scholarly journals The effect of betaine supplementation on performance of laying hens in the tropical climate during the starting period

2021 ◽  
Vol 902 (1) ◽  
pp. 012043
Author(s):  
Z A Wahid ◽  
A Ratriyanto ◽  
S Prastowo

Abstract The study investigated the effects of dietary betaine on the growth performance of laying hens in a tropical climate during the starting period. In total, 192 laying hens strain Lohmann aged three weeks were assigned to four dietary treatments, each consisting of six replicates of eight birds. The dietary treatments included a basal diet (T0) and a basal diet supplemented with betaine at 6 mg/kg (T1), 12 mg/kg (T2), 18 mg/kg (T3). The treatments lasted for eight weeks. Temperature and relative humidity were measured with Hobo-U12, while the wet-bulb temperature was measured using Lutron HT-3027SD. The effect of betaine was not consistent where T3 decreased feed intake (FI) in week 2 but increased FI in weeks 4 and 5. Furthermore, T2 showed higher FI in weeks 6 and 7 than T0 (p<0.05). Accordingly, T2 and T3 led to lower weight gain in week 2, but they compensated with higher weight gain in week 4 when ambient temperature above 30°C occurred for 42 hours in a week. Overall, weight gain and body weight in week 8 was not affected by the treatment. It is concluded that the effect of betaine was more apparent when the birds were exposed to high ambient temperature.

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1381
Author(s):  
Tzuen-Rong J Tzeng ◽  
Tzu-Yu Liu ◽  
Chiao-Wei Lin ◽  
Pei-En Chang ◽  
Pei-Xin Liao ◽  
...  

Alternative growth promoters are able to not only effectively replace the traditional use of antibiotics but also provide additional health benefits for livestock and reduce food safety concerns. This study investigated the effects of dry Hydrastis canadensis on the laying performance and fecal microbial community of laying hens. Twenty-four Lohmann (LSL, white layer strain) hens were reared from 40 to 48 weeks of age and randomly allotted to four dietary treatments (six birds/treatment). The dietary treatments comprised a basal diet with no treatment as control, a basal diet plus 0.6% powder of dry Hydrastis canadensis roots (R) or leaves (L), and a basal diet plus 0.6% powder of a mixture of dry Hydrastis canadensis roots and leaves (1:1, LR). No mortality was observed in the whole experimental period. The results indicated that albumen height in the LR group was significantly greater than that in the control group. The diet supplemented with Hydrastis canadensis had no significant effects on egg production rate, egg weight, eggshell strength, eggshell thickness, Haugh unit, or yolk height during the whole experimental phase. However, principal coordinate analysis, comparative heat map analysis, and cluster dendrogram analysis of cecal microbiota showed distinct clusters among the groups treated with Hydrastis canadensis and the control group. Regarding blood biochemical parameters, serum cholesterol levels were significantly lower in all Hydrastis canadensis-treated groups compared with those in the control group. Moreover, serum low-density lipoprotein levels were lower in hens supplemented with the leaf of Hydrastis canadensis. The abundances of the phyla Fusobacteria and Kiritimatiellaeota were increased (p < 0.05) in laying hens fed with 0.6% Hydrastis canadensis leaves, whereas the abundance of the phylum Firmicutes in cecum digesta decreased in response to treatment with Hydrastis canadensis roots and leaves. The relative abundance of the Fusobacterium genus was higher in the LR group compared with that in the control. On the contrary, we found a different trend in the Synergistes genus. The potential influences of these microbiota on the performance of laying hens were discussed. The results demonstrate that Hydrastis canadensis can improve the egg albumen height and modulate the cecum digesta microbiota composition of laying hens.


Lipids ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Takeuchi ◽  
Osamu Noguchi ◽  
Seiji Sekine ◽  
Aiko Kobayashi ◽  
Toshiaki Aoyama

2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 967-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Maria F.P.P. Marques ◽  
Mari L. Bernardi ◽  
Carolini F. Coelho ◽  
Mirian Almeida ◽  
Oscar E. Morales ◽  
...  

The present study assessed the association of tail-biting lesions in finishing pigs with weight gain, occurrence of locomotion or respiratory disorders and abscesses during finishing period, and carcass condemnation at slaughter. The study was carried out on 4 different farms. For each animal with a tail biting lesion, two control pigs were selected. The total number of animals in the study was 312, with 104 of them being tail-bitten. Tail lesions were classified according to the degree of severity into four scores: score 0 -normal tail withou lesion; score 1-3 - increasing lesion severity, and score 4 - healed lesions. Overall, the occurrence of severe tail lesions (score 3) varied from 55 to 73% of tail-bitten pigs among farms. On all farms, healing of tail lesions was observed in 95% to 100% of the animals at the evaluation performed within 41-43 days after the commencement of the study. In two out of the four evaluated farms, pigs with score of 3 showed lower weight gain (P<0.05) compared with score 0 pigs. Before slaughter, the occurrence of locomotion problems and nodules/abscesses was associated (P<0.05) with the presence of tail-biting lesions. At slaughter, tail-biting lesions were associated (P<0.05) with the presence of abscesses, lung lesions (pleuritis and embolic pneumonia) or arthritis in carcasses. Carcass condemnation was associated with the presence of tail-biting lesions (P<0.05). Overall, carcass condemnation rate was 21.4%, of which animals with tail-biting lesions accounted for 66.7% of condemnations. Among the animals diagnosed with cannibalism at farm level, only two had not healed their lesions at slaughter. The fact that there were a lot of carcass condemnations, despite the fact that tail-bitten animals had no more active lesions, suggests that different situations may be observed between the field and slaughter, reinforcing the need to analyze pigs both at farm and slaughter to allow proper assessment of losses related to tail biting. Collectively, the observations of the present study show that complications associated with tail-biting found in slaughterhouses are probably underestimating field prevalence.


2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-417
Author(s):  
Huan Shi ◽  
Wan Lin Zhang ◽  
In Ho Kim

An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of Bacillus subtilis RX7 and B2A supplementation on egg production, egg quality, blood profile, and excreta Salmonella population in laying hens. A total of 192 Hy-Line Brown laying hens (40-wk-old) were randomly assigned into four dietary treatments, each of which was replicated eight times with six hens per replicate in a 5 wk trial. The dietary treatments were NC, which is a basal diet without antibiotics or Bacillus subtilis; PC, which is an NC + 0.5 g kg−1 antibiotic (virginiamycin) diet; BSR, which is an NC + 0.5 g kg−1 Bacillus subtilis RX7 (1.0 × 109 colony forming units g−1); and BSB, which is an NC + 0.5 g kg−1 Bacillus subtilis B2A (1.0 × 109 colony forming units g−1). The results showed that hens receiving BSB diets had increased (P < 0.05) eggshell thickness over hens fed the NC, PC, and BSR diets (week 3). The excreta Salmonella counts in the PC, BSR, and BSB groups were lower than the NC group (P < 0.05). These results indicate that dietary inclusion of Bacillus subtilis RX7 and B2A strains effectively decreased excreta Salmonella counts without any detrimental effects on the performance of laying hens.


1970 ◽  
Vol 39 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 89-96
Author(s):  
A Akter ◽  
ZH Khandaker

The study was conducted to investigate the use of Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) as a source of phosphorus in growing cattle. Twelve indigenous growing bull (initial live weight of 150 ± 10 kg) were assigned to four dietary treatments, viz. basal diet (T0) containing 0.14% P and basal diet was supplemented with TSP to provide P levels of 0.24 (T1), 0.35 (T2) and 0.45% (T3) respectively. All diets were formulated to be iso-nitrogenous and iso-energetic. Significant (P<0.05) differences in dry matter intake (DMI) were observed among the dietary treatments. The DMI (g/d) of animals fed diet having 0.35% P was higher than the diet containing 0.14, 0.24 and 0.45% P. The apparent digestibility of DM and OM were significantly (P<0.01) affected but CP and EE were not significantly (P>0.05) affected by the supplementation of P from TSP. The digestibility of CF and NFE was significantly (P<0.01) higher for diets T2 (0.35% P) compared to diet containing 0.14, 0.24 and 0.45% P. Apparent absorption of P was significantly (P<0.05) higher in animals fed on diet containing 0.14% phosphorous (T0) than diets with 0.35 and 0.45% phosphorus and true absorption (g/100g) of P was significantly (P<0.01) higher in the animals fed on diets T0 (0.14% P) than those fed on other diets (T1, T2 and T3. Phosphorus balance was significantly (P<0.01) higher for diets T1 (4.37 g/d), T2 (5.75 g/d) and T3 (7.09 g/d) compared to diet T0 (2.87 g/d) and highest value was observed on diet T3. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference among the mean values for live weight gain and the highest daily live weight gain was observed for diet T2 (69.44g) compared to the other diets T0, T1 and T3). The average serum P concentration of animals fed on diets T1, T2 and T3 was significantly higher (P<0.01) than that of animal fed on diet T0. The results suggested that supplementation of TSP as a source of phosphorus increased total DMI, digestibility of CF, NFE, P retention, P content of blood serum and live weight gain of growing calves. Therefore, supplementation of 0.21% P from TSP may be used in growing cattle ration. Key words: Phosphorus; Triple super phosphate; Growing bull DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjas.v39i1-2.9681 Bang. J. Anim. Sci. 2010, 39(1&2): 89-96


Behaviour ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francien De Jonge ◽  
Marek Špinka ◽  
Gudrun Illmann

AbstractIn some nursings, piglets initiate nose contacts with their mother and emit typical 'croaking' vocalizations. We examined whether the croaking vocalizations reflect the condition of the piglets and whether the sows increase their maternal investments in response to those vocalizations. The following predictions were tested: (i) Piglets with lower weight gain should vocalize more than piglets with higher weight gain; (ii) piglets' milk intake is lower in those nursings in which they vocalize after milk ejection; (iii) piglets make more croaking vocalization in nursings which were preceded by longer intervals since the last nursing with milk ejection; (iv) sows permit longer post-ejection massage in nursings in which piglets vocalized immediately after milk ejection; (v) sows decrease the interval until the succeeding nursing after those nursings in which the piglets have vocalized. Hypotheses (i) and (ii) were investigated by controlling the inter-nursing intervals in 14 sows and recording the milk intake of individual piglets' over 24 hours during days 7 or 8 post partum (Experiment 1). Hypotheses (iii) to (v) were examined through analysing video recordings of undisturbed six h nursing sequences in 29 sows (Experiments 2 and 3). The majority of our predictions were not confirmed: piglets did not vocalize more (either before or after milk ejection) after longer intervals since last milk ejection; they did not vocalize more in nursing in which they received less milk; and it was not the piglets or the litter with a lower milk intake or lower weightgain that emitted more vocalization. Neither of our predictions regarding the influence of croaking vocalizations on maternal investment was confirmed. The vocalizations were in no way associated with the length of the following inter-nursing interval or with the permission of longer udder massage. To conclude, piglet croaking vocalizations during nursings are not reliable indicators of piglet condition and are not used by sows to adjust their maternal investment.


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