A study was conducted to investigate the effects of different betaine (BET) (0.0, 0.5 or 1.0 g/kg) and folic acid (FA) (0.0, 4.0 or 8.0 mg/kg) levels on performance, egg FA concentration and egg production of laying quails using 288 forty-two day-old Japanese quail in a 3 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatment based on randomized complete design. The results showed that none of the performance traits, except feed intake, was affected by dietary treatments. No effect of FA and BET supplementation was observed for egg specific gravity but egg shape index was affected throughout the experiment. No significant differences were observed for egg white, pH, weight and ratio, but Haugh unit (HU) was affected significantly by FA supplementation (P<0.01). High levels of FA supplementation (8 mg/kg) decreased the HU (P<0.01). Moreover there was a significant interaction between the FA and BET for HU (P<0.05) and increasing the BET level did not changed the HU at the low and medium levels of betaine, while decreased the HU at the highest level of FA (8 mg/kg). No effects of FA or BET were observed for egg yolk pH, egg yolk index and egg yolk percentage, but egg yolk FA content (EYFC) and egg yolk color was affected significantly by FA supplementation (P<0.01). EYFC increased from a low of 843.87 µg/kg for birds consuming the basal diet with no added FA, up to a high of 1456.25 µg/kg for birds consuming diets with 8 mg/kg of FA. Manuscript profile

A total of 220 broiler chicks in five groups were used to reveal the effects of different levels of 0.0, 1.5, 3.0 and 6.0 mL/L rosemary extract along with sodium nitrate (27.4 mg/L) in drinking water as compared to the control (without any supplement in water) on performance and antioxidant potential of treated broiler chickens. Body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were negatively affected by nitrate during finisher period and was compensated by all the rosemary levels. Both the blood uric acid and total antioxidant capacity were diminished by nitrate while consumption of 3.0 mL/L rosemary extract returned it to the control level. Nitrate decreased venous blood pO2, and rosemary extract levels of 3.0 and 6.0 mL/L increased pO2 to the same level as the control. Venous blood pCO2 was affected in an opposite way to pO2 by nitrate and rosemary extract. It is concluded that rosemary extract supplementation in drinking water can improve antioxidant ability and performance functions of broiler chickens treated with sodium nitrate. Manuscript profile

A study was conducted to compare the effects of iron hydrogen phosphate nanoparticles (FeHPO4) with iron sulfate (FeSO4-7H2O) on growth performance, carcass characteristics and mineral content of breast muscle in broiler chickens. A total of 200 one-day-old male Ross 308 broiler chicks were assigned randomly into four dietary groups with five replications of ten chicks per replicate. The basal diet (BD) included corn-soybean meal with 87.40, 85.13 and 82.24 mg Fe/kg diet in starter, grower and finisher feeding phases, respectively. Four dietary groups consisted of: group 1) BD + 80 mg/kg FeSO4, as control group; group 2) BD + 6.4 mg/kg FeHPO4 nanoparticles (FNPs); group 3) BD + 3.2 mg/kg FNPs; and group 4) BD + 1.6 mg/kg FNPs were provided during 1-42 d of age. The results showed that dietary groups did not significantly (P>0.05) affect the average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily weight gain (ADWG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), mortality rate, and European production efficiency factor (EPEF). Adding FNPs in dietary group 2 significantly (P= 0.04) reduced relative weight of abdominal fat compared to control group. Furthermore, there were cubic (P=0.05) and quadratic (P=0.02) responses to the addition of FNPs in dietary group 3 on carcass yield and relative weight of liver, respectively. Compared with birds fed the diet supplemented with 80 mg FeSO4/kg, birds fed supplemental FNPs in groups 2 and 3 had significantly increased Fe and Cu content in the breast muscle (P<0.05). There was no differences in Zn content of breast muscle among the dietary groups (P>0.05). This study concluded that, replacing FeSO4 with FNPs had no significant effect on growth performance, but it could significantly increase the iron content of breast muscle. Manuscript profile

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of horsetail (HT), vitamin C (VC) and organic zinc (OZ) supplements on growth performance, carcass yield, serum biochemical values and antioxidant status of broiler chickens. A total of 480, one-day-old male broiler chicks (Arbor Acres Plus) were allocated to 8 treatments diets in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial experiment including 2 levels of HT (0 and 0.5%), 2 levels of VC (0 and 250 mg/kg) and 2 levels of OZ (0 and 60 mg/kg). Results showed that feed intake (FI) was affected by HT and HT × VC × OZ interaction during starter period. During the finisher period, consumption of 250 mg/kg VC resulted in highest FI as compared with other treatments. During the whole experimental period, FI was affected by dietary incorporation of HT, VC, OZ, and their interaction. Moreover, body weight gain (BWG) was influenced by dietary incorporation of HT, VC, OZ, and their interaction during the starter period. Furthermore, greater proportional liver weight was observed in OZ birds. Proportional abdominal fat pad weight was decreased in VC birds as compared to control birds. Likewise, feeding HT diets decreased serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c). Dietary supplementation of VC increased activity of serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and the highest amount of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was also observed in chicks fed HT. Basically, it can be concluded that dietary supplementation of 60 mg/kg OZ can improve the liver function and these data suggest that 0.5% HT may have a beneficial effect on serum antioxidant in broilers. Manuscript profile