP to the chicken diets had a significant impact on the total anti- sheep red blood cells (SRBC) titers and IgG, and IgM antibodies at 21 and 42 days old. The muscularis thickness of the chicken duodenum decreased in the Trial 3 compared with control groups. The inclusion of GP in the chicken diets reduced the concentration of Escherichia coli and increased that of Lactobacillus compared with the control. The results of the present study suggest that the inclusion of up to 10 percent GP in diets did not adversely affect broiler growth performance, and supplementation of tannase improved the antioxidant status and immune responses,and increased the caecal populations of beneficial bacteria in the cecum of broiler chickens.Keywords: Broiler chickens, histopathological responses, glutathione peroxidase, polyphenol, sheep red blood cell

The effect of peanut pod on performance, small intestine pH and ileum bacteria population in broiler chickens

This experiment was designed to assess the hypothesis that feeding broilers with peanut pod as an insoluble fibre source will result in improved gut digestive capacity growth performance. The experimental diets consisted of a control diet and three diets containing 25, 50, or 75 g peanut pod /kg. The dietary peanut pod, especially at the 50 g/kg level decreased feed intake of the experimental groups. In grower phase, the best weight gain was recorded in the broiler chickens fed the diet containing 75 g peanut pod /kg. All the peanut pod containing diets decreased grower phase feed conversion ratio compared to the control group. In the finisher phase, the growth rate and feed conversion ratio were not affected by the experimental diets. The gizzard weight and gastrointestinal length was increased in the chickens fed 75 g peanut pod /kg, and these groups showed the lowest pH for gizzard content. In the ileum, the birds fed 25 g peanut pod /kg had a higher Lactobacillus population than the 75 g peanut pod /kg group; and the birds fed 25 g peanut pod had lower Escherichia coli (E. coli) population, compared to the control group. The positive effects of dietary insoluble fibre on the growth performance of broilers in this study were probably a result of favourable changes in the bacteria populations and also an increase in digestive capacity of gastrointestinal.Keywords: Broilers, gut pH, ileum bacteria, peanut po

Effects of grape pomace and vitamin E on performance, antioxidant status, immune response, gut morphology and histopathological responses in broiler chickens

We investigated the effects of grape pomace (GP) and vitamin E on the performance, antioxidant status, immune response, gut morphology and histopathological responses in broiler chickens. Two hundred and fifty male broiler chickens (Ross 308) were allocated to five dietary treatments (50 birds/treatment) in a completely randomized design. The experimental diets were as follows: i) Control corn-soybean meal diet (C); ii) C + Vitamin E (200 mg/kg of α-tocopherol acetate); iii) The diet containing 5%GP; iv) The diet containing 7.5% GP; v) The diet containing 10% GP. No differences were found in performance of the experimental birds. Birds fed 7.5% GP showed a significant increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidise (GSH-Px) activity and reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration. Antibody titer against Newcastle disease virus (NDV) at 42 days (d) of age in the control and 7.5% GP fed groups were lower than others. The primary IgM concentration of birds fed 10% GP was higher than the birds fed the control diet, the vitamin E supplemented diet or the diet containing 5% GP. The secondary titer against sheep red blood cells (SRBC) was increased significantly in the birds fed 10% GP and the secondary IgG concentration of birds fed 10% GP was higher than the birds fed the control diet and the diets containing 5% or 7.5% GP. In duodenum part of small intestine, villus height/crypt depth ratio and muscularis thickness were decreased. The results of the present study suggest that the inclusion of up to 10% GP in diets did not adversely affect broiler chickens’ performance and improved the antioxidant and immune responses of broiler chickens.Keywords: Glutathione peroxidise, polyphenol, poultry, red blood cells α-tocopherol acetate, sheep, superoxide dismutas

Effect of zinc sources on milk yield, milk composition and plasma concentration of metabolites in dairy cows

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different sources of zinc (Zn) on feed intake, milk yield, milk composition, and blood metabolites. Twenty-four dairy cows were randomly allocated to one of four treatments in a randomized complete block design. The treatments consisted of i) control diet (no zinc supplementation), ii) zinc oxide (ZnO), iii) zinc glycine (ZnGly), and iv) zinc nano (ZnN). The Zn sources were added to provide 60 mg of supplemental Zn per kg diet. There were no differences in dry matter intake, milk yield, bodyweight, and body condition score of the cows between treatments. Zinc supplementation in the form of ZnN and ZnGly decreased somatic cell count compared with the other treatments. The superoxide dismutase and plasma Zn concentrations in the cows provided ZnGly and ZnN were greater than those in the ZnO and control groups. No difference was detected between groups in biochemical and haematological parameters, except that blood urea nitrogen concentrations of cows supplemented with ZnGly and ZnN were less than for the ZnO supplemented and control cows. The results showed that nano and organic Zn sources in the diet of dairy cows were more suitable than inorganic Zn as supplements for dairy cows.Keywords: milk composition, milk production, metabolism, somatic cell coun

Influence of various dietary fat sources on freezing capacity of Moghani ram semen

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of protected fish oil (FO) and Persia fat® (PF) on the quality of Moghani ram semen. For this purpose, a total of 96 ejaculates were collected from 12 healthy mature Moghani rams, which were divided into three distinct groups (n = 4) and were assigned to one of three experimental diets. The first group (control) received a diet supplemented with palm oil (PO), while the second and third groups received encapsulated FO and PF, respectively. After primary evaluation, semen samples of each group were pooled to eliminate individual differences, and then evaluated for semen concentration and volume. Afterwards, the samples were diluted with a Tris-based extender and frozen with a standard protocol. After thawing, motion kinetics, viability, membrane functionality and abnormality were assessed. The results showed that the group that received FO had significanty higher viability (quadratic), progressive motility (PM) (%), average path velocity (VAP) (μm/s), curvilinear velocity (VCL) (μm/s) (linear), amplitude of lateral head displacement (ALH) (μm) (quadratic) and sperm concentration (linear) than the others. Additionally, total motility (TM) (%) and straight-line velocity (VSL) (μm/s) were significantly higher in the groups that received FO and PF compared with the control (quadratic) The results indicated that sperm abnormalities in the control group were significantly higher than the other groups. In conclusion, enrichment of the diet with FO or Persia fat could enhance ram sperm quality after freeze-thawing process.Keywords: fish oil, frozen spermatozoa, ram, motion parameter

The effects of dietary saponins on ruminal methane production and fermentation parameters in sheep: a meta analysis

Ruminants production systems are facing a critical period within global agriculture due to their unique digestive system which, whilst allowing them to utilize low-quality fiber-rich feed, produces the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH4) as a by-product. It has been proposed that saponin-rich plants can be used to reduce CH4 emissions from ruminant livestock, although the reported results are variable in terms of efficacy. Here we use meta-analytical methods to investigate the literature to determine if saponins can contribute to reducing CH4 production and its further effects on other rumen fermentation parameters in sheep. Following defined search terms available papers on the subject were collected for the period 1990 to 2019 and inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, an analysis was conducted on CH4 production, CH4 per dry matter intake (DMI), ruminal pH, total volatile fatty acid (VFA), acetate, propionate, butyrate, and acetate-to-propionate ratio based on a comparison between a saponin supplemented group and a control group. The standardized effect size (Hedges’ g) was calculated at the confidence interval of 95%. Q-test and I 2 statistic were used to determine heterogeneity and publication bias was identified through the Egger test. The meta-analysis determined that using saponin sources tended to decrease CH4 production (P=0.062) and acetate-to-propionate ratio (P=0.057), with a reduction in CH4/DMI (P=0.001) and an increase in propionate concentration (P=0.011). No significant difference was observed in ruminal pH, total VFA concentration, and butyrate concentration. The I 2 statistic for the parameters analyzed here was below 50% for heterogeneity with the Egger test results indicating a publication bias for CH4 production

Effects of selenium and flaxseed on selenium content and antioxidant properties of eggs and immune response in hens

This study aimed to evaluate effects of supplementing the diets of laying hens with different sources of Se and different levels of flaxseed on egg Se concentration, yolk antioxidant properties and immune response. In a completely randomized design, 384 Hy-Line W-36 hens (aged 50 weeks) were assigned to a 3 × 4 factorial arrangement, comprising four replicates of eight hens. For 10 weeks, the birds were fed one of three basal diets containing 0, 50, and 100 g/kg of flaxseed and regular Se content from mineral premix, supplemented with no additional Se (SN) and 1 mg/kg of Se from sodium selenite (SS), Se-enriched yeast (SY), and hydroxy selenomethionine (SOH). The greatest Se concentration in the yolk was observed in diets containing organic Se sources. The SOH diet produced the greatest albumen Se concentration, followed by SY, and then SS. Using any Se supplementation improved glutathione peroxidase activity and total antioxidant capacity, compared with SN. However, superoxide dismutase activity and malondialdehyde were not affected by Se supplementation. Cell-mediated immune response was improved by Se supplementation, especially SS. Antibody response against sheep red blood cell (SRBC) was not affected by Se source, except that IgM was greater in the hens that received SS and SY. Neither flaxseed supplementation, nor its interaction with Se source was significant for any trait. Thus, supplementation of diets with 1 mg/kg Se, especially from organic sources, enriched the egg and improved some yolk antioxidant properties and immune system function. Supplemental flaxseed did not influence any measured traits.Keywords: egg albumin, egg yolk, Immune function, inorganic selenium, organic seleniu