In this experiment, the effect of prebiotic Bio-Mos® (MOS) and types of feed formulation (total and digestible amino acids) were evaluated on performance and the small intestine microflora in laying hens for a duration of 10 wks. A total of 168 Hy line W-36 laying hens, with an initial age of 73 wks, were randomly allocated to 4 dietary treatments, 7 replicates and 6 birds in each replicate. The study was conducted in a completely randomized design with 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments including 2 preboitic levels (0, 0.5 kg/ton of diet) and 2 types of AA feed formulation (total and digestible). Egg production (EP), egg weight (EW), egg mass (EM), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not affected significantly by MOS, types of AA feed formulation and their interaction. Egg quality parameters including, specific gravity (SG), shell thickness (ST), shell weight (SW), haugh unit (HU) and yolk color (YC) did not affected by P-BM and types of AA feed formulation (P>0.05). No significant effects were observed on ileum Lactobacillus count by MOS, types of AA feed formulation and their interaction (P>0.05). There were no significant differences in the rate and gas production volume of experimental treatments (P>0.05). In conclusion, feed additive used in this study did not significantly affect the laying hens performance; intestinal Lactobacillus count, cecum gas production and microbial population. پرونده مقاله

Utilization of fecundity genes such as GDF9 and BMP15 can help improve reproductive traits in sheep breeding programme. To evaluate effects of missense mutations on protein function, the polymorphisms of GDF9 and BMP15 genes were screened in twelve mehraban sheep using DNA sequencing, followed by protein structure modeling. Six single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) known as FecG mutations (G1-G6), were detected in exons 1 and 2 of GDF9 gene. Mutations of G1 (GDF9 exon 1 g.2118 G>A), G4 (GDF9 exon 2 g.3451 T>C) and G6 (GDF9 exon 2 g.3974 G>A) have shown amino acid substitution. None polymorphism was detected in exon 1 and exon 2 of BMP15 gene. Based on identified polymorphisms, individuals were classified into three haplotypes of wild haplotype (without mutation), haplotype A (simultaneous mutations of G1, G2, G3 and G4) and haplotype B (simultaneous mutations of G5 and G6). The 3D-structure of GDF9 protein in A and B haplotypes was rotated 90˚ and 45˚ than wild haplotype, respectively. The missenses G1/p.Arg87His, G4/p.Glu241Lys and G6/p.Val332Ile variants were benign. However both the missenses of G7/p.Val371Met and G8/p.Ser315Phe were probably damaging. Phylogenetic tree of GDF9 gene revealed that individuals with A and B haplotypes were distinct from wild haplotypes with bootstrapping values of 63 and 76, respectively. In conclusion, GDF9 protein in A and B haplotypes showed a higher performance than wild haplotype due to synergism effects of simultaneous mutations. These types of mutations with effect on turn and helix of GDF9 conservative regions showed physical and functional interaction with TGFβ proteins. پرونده مقاله