A total of 300 one-day-old broilers were randomly assigned to six dietary treatments in a 3 by 2 factorial treatment arrangement to evaluate the effects of sodium selenite (SS), selenium yeast (SeY), and selenized glucose (SeGlu) supplements, as well as their combination with probiotic, on broiler growth performance, histomorphology, microbial population of the intestine, and immune response. Among the factors investigated were selenium sources (0.3 mg/kg) and probiotic levels (0 and 100 mg/kg of diet). The treatments were tested on five floor pens with ten birds each. Over the entire period, broilers fed SeGlu had a higher body weight gain and a lower feed conversion ratio than broilers fed SeY or SS (P<0.05). Interaction results showed that broilers fed SeGlu plus probiotic had higher lactic acid bacteria counts and lactic acid bacteria/coliform ratios in the ileum than those fed SeY without probiotic (P<0.05). Furthermore, when compared to SS alone, broilers fed SeGlu plus probiotic had greater villus height, villi height to crypt depth ratio, villus surface area, and goblet cell density (P<0.05). Broilers fed diets containing supplemental SeGlu had higher total anti-sheep red blood cells (SRBC) titre, IgG, and IgM titers than SeY and SS (P<0.05). Furthermore, broilers fed SeGlu plus probiotic dietary supplementation had higher IgG at 42 d. As a result, it could be argued that SeGlu, as a novel and simple Se source plus probiotic, is more effective than SS and SeY in improving broiler performance, microbial population, intestinal morphology, and immune response. تفاصيل المقالة

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)extract as an alternative to flavophospholipol on performance, carcass characteristics, antioxidant status,meat quality, intestinal morphology and ileal microflora of broilers. A total of 220 day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were used in a completely randomized design with five treatments each replicated four times (11 birds per replicate) for 42 days. Experimental diets consisted of a basal diet without any additives as a control group and supplemented with flavophospholipol (100 ppm) or three levels of lavender extract (200, 300 or 400 ppm). Body weight, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were measured during the starter (1- 10 d), grower (11- 24 d) and finisher (25-42 d) periods. Meat quality indices and jejunum histomorphology were analyzed at 42 days of age. In addition to the mentioned measurements, ileal contents were assayed for Coliforms and Lactobacillus strains. The results revealed that lavender extract at 400 ppm level significantly increased feed intake during the whole rearing period, especially in finisher period and also improved body weight gain and feed conversion ratio during the grower, finisher and entire rearing periods. There were no significant differences in the carcass traits and the relative weight of internal organs of the broilers (including breast, thighs, liver, heart, gizzard and abdominal fat). All lavender supplementation levels significantly decreased crypt depth and increased villus height: crypt depth ratio compared to the control group. The Coliform counts in the ileal digesta significantly decreased in birds fed with 400 ppm lavender extract. The thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance and cooking loss were significantly decreased by supplementing the basal diet with 300 or 400 ppm lavender extract. In overall, the results of this experiment showed that lavender extract, esp. at 400 ppm level, could be used as a good alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in the diet of broiler chickens. تفاصيل المقالة

The present study was designed to study the chemical composition, apparent and true metabolizable energy values of the walnut meal and to evaluate the effects of different levels of walnut meal (0, 10, 20 and 30%) on Japanese quail's growth performance, blood metabolites, relative weight of different organs, malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in breast meat and egg yolks' cholesterol. This study was conducted as a completely randomize design with 288 unsexed Japanese quails randomly dividing into 4 treatments with 4 replicates of 18 birds each. As a result of this study, no significant differences were found for feed intake and feed conversion ratio (P>0.05), except the birds fed 30% walnut meal showed lower weight gain compared to the control at 7-21 days of age (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in serum glucose, uric acid, serum aspartate aminotranspherase (AST) and alanine aminotranspherase (ALT) activities between different dietary treatments. The serum low density lipoprotein (LDL), cholesterol and triglyceride tended to decrease linearly (P<0.01) as the walnut meal levels were increased. The serum high density lipoprotein (HDL) level in quails fed 10% walnut meal were significantly higher than control group (P<0.05). Consumption of different levels of walnut meal significantly decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in breast meat of chicks aged 42 d (P<0.01). Different dietary treatments had no effect on the relative weight of different organs and carcass traits. In general, walnut meal is a good source of energy (apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen (AMEn) 3689 kcal/kg), oil (23%) and crude protein (40%) and could be used up to 20% for young chicks and 30% for older chicks, without any adverse effect on growth performance. تفاصيل المقالة