Research On Animal Production
Year:2019 | Volume:10 | Issue:24|Papers Count:15

This experiment was designed in order to investigating the effects of using different insoluble fiber sources on nutrients digestibility, blood parameters and performance of broiler chicks. 200 Ross 308 broiler chickens were used in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments and 4 replicates. The treatments consisted of a corn-soybean (control) diet or four insoluble fiber sources, including 30 grams per kilogram of rice hull, 30 grams per kilogram of soy hull, 18 grams per kilogram of Arbocel and 14 grams per kilogram of Bamboo. Results showed that the highest feed intake in the finisher period was observed in the control group and treatment contains soybean hull while the lowest feed intake was observed in the bamboo treatment (P <0. 05). Birds in the control group and rice hull treatment showed more weight gain during the final period and the lowest body weight gain was related to chickens fed with bamboo fiber source (P <0. 05). Feed conversion ratio was significant difference between treatments during the finisher period, so that the lowest FCR was obtained in the rice hulls and the highest FCR was observed in the bamboo treatment (P <0. 05). The effects of treatments on dry matter and crude protein digestibility were not significant (P> 0. 05), while fat digestibility in rice hull and Arbocel treatments was higher than other treatments (P <0. 05). Treatments containing Arbocel and rice hull increased levels of triglycerides and decreased cholesterol in the plasma (P <0. 05). Generally, in this study, the use of rice hull as a source of soluble fiber with the least adverse effects on the performance of broiler chickens was found.

This experiment was conducted to compare the effect of adding fucoidal, probiotic and antibiotic in diet on performance, carcass characteristics, gut microbial population, and blood metabolism in broiler chicks. A total of 250 one-day-old Ross 308 broiler chickens were randomly distributed in 5 treatments with 5 replicates and reared for 42 days. After formulation of a corn-soybean basal diet, 5 dietary treatments provided inclouding 1) without additive (as control treatment), 2) 0. 02% antibiotic oxytetracycline, 3) 0. 05% prebiotic fucoidan, 4) 0. 02 % commercial probiotic Gallipro® and 5) 0. 05% prebiotic fucoidal and 0. 02% probiotic Gallipro (as synbiotic treatment). The use of antibiotics improved body weight gain and feed conversion ratio at days 10 and 24 when compared to the control treatment, while the use of probiotics was only effective in improvement of feed conversion ratio (P <0. 05). The use of fucoidan and synbiotic only numerically improved body weight gain (3. 88% and 3. 76%, respectively) and feed conversion rates (2. 31% and 4. 73%, respectively) at the end of 24 days. In the birds treated with synbiotics, relative weight of abdominal fat decreased and relative weight of bursa of Fabricius increased than control treatment (P <0. 05). Supplementing of antibiotic and synbiotic decreased (P <0. 05) the population of coliforms in the ileum compared with control treatment. Probiotics and synbiotics treatments increased (P <0. 05) the lactic acid bacteria population in the ileum and reduced serum cholesterol concentration than antibiotic group. Also serum alkaline phosphatase activity was higher (P <0. 05) in probiotic and synbiotic treatments compared to control treatment. The results of this study showed that prebiotic fucoidan could be recommended in combination with probiotics as an alternative for growth promoter antibiotics to improve the growth performance and microbial population of digestive tract.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the use of three lactobacillus strains (L. reuteri ABRIG17 (MF686477), L. reuteri ABRIG23 (MF686483), L. reuteri ABRIG3 (MF686463)), Isolated from duodenum and Jejunum sections of the native Guilan chickens and one isolate of L. salivarius NABRII58 (MH595986) isolated from the digestive system of the native ducks of Mazandaran, on serum lipids and immune parameters of broiler chickens. The strains were isolated from 383 gram-positive and catalase negative lactic acid bacteria in a screening procedure for the detection of bacteria with probiotic potential. In the experiment, 500 male Ross 308 male broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments, 5 replicates and 20 birds per replicate. The treatments consisted of: 1-The basal diet as control group (treatment C), 2-The basal diet + 1 g / kg of mixed powder containing MF686463 (L. Reuteri ABRIG3 (LR1), 3-The base diet + 1 g /kg of L. Reuteri ABRIG23 (MF686483) (LR2 treatment), 4-The basal diet + 1 g / kg of L. Reuteri (MF686477) ABRIG17 (LR3 treatment) and 5-The basal diet + 1 g / kg of L. Salivarius (MH595986) NABRII58 (Treatment LS). The use of bacterial strains in LR1 and LS treatments resulted in improved weight gain at the end of the experiment (P <0. 05). The bacterial strains in LR1 treatment improved daily weight gain in whole experimental period (P <0. 05). All three strains of Lactobacillus used, namely, LR1, LR2 and LR3 treatments, caused a significant decrease in abdominal fat pad (P <0. 05). In LR3 treatment, the increase in carcass weight was observed (P <0. 05). Measuring serum immunoglobulins in broiler chicks after two stages of sheep red blood cell injection showed that LR3 had the highest total immunoglobulin level after the second injection (P <0. 05), and IgG levels in the LR1 treatment increased after the first injection compared to the control group (P <0. 05). After the second injection, the IgG of all the four experimental groups were higher than control group (P <0. 05), but IgM showed no significant difference between experimental treatments and control group. Total serum cholesterol concentration of LR2 treatment was significantly (P <0. 05) lower than other treatments. There was no significant difference in serum triglyceride level between control and the LR1, LR2 and LS treatments, and only LR3 triglyceride level was higher than others (P <0. 05). The level of HDL or good cholesterol in LS treatment was higher than the control group (P <0. 05). Serum LDL level did not show any significant difference between the experimental and control groups. The present study revealed that probiotic bacteria can be isolated from native poultry microbial populations and isolated bacteria can improve the production and immunity of broiler chicks. It is worthy of note that the positive effect of Lactobacillus salivarius strain isolated from the native duck gastrointestinal tract on the weight gain and serum immunoglobulins in broiler chickens suggested that the gastrointestinal bacteria of a species of poultry could be used as a probiotic in other types of poultry.

This study was conducted to determine of chemical composition, ruminal dry matter and crude protein degradability, gas production, organic matter digestibility, metabolizable energy, net energy for lactation and short chain fatty acids of Spirulina platensis algae and its comparison with soybean, canola, sunflower and cotton seed meals in cattle. The experiment of ruminal degradability conducted using two Taleshi steers with approximately 350 kg body weight at 0, 4, 8, 12, 24 and 48 hours incubation. Gas production technique was used for organic matter digestibility, metabolizable energy, net energy for lactation and short chain fatty acids of experimental treatments. For this propose, rumen liquid were taken from three fistulated Taleshi steers with approximately 335 kg body weight. Spirulina algae had the highest percentage (67. 69%) of crude protein among experimental treatments (P= 0. 0001). Potential (a+b) of ruminal dry matter degradability of Spirulina algae (98. 69%) was significantly more than other experimental treatments (P= 0. 0001). Spirulina algae had the highest amount (97. 36%) of a+b fraction of crude protein degradability among experimental treatments (P= 0. 0001). Potential of gas production of Spirulina algae (35. 77 ml/g DM) was significantly more than sunflower meal but it was significantly lower than soybean, canola and cotton seed meals (P= 0. 0001). Organic matter digestibility (70. 18%) and metabolizable energy (9. 86 MJ/kg DM) of Spirulina algae were significantly more than sunflower and cotton seed meals but it was significantly lower than soybean and canola meals (P= 0. 0001). Net energy for lactation (3. 47 MJ/kg DM) and short chain fatty acids (0. 61 M mol/g DM) of Spirulina algae had no significant difference with sunflower meal but it was significantly lower than other experimental treatments (P= 0. 0001). Results of this study showed that Spirulina algae have more crude protein than usual protein meals which use in ruminant nutrition and its protein degradability is very high in the rumen. Therefore, Spirulina algae can be used as a fast degradable protein source in the ruminant diet.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of ration fermentability on ruminal protozoa population during different hours after feeding. Fifteen hybrid Ghezel*Arkhar-merino male lambs were fed experimental rations. Experimental rations were contain different levels of barley grain and restaurant waste. Restaurant waste was substituted barley grain at the levels of 50 and 100 percent. Ruminal fluid was gotten from the lambs before and 2 and 4 hours after feeding. Rations fermentability was determined using gas production technique. The results showed that barley grain had higher fermentability (about 16%) than restaurant waste during 48 hours of incubation (341 vs 294 ml/g DM for barley grain and restaurant waste respectively). It also had higher constant of degradability (0. 107 vs 0. 099 for barley grain and restaurant waste, respectively). The rations containing restaurant waste resulted to higher pH and molar proportions of total VFA (P<0. 05). Total protozoa counts were highest and lowest for restaurant waste and barley grain before feeding (79. 5 vs 69. 4 ×104 for restaurant waste and barley grain, respectively). No differences in the protozoa count was found among the treatments during two hours after feeding, but restaurant waste containing ration resulted to the lowest and conversely barley ration resulted to the highest protozoa count four hours after feeding (56 vs 78. 5 × 104 for restaurant waste and barley grain rations, respectively). It seems that higher fat content and lower pH of ration containing restaurant waste are the main causes of lower protozoa count, so more attention should be take place when high levels of restaurant waste is used in the ruminants ration.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different energy intake before the peri-partum period on performance and some metabolic parameters in Ghezel newborn lambs. In this study, 15 mature Ghezel ewes after ultrasonographic confirmation of singleton pregnancy were used from 30 days prior to 30 days after lambing. Dietary treatments included: The control group with a diet that supplies 100% energy requirement of the animal, ewes under diet 70% (30% lower than animal energy requirement), ewes under diet 130% (30% higher than animal energy requirement). The amount of colostrum production and composition, daily milk yield, milk composition per week, birth weight, daily weight gain, and milk consumption in lambs were measured. Some plasma parameters immediately after birth, 24 hours later from birth and weekly until one month in lambs have been determained. The data obtained from this study on production and composition of milk showed that the diet 130% can increase the milk production (P<0. 05). Colostrum production was significantly increased in group fed with 130% energy level (P<0. 05). However, in the 70% group, colostrum and milk production significantly decreased and the fat percentage has been increased (P<0. 05). There was a significant difference between treatments of 130٪ of energy intake and other treatments in lambs weight, daily weight gain, and milk consumption so that the highest weight of lambing was in 130% group. There were no significant differences between treatments in aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and triglyceride (P>0. 05). There was a significant difference between the treatments in relation to the immune system of lambs (P<0. 05). The highest levels of immunoglobulin G and the lowest levels of plasma cortisol were observed in 130% group. It could be concluded that the high energy level intake in pre-parturition period, has led to an increase on ewe performance for produce heavy lambs, more milk and colostrum production, increase daily weight gain and high level of immunoglobulin G in lambs.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary acidification supplement on performance and biochemical parameters of quail chicks. Four hundred one-day old Japanese quail chicks (mixed sexes) were randomly assigned in a completely randomized design with 4 treatments. Each treatment group consisted of 5 replicates of 20 birds. Treatments included 1-basal diet (control group), 2-basal diet+300 mg / kg virginiamycin, 3-basal diet+ 0. 2% Bio acid ultra, 4-basal diet+ 0. 4% Bio acid ultra. The results showed that the highest and lowest feed intake was observed in control treatment and antibiotic treatment, respectively. There was a significant difference between treatments (P <0. 05). The highest weight gain was observed in the group containing 0. 4% of acid, which did not show any significant difference with other treatments except control group (P> 0. 05). There was no significant difference between the birds receiving acid and the birds receiving antibiotic in terms of feed conversion ratio, and the worst feed conversion ratio was observed in the control treatment. The highest amount of triglyceride and low density lipoprotein was found in control treatment, which had a significant difference with other treatments (P <0. 05). Birds fed with acid or antibiotics had the lowest values for these two parameters. There was a significant difference between treatments for liver enzymes, so that the highest amount was observed in control treatment and the lowest in acid and antibiotic treatments. Overall, the results showed that Bio-acid ultra could be used as an alternative to antibiotics in quail diet and of course, 0. 4% had better results.

A total of 36 breeder roosters were divided to 4 dietary treatments which were consisting of 3 pens with 3 birds per pen. Treatments were as follow: 1) Control diet without vitamins C and vitamin E, 2) C-diet containing 1000 mg/kg vitamin C, 3) E-diet containing 1000 mg/kg vitamin E and 4) E+C diet containing vitamins C and E (1000mg/kg of each vitamin). Diets were fed to the roosters for a 28 d experimental period. Sperm collection was done by rubbing the belly method, and semen was diluted by of solution tris buffer and kept at 5° C temperature. Evaluated parameters were as follow: semen volume, sperm concentration, sperm motility, progressive sperm, live sperm, at 0, 6, 12, 24, 48, hours after sperm collection. Data analyzed by CRD and mean compared with Duncan multiple range test at the 5% level (P<0. 05). Results indicated that Vitamin E resulted in increasing of semen volume and concentration, motility, live sperm, progressive sperm, at all evaluated times. Results of vitamin E+C diet were similar to vitamin E diets but despite of vitamin E this diet (C+E) is same as vitamin C diets, too. It seems that, in this study, dietary vitamin E can improve Varaminian rooster sperm characteristic rather than the other experimental groups in dirds. Therefore addition of vitamin E in the rooster diets in order to improve sperm characteristics, can be recommended.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of different concentrations of royal jelly as a fetal bovine serum replacement on in vitro embryo production of goat oocytes and the gene expression involved in apoptosis. In vitro maturation (IVM) of oocyte was performed in the presence of control (10% FBS), 10 mg/ml RJ (without FBS), 5% FBS and 5 mg/ml RJ, 2. 5% FBS and 7. 5 mg/ml RJ, 7. 5% FBS and 2. 5 mg/ml RJ. Nuclear statusof matured oocyte and mRNA abundance of selected genes were evaluated following 24 h of IVM. Following the IVM, fertilization and embryo culture were carried out in all groups and embryonic development was examined. Our data suggested that the number of oocytes at metaphase II stage, cleavage and blastocyst stage of the embryo were gradually increased followed by the dose of royal jelly gradually increased in the maturation medium. The addition of 10 mg/ml royal jelly to the maturation media was significantly increased (P <0. 05) maturation rate (91. 35%) of goat oocyte, cleavage (83. 39%) and blastocyst formation (30. 18%) compared with the control groups (71. 31%, 62. 50% and 21. 42%, respectively). By increasing of royal jelly concentrations, the mRNA transcript of the BCL2 gene was increased, while transcript abundance of BAX was significantly decreased. BCL2/BAX ratio has also been significantly increased (P <0. 05) by increasing of royal jelly concentrations in the maturation media. However, relative gene expression of CASPAS3 gene was not significantly different between treatments. It seems that the gradual increase of royal jelly as a replacement of FBS in the maturation media had a desirable effect on oocyte maturation and the embryo development condition of caprine oocyte.

Broiler breeders prefer male chicks because of economic benefits to female chicks. One of the ways to achieve this goal is to manipulate sex using aromatase inhibitors. Therefore, current research was conducted to investigate the effect of in ovo injection of different levels of anastrozole (an aromatase inhibitor) on the sex ratio and quality of broiler chicks. This research was carried out with 480 eggs of Ross 308 as a completely randomized design with six treatments include, four replicates and 20 eggs per replicate. Experimental treatments include: 1. Non-injected control: with No injections 2-Control two (Sham control(: Corn oil solvent + DMSO 3-Injection 30 μ l of letrozole at a concentration of 1 mg/ml 4-anastrozole 30 μ l injection at a concentration of 0. 25 mg/ml 5-Injection of 30 μ l anastrozole at a concentration of 0. 5 mg/ml 6-Injection of 30 μ L anastrozole at a concentration of 0. 75 mg/ml. Hatching, sexual differentiation, chick quality, fetal mortality and economic traits were evaluated in this study. The results showed that in ovo injection anastrozole ovi-position did not have a significant effect on the sex and quality of broiler chicks. The percentage of hatching eggs in the anastrozole injection was decreased in comparison with the three control treatments, and also the mortality rate in the first incubation period was increased. In ovo injection of anastrozole compared to three treatments significantly increased carcass weight, average weight of seven days and growth rate, and a significant decrease was observed in the mean conversion factor, although it had no significant effect on the mean of initial weights. Overall, it can be concluded from the findings of this study that in ovo injection of anastrozole increased, carcass weight and weight of chicks at seven days and reduced the percentage of hatchability, but did not affect sex differentiation and quality of broiler chicks.

The objective of this research was to investigate the impact of temperature-humidity Index (THI) on milk yield (MY) and fat percentage (FP) trend of Holstein dairy cattle in Mediterranean climate of Iran. Data included 348, 868 and 302, 851 test-day records, respectively for milk yield and fat percentage from 42, 781 and 38, 829 cows, respectively. Data were collected from 9 provinces located in the Mediterranean region of Iran between 2001 and 2016. The climate information from the nearest weather stations to each herd was used to calculate THI. Then the average of daily THI for 3 days before test date was considered as an environmental descriptor for milk production traits. Significance test using GLM procedure was applied to consider fixed effects in the model. Random regression model using Bayesian methodology was applied to estimate breeding values (EBV) across different combinations of days in milk (DIM) and THI via and subsequently, genetic trends for production traits were estimated along year of birth and THI values. The results showed that in addition to re-ranking of sires in different DIM, the different ranks were observed across different THI. In the other word, animals had different responses along THI and sires with higher EBVs for lower THI had lower EBVs for higher THI. Across THI, the re-ranking of sires for FP was more considerable than for MY. In other words, animal for FP were more sensitive in response to climate changes. For both traits, negative genetic trends were observed with increasing THI. In addition, in contrast with MY, a negative trend for FP was obtained based on year of birth. It could be concluded that THI has substantial effect on milk production traits and including this factor with applying random regression model could be useful to investigate heat tolerance of dairy cattle herds in Mediterranean climate.

Heat stress is one of the most important immunosuppressive factors in poultry industry and heat stress has been associated with increases reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress in cells. Since the nuclear factor kappa-B is known as fast cellular response factor to endogenous stress; this study was conducted to evaluate relative gene expression in broiler chicken with 450 one-day-old Cobb 500 broiler chickens for 42 days. Treatments included: (1) basal diet (control), (2) basal diet containing 1% zeolite, (3) basal diet containing 1% of zeolite-coated with 0. 5% silver nanoparticles, (4) Basal diet containing with 0. 15% organic acids and (5) Basal diet containing 1% of zeolite-coated with 0. 5% of silver nanoparticles and 0. 15% organic acids in with or without heat stress condition. Liver biopsy was done in 21st and 42nd days of experiment. Results demonstrated the level of nuclear factor kappa-B relative gene expression in the 21st and 42nd days of experiment with heat stress condition in zeolite treatment and 42nd days of experiment without heat stress condition in silver nanoparticles coated with zeolite in combination with organic acid in broiler liver was significant increase expression comparison with control and all treatments (P<0. 05). In conclusion results showed that zeolite and silver nanoparticles identified as an inorganic, chemical and exogenous substances in body tissues and liver identified this substances as a xenobiotics and up-regulated expression of index genes in oxidative stress pathways and inflammation. Whereas this effect is not identified in organic acid.

The aim of this study was to estimate of (Co)variance components for egg production curve parameters and their genetic correlation with some economic traits using of the best function for describing egg production curve in wild strains of quail. For this purpose, the daily records of quail egg production during the first 20 weeks were used for fitting egg production curve. Five nonlinear functions including nonlinear logistic, incomplete gamma (Wood), modified compartmental, modified gamma, and logistic (Nelder) were fitted by R computer program, and the best function was determined based on the goodness of fit criteria. After selecting the best model, the production curve parameters for each of quails was calculated and their genetic correlation with age and weight of puberty, egg number, total egg production and the average egg during the first 20 weeks were estimated. The genetic correlation between traits was estimated using of a two-trait animal model and Gibbs sampling method by Gibbs3f90 software. Based on the goodness of fit criteria, the Modification of Wood was selected as the best function. Heritability estimates for the rate of production decrease was higher than the rate of production increase (0. 231 in comparison with 0. 148) and the heritability for weight of puberty was estimated higher than the age of puberty. Also, the heritabilty of egg number was estimated higher than the sum and average egg weight among the studied production traits. The highest and lowest genetic correlation was observed between the rate of production decrease and the rate of production increase (-0. 764) and the rate of production increase with weight of puberty (-0. 031), respectively. The results of the study indicate that the sum and average egg weight and age of puberty could be considered in selection objective to improve the egg curve parameters.

In some cases, due to overlapping of morphological traits and parents incomplete recording information, it is difficult to determine the breed origin of a horse. The use of molecular methods for assigning individuals to their breed can be a significant help in this regard. The present study was conducted to investigate the genetic structure and the accuracy of the assignment of horses to the origin populations using microsatellite markers. For this purpose, samples from 165 horses including Caspian (35), Arabian (36), Turkoman (30), Thoroughbred (28) and Turkoman-Thoroughbred crossbred population (36) were randomly collected. Polymerase chain reaction was performed using 12 microsatellite markers recommended by the International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG), and the PCR products were separated by 8% acryl amide gel and stained using silver nitrate staining procedure. Estimation of genetic parameters such as the number of effective alleles and the expected heterozygosity level showed a high genetic variation in the used markers. Among them AHT4 marker showed the highest (11. 20 alleles) and the AHT5 showed the lowest (4. 28) effective alleles and AHT4 (0. 82) showed the highest and ASB17 (0. 67) showed the lowest genetic variation. The highest and lowest genetic distances were observed between Thoroughbred with Arabian and Caspian (0. 91) and Thoroughbred with crossbred population (10. 0). In conclusion, the markers used in this study, could correctly assign 79% of the individuals to their source populations. Therefore, in some cases microsatellite markers can be a helpful tool for determining the breed origin of the horse.

In this study for prediction of the (Co)-variance components and genetic and phenotypic parameters for growth traits of Moghani sheep, data from birth weight (7368 records), weaning weight (5892 records), 6-month weight (5110 records), 9-month weight (2912 records) and yearling weight (2893 records) were used. Data was collected during 1995-2017 from Moghani sheep breeding station in Jafarabad of Moghan. (Co) variance components and genetic parameters were estimated by Bayesian statistical method based on Gibbs sampling technique, because of high accuracy of bayasian method. Environmental factors such as birth year, birth season, Sex of lamb, birth type and mother's age were significant on all traits (P<0. 01 and as fixed effects in the mode. Age of lamb during weaning was used as covariate in the model. Based on lowest AIC for birth weight, weaning weight, 6-month weight, 9-month weight and yearling weight the direct heritability was found to be 0. 35± 0. 003, 0. 20± 0. 004, 0. 23± 0. 002, 0. 36± 0. 004 and 0. 24± 0. 003 for the traits, respectively. Maternal heritability of birth weight and weaning weight were 0. 26± 0. 002 and 0. 11 ± 0. 002, respectively. The results revealed by increasing lamb's age and reducing lamb's dependence on mother, the contribution of maternal effects to direct genetic effects decreases. Therefore, the importance of this effect was reduced by increasing age due to decreased dependenc if lamb to mother. Low to moderate heritability of the traits indicated that selection for these traits will result in a low to moderate genetic improvement.