Research On Animal Production
Year:2019 | Volume:10 | Issue:23|Papers Count:15

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of Savory essential oil and Flavomycin on performance, some carcass traits, immune response and hematology of broiler chickens. In this research, four houndered Ross 308 male chicks were used in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments and 4 replicates and 20 broiler chicks per experimental unit. Experimental treatments consisted of control group (without any additive in diet), diet containing 0. 6% of flavomycin, and dietes containing 200, 400 and 600 mg savory essential oil per Kg diet, respectively. The results showed that the addition of savory essential oil significantly improved feed intake and feed conversion ratio in comparison with flavomycin in first and fifth weeks of age and in the first week significantly improved weight gain compared with the negative control group (p<0. 05). The effect of savory essential oil and flavomycin on body weight gain and feed conversion ratio in broiler chicks was not significant in the whole period. There was a significant difference between the experimental groups in terms of water intake during the whole period of breeding, and in this regard, chicks fed 400 ppm of savory essential oil had the least water intake (p<0. 05). Consumption of savory essential oil and flavomycin had no significant effect on carcass traits, blood parameters, immunity statue and quality of breast meat of broiler chicks (p>0. 05). Based on the results of this study, savory essential oil and flavomycin had not positive impact on productive performance, immune response and carcass quality in broiler chicks.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different levels of tomato powder (0, 4, 8 and 12%) and multi-enzyme Natuzyme-plus (0 and 0. 05%) on performance, blood parameters and antioxidant status of Japanese quails during starter and growth periods. A total of 320 one day old chicks were used in 8 treatments with 4 replicates and 10 birds per experimental unit in a completely randomized design with 4×2 factorial arrangement. The results showed that the addition of different levels of tomato powder increased the feed intake (p<0. 05) so that the increase in the treatment fed with 12% tomato powder was higher than other treatments. The interaction of tomato powder and Natuzyme enzyme was significant on weight gain and feed conversion ratio (p <0. 05) and the treatment fed with 8% tomato powder and zero level of enzyme had the highest weight gain and best feed conversion ratio. The concentration of glucose, triglyceride, LDL, HDL, VLDL and hepatic enzymes of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase were also affected by the interaction between tomato powder and the enzymes of Natuzyme (p <0. 05). In quails fed with 4% tomato powder and zero-enzyme level, the highest concentration of plasma glucose and the lowest concentration of enzymes of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase and superoxide dismutase were observed. Triglyceride and VLDL concentrations in the treatment with 12% tomato powder and enzyme, were less than other treatments, but in the treatment containing 12% tomato powder with zero level of enzyme, the lowest concentration of LDL and the highest HDL concentration were observed. Also, by adding different levels of tomato powder, the concentration of malondialdehyde and glutathione peroxidase enzyme respectivelly in groups fed with 4% and 12% tomato powder were lower than other treatments (p<0. 05). Based on the findings of research, it can be stated that adding tomato powder with enzyme to Japanese quail diet can improves the performance and strengthens the antioxidant activity.

This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different vegetable oil types on broiler performance, carcass characteristics and fatty acid profile of breast and thigh meat. For it, a total number of 300 day-old cobb-500 broiler chickens were housed in floor pens for 42 days in a completely randomized design, consisted of 5 treatments (soy, flaxseed, canola, corn and sunflower), with 5 replicates and 12 chicks in each. At 43 days of age, after 4 hour of fasting, two birds from each replicate (a male and a female) were slaughtered by cervical dislocation and after carcass characteristic determination, sampling from male breast and thigh was done. Different vegetable oil sources had no significant effect on weight gain (1-42 day period), feed conversion ratio (1-42 day period) and carcass characteristics. Flaxseed oil increased UFA, PUFA, n-3 fatty acids, UFA: SFA ratio, PUFA: SFA ratio and decreased n-6: n-3 ratio in breast and thigh muscles (P<0. 05). The highest content of n-6 fatty acids was observed in the thigh of the chickens fed corn and flaxseed oils and the lowest was seen in broilers received canola oil (P<0. 05). The results showed that dietary oil source had no significant effect on feed conversion ratio but inclusion of flaxseed oil enhanced n-3 fatty acid content of broiler breast and thigh meat.

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of in ovo feeding of L-carnitine and Satureja Khuzistanica extract on hatchability, post-hatch performance and carcass traits in broiler chickens. A total of 560 fertile eggs of Ross 308 strain (36-wk-old breeder flock) were assigned randomly to seven treatments with four replicates and 20 eggs per replicate. Treatments included control group (noninjected), dry punch, physiological saline injection, in ovo injection of L-carnitine (20 and 30 mg) and in ovo injection of Satureja khuzistanica extract (10 and 20 mg). Treatment solutions were injected into the air sac on d 17 of incubation. After hatch, 10 chicks per each replicate were distributed in pens and reared up to 42 d of age. The highest and the lowest rate of hatchability were observed respectively with injection of Lcarnitine (30 mg) and Satureja khuzistanica extract (20 mg) into fertile eggs (P<0. 05). In ovo administration of L-carnitine (30 mg) increased hatch weight of broiler chicks compared to other groups (P<0. 05). The highest body weight gain in broiler chicks after hatch were observed in fertile eggs injected with 30 mg of L-carnitine (P<0. 05). In ovo injection of L-carnitine (30 mg) into fertile chicken eggs at 17 d of incubation improved feed conversion ratio of broiler chicks after hatch (P<0. 05). Therefore, it can be concluded that the in ovo administration of Lcarnitine (30 mg) had positive effects on hatchability, hatching weight and feed conversion ratio in broiler chicks.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of supplementation of alfalfa silage with Lactobacillus buchneri additive, orange pulp and molasses on dry matter, crude protein and organic matter degradability by nylon bags. The treatments included: alfalfa silage (control treatment), alfalfa silage processed with bacterial additive, 3×108 cfu/g, alfalfa and orange pulp silage, alfalfa and orange pulp silage processed with bacterial additive (3×108 cfu/g), alfalfa silage processed with 5% molasses, and alfalfa silage processed with 5% molasses and bacterial additive 3×108 cfu/g. The alfalfa was harvested at flowering stage and after 24 hours, it was ensiled with orange pulp and Lalsil with a weight ratio of 2100 g of alfalfa and 760 g of orange pulp for 90 days. After opening the silos in order to investigate the dry matter, crude protein and organic matter degradability of silage at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours, two adult fistulated male sheep be used. Data were analyzed in a completely randomized design with four replications. By adding molasses and bacterial additive to alfalfa, the in situ dry matter disappearance significantly increased (p<0. 05). In general, it can be concluded that the bacterial additive, molasses and orange pulp alone and in combination produced a better fermented silage and the use of a carbohydrate source such as molasses or orange pulp as useful resources for bacterial populations and bacterial additives in the preparation of high quality silage from alfalfa, due to the deficiencies of this valuable plant, is essential.

This study investigated the effects of different levels of prebiotic and peptide supplementations on growth performance, apparent digestibility of nutrients and fecal score in suckling Zell lambs. A completely randomized experiment was designed with a factorial arrangement of 3×2 containing 36 male suckling Zell lambs at the age of 10 days and with a mean weight of 4. 4± 0. 33 kg for 70 days. The treatments consisted of 1-control (without prebiotic and peptide), 2-0 g of prebiotic and 2 g of peptide, 3-1. 5 g of prebiotic and 0 g of peptide, 4-1. 5 g of prebiotic and 2 g of peptide, 5-3 g of prebiotic and 0 of peptide, and 6-3 g of prebiotic and 2 g of peptide per day for the experimental lambs in milk replacement. The results of mean feed intake and daily weight gain of experimental lambs showed a significant difference between experimental treatments (P< 0. 05), so were higher in treatment of 2 g peptide and 1. 5 g prebiotic. There was a significant difference in the apparent digestibility nutrients in DM, OM, CP and ADF peptide and peri-biotic interaction effects (P<0. 05). In results of fecal score, there was a significant decrease in consistency score of 1. 5 g prebiotics (P<0. 05). Carcass traits significantly improved by treatment of 2 g peptide and 1. 5 g prebiotic. There was no significant difference in the results of feed conversion rario (FCR) and body dimensions. The overall results showed, feed intake significantly increased by treatment of 2 g peptide and 1. 5 g of prebiotic and improved daily gain and fecal score in some experimental periods as well as carcass traits in lambs.

In the present study, fifteen Kermani male lambs with average body weight of 31. 9± 1. 2 kg were used in a completely randomized design with 3 treatments and 5 replicates each, for 10 weeks including 2 weeks of adaptation to basal diet and 8 weeks of data collection. The experimental groups were (1) control group (without chromium-methionine (Cr-Met) supplementation), (2) lambs fed with 1. 5 mg Cr/kg diet of Cr-Met, and (3) lambs received 3 mg Cr/kg of Cr-Met supplement. The results showed that average daily feed intake of lambs received 1. 5 (p=0. 002) and 3 (p =0. 0004) mg/kg of Cr supplement was higher than that of the control animals. Chromium supplement had no influence on final body weight and average daily gain, however, feed conversion ratio decreased in lambs fed with 3 mg/kg diet of Cr supplement (p=0. 04). The digestibility coefficients of dry matter, organic matter, fat and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) were not affected by the experimental treatments; however, acid detergent fibre (ADF) digestibility was higher in lambs fed with 1. 5 (p=0. 003) and 3 (p=0. 02) mg Cr/kg of diet than those fed the control diet. Chromium supplement had no significant effects on pH and ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) concentration of ruminal fluid. Similarly, serum glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, triglyceride and urea concentrations were not different among experimental groups. It can be concluded that feeding 3 mg/kg diet of Cr-Met supplement improves feed conversion efficiency of fattening lambs. Moreover, both Cr-Met levels decrease feed intake and increase ADF digestibility.

The present study was performed to determine the effect of resistant starch as a type of prebiotic and phenolic compound extract on performance, hematological and blood parameters of suckling Holstein calf. For this, 54 suckling Holstein calves (27 male and 27 female) were randomly assigned in 9 treatments including: RS1 (8 g resistant starch), RS2 (16 g resistant starch), PE1 (1800 mg phenolic compounds), PE2 (3600 mg phenolic compounds), RS1+PE1 (8 g resistant starch+1800 mg phenolic compounds), RS1+PE2 (8 g resistant starch+3600 mg phenolic compounds), RS2+PE1 (16 g resistant starch+1800 mg phenolic compounds), RS2+PE2 (16 g resistant starch+3600 mg phenolic compounds) in a completely randomized factorial design with 9 treatments and 6 replications. The weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio of calves, hematological and blood parameters were measured. The results showed that weight gain didn’ t affected by experimental treatments and feeding of resistant starch and phenolic extracts had no effect on daily weight gain, daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio of Holstein calves. The hematological and metabolic parameters did not affected by experimental treatments. But the effect of period on blood glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol and total protein was significant.

During the semen storage, oxidative damage is one of the major causes of reduced motility and fertility of spermatozoa. Therefore, antioxidants such as zinc and vitamin C in seminal plasma may be have the important effects on reduce the lipid peroxidation of spermatozoa by prevent the destroy effect of ROS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different levels of vitamin C and zinc in tris extender on spermatozoa characteristics of Arabi ram in liquid condition by 3×3×4 factorial arrangement with the use of completely randomized design. Treatments were included the levels of vitamin C (0, 150 and 300 μ g/ml), zinc (0, 90 and 180 μ g/ml) and storage periods of diluted semen (0, 2, 4 and 8 hours) in refrigerator temperature. Semen was collected weekly from 8 Arabic rams with 2-3 years old in breeding season and mixed together. The mixed semen was divided in to 9 parts and after dilution with tris, vitamin C and zinc levels were added. Spermatozoa characteristics include the progressive motility, viability and morphological defect rates were evaluated in various times of semen storage period. The effects of vitamin C, zinc and storage periods of semen on spermatozoa progressive motility, viability and morphological defect rates were significant (P<0. 05). Also, comparison the means by Duncan test revealed that the highest motility and viability rates and lowest morphological defect rates were observed in zero levels of vitamin C and zinc (P<0. 05). Therefore, vitamin C and zinc have no improved effects on motility, viability and morphological defect rates of spermatozoa in liquid storage condition of Arabian ram.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different concentrations of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on in vitro maturation (IVM) and lipid metabolism-related genes in oocytes. In vitro maturation of oocyte was performed in the presence of control (0. 0), 50, 100, and 200 μ M CLA. Nuclear status 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. The addition of 50 μ M CLA to the maturation media yielded a higher number of oocytes at MII stage in comparison to the control group (85. 3 ± 1. 94 versus 68. 0± 3. 04). Higher concentration of CLA (200 μ M) was significantly decreased (P<0. 05) the maturation rate of oocyte (35. 6± 1. 45). Cleavage, and blastocyte rate were higher in the 50 μ M CLA group in comparison to the control one. Also, the 200 μ M CLA were significantly decreased the cleavage and blastocyst rate (32. 87 and 13. 69, respectively). The relative expression of perilipin-2 and hormone sensitive lipase were significantly increased following the addition of 50 μ M CLA to the maturation media. Higher concentrations of CLA were significantly dropped the mRNA abundance of both perilipin-2 and hormone sensitive lipase gene in the oocyte. The CPT-1 mRNA abundance was not influenced by the addition of different concentrations of CLA to the maturation media. It seems that the 50 μ M CLA yielded a higher number of embryo in comparison to the higher concentration of CLA and excessive concentrations of CLA had undesirable effect on oocyte maturation and embryo development of ovine oocyte.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of supplementation of probiotic and peri-biotic supplements in dairy cows on quantitative and qualitative yield of milk, feed intake, digestibility of nutrients, and blood metabolites. Forty Holstein dairy cows with daily milk production of 37 ± 5 kg and initial weight of 700 ± 40 kg were divided into four groups in a completely randomized design. The experimental treatments consisted of: 1-control group (basal diet), 2-probiotic group (basal diet + 4 gr probiotic per head per day), 3-prebiotic group (basal diet + 14 gr perbiotypes per Ross per day), 4-Synbiotic group (basal diet + 4 gr probiotic + 14 gr perbiotic per head per day). The amount of feed consumed per cow was recorded throughout the entire period. Milk samples were collected twice a week for determining the milk composition. The milk composition, (fat, protein, lactose and fatty solids) was measured. Total feces were collected to determine digestibility in the last 7 days of experiment. In the last day of experiment, blood samples were taken at 4 hours after morning feeding by venogecte tubes. Rumen fluid were collected at 4 hours after morning feeding and immediately determined by pH. The results of the experiment showed that the amount of daily milk production and fat content increased and there was a significant difference with the control group (basal diet without additive) (p<0. 05). The results of the average dry matter consumption indicated that there was no significant difference between different diets. The highest digestibility coefficient of dry matter, fat and organic matter belonged to the group that consumed probiotics and had a significant difference with other groups (p<0. 05). Concentration of plasma glucose increased with increasing probiotic content, which caused a significant reduction in the control group compared to other diets (p<0. 05). With the use of probiotic, the pH of ruminal fluid in experimental animals did not change and there was no significant difference with other treatments (p<0. 05). In general, it can be concluded that probiotic supplements used in this study can improve the yield of dairy cows, but have no significant effect on the digestibility of nutrients.

Information theory is a branch of mathematics. Information theory is used in genetic and bioinformatics analyses and can be used for many analyses related to the biological structures and sequences. Bio-computational grouping of genes facilitates genetic analysis, sequencing and structural-based analyses. In this study, after retrieving gene and exon DNA sequences affecting milk yield in dairy cattle, the entropy in orders one to four for each gene and eta exons was calculated. In order to extract gene distances, mutual information method was calculated. The results of mutual information of DNA and exon sequences were entered as input into 7 general clustering algorithms. In order to aggregate the results of clustering, AdaBoost algorithm was used. Finally, the results of AdaBoost algorithm were investigated by GeneMANIA prediction server to explore the results from gene annotation point of view. Integrated result of each clustering algorithm due to AdaBoost algorithm, which implied as gene tree, indicated that proposed method biologically grouped set of genes as it was proved by their gene annotation using GeneMANI. We believe that the proposed method might be used with other DNA based clustering competitive methods and therefore, it can be used to group set of genes in other species.

Maintaining genomic diversity in goat populations in different parts of Iran is essential for breeding programs, increasing production, survival, resistance to diseases, and various environmental changing conditions. The aim of the present study was to determine the sequence of HVR1 from the mitochondrial genome of Iranian native goats including Sistani, Pakistani, Black and Lorry ecotypes (each of 4 heads), examine the probable variation in these populations, and plotting their phylogen relationship in comparison with some animal species. Total DNA extraction was performed using phenol-chloroform method. The extracted DNA was used as template for proliferation of HVR1 region of mitochondrial genome was used and the obtained bands were sequenced by Sanger method. The nucleotide sequences with 30 sequences from the same region of the mitochondrial genome related to other animal species derived from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) were used for genetic analysis and phylogenetic tree mapping. The average of haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity among species were 0. 994 and 0. 12891, and, in the ecotypes were 1 and 0. 09299, respectively. The numerical value of the replacement rate of dn/ds for the studied ecotypes and other species was calculated at 1. 17 and 1. 12, respectively, which indicates a positive selection in the process of evolution of this gene. The results of phylogenic tree of nucleotide sequence of HVR1 region were estimated from two major branches and 7 subspaces. Among the studied species, goat ecotypes were similar to sheep species. The genetic and phylogenic analysis of the studied species indicates the distinction and evolutionary path of each species and the HVR1 region can lead to the proper grouping of the species and sub-species that are split from them.

In this study, appropriate genetic co (variance) structure across ages of milk production in the Iranian Holstein cows was modeled using 35167 records originated from 1098 sires and 27236 dams. These data were collected from 110 herds during 2011 to 2015 by the Iranian Animal Breeding Center. For all lactations, birth year, birth month, calving year, calving season, calving month, age and herd were considered as the fixed effects. The effect of the animal age was fitted as a covariate. In this research, maternal genetic and non-genetic effects, the effect of herd-yearseason as well as the animal genetic effects were fitted as the random effects. For each lactation, to investigate the importance of fixed and random effects, univariate animal model was used. In order to fit the best model for genetic analysis of the five lactations pre-structured and unstructured multivariate models and repeatability model were used. The results show in comparison with pre-structure models, unstructured and repeatability models are less appropriate for genetic analysis of milk yield. The results derived from the best model indicate that milk yield is genetically changed up to 3rd lactation but no changes were found for the later lactations therefore, selection accuracy of Iranian Holstein cows could be increased when the additional milk records measured at the second and third lactations are used as well as the first lactation milk records. This issue should be studied economically as measuring the additional records takes more cost. In addition, it is suggested using appropriate models to increase the accuracy of estimated genetic parameters.

With increasing population, demand for chicken meat has increased and resource constraints have led to increased production with an emphasis on improving the productivity of inputs and energy indices, so studying energy consumption in broiler production is important. One of the important issue in broiler industry is energy consumption. In this study, energy consumption flow and amount of energy production were investigated for broiler farms in Alborz province. Data were collected through interviews and questionnaires. Input energies were consisted of feed, fuel (gas and gas oil), electricity, labor, equipment and chicken. Output energy were the broiler and manure. The total of input and output energies were obtained 125. 2, 24. 9 GJ/1000Birds, respectively. The highest share of energy consumption belonged to fuel (gas and diesel) with 50. 85% and feed with 42. 44%, and the machine and labor with 0. 16 and 0. 07 % were the lowest share among the input energies. Energy indices, including energy ratio and energy efficiency were obtained 0. 199 and 0. 019 kg/MJ, respectively. Comparison of energy in three levels of hatching: ˂ 15000, 15000≤ ˂ 30000 and ≥ 30000 chicks showed that total energy inputs were 139. 35, 130. 55, 105. 71, GJ/1000Birds, respectively; the ratio of energy was 0. 179, 0. 191, 0. 236 and energy productivity was 0. 017, 0. 019 and 0. 02 kg. MJ-1, respectively. Econometric model evaluation showed that chicken energy was the most significant input which affects the output in 1% level. If chicken energy increases 1MJ/1000birds, broiler meat production will increase 2. 68 kg. Sensitivity analysis results showed that the major Marginal physical productivity (MPP) was obtained for labor energy, followed by chicken energy. The MPP of machine, electricity, fuel and feed were negative indicating that these inputs applied more than the amount required or were not applied properly. Thus, development of broiler farm mechanization and increasing capacity of broiler units is recommended.