Effects of Different Dietary Levels of Whey Lactose as a Prebiotic Disaccharide on the Productive Performances and Selected Indices of the Caecal Micro-Environment in Broiler Chickens

AbstractThe primary aim of this study was to investigate the impact of three dietary levels of lactose (LAC) originating from conventional dried whey (DW) and the duration of these treatments (from 8 to 21 or to 42 days of age) on growth performance, basic post-slaughter traits and excreta quality of broiler chickens kept in cages. A secondary purpose was to investigate the effect of LAC level on some parameters of the caecal micro-environment and gross morphology in these birds. A total of 560 Ross 308 chickens (sex ratio 1:1) were assigned to 7 dietary combinations with 10 replicate cages of 8 birds per cage. The control group was fed basal diets consisting of maize, wheat and soybean meal. The other 6 groups received the same basal diets with DW added in amounts equivalent to a LAC dietary levels of 1, 2 or 3%. Only continuous feeding (day 8 to 42) with 1% and 2% levels of LAC was found to yield the overall body weight gain (BWG) during the whole 42-day rearing period, which was significantly higher than that on the control diet, with a larger share of breast meat in carcass at a 2% LAC. However, these effects were associated with greater faecal score values indicating more watery excreta compared with the control. Increasing levels of LAC augmented the relative caecal weight and length. A reduction in the caecal pH was confirmed at day 21 for birds fed 1% and 2% of dietary LAC. The lower pH values were correlated to an increased sum of total volatile fatty acids (VFA), causing large increases in the concentration of undissociated forms of individual VFA. The decline in plate counts of coliform bacteria was observed with 2% and 3% LAC, whereas the counts of lactic acid-producing bacteria (LAB) were higher at these two LAC levels. The present findings lead to the conclusion that the dietary level of 2% LAC originated from DW is the most effective in enhancing the productivity of broilers, with moderate occurrence of undesirable side effects.

Download Full-text

Effect of combined treatment with aflatoxin B 1 and T-2 toxin and metabolites on some production traits and lipid peroxide status parameters of broiler chickens

Acta Veterinaria Hungarica ◽

10.1556/avet.57.2009.1.8 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 57 (1) ◽

pp. 75-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

László Pál ◽

Károly Dublecz ◽

Mária Weber ◽

Krisztián Balogh ◽

Márta Erdélyi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Broiler Chickens ◽

Reduced Glutathione ◽

Body Weight Gain ◽

Control Diet ◽

Combined Treatment ◽

Lipid Peroxide ◽

Control Group ◽

Production Traits ◽

Feed Conversion ◽

Aflatoxin B

Three groups of cockerels were fed with a control diet, with a diet contaminated with T-2 and HT-2 toxin (0.31 and 0.26 mg/kg) or with that containing a combination of T-2 and HT-2 toxin (0.32 and 0.25 mg/kg) and aflatoxin B1(AFB1, 0.38 mg/kg) for 21 days. Body weight gain and feed conversion ratio did not differ significantly among the groups. Malondialdehyde concentration of the liver was lower in the group fed the diet contaminated with the combination of T-2 + HT-2 toxin and aflatoxin B1as compared to the control group or the group fed T-2 + HT-2 toxins. Reduced glutathione (GSH) content of the liver was lower in the T-2 + HT-2 group than in the group fed a combination of T-2, HT-2 and aflatoxin. Reduced glutathione content of the heart was higher in the T-2 + HT-2 group than in the control group. Mycotoxin contamination had no effect on glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in comparison to the control, but significantly lower GSH-Px activity was found in the heart of chickens in the T-2 + HT-2 + AFB1group than in the T-2 + HT-2 group. In this study, T-2 + HT-2 toxin and aflatoxin B1contamination of the diets did not affect the production traits adversely and did not exert additive effects on lipid peroxidation and on the glutathione redox system.

Download Full-text

Effect of Nanosilica and Bentonite as Mycotoxins Adsorbent Agent in Broiler Chickens’ Diet on Growth Performance and Hepatic Histopathology

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11072129 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 2129

Author(s):

Abdallah A. Ghazalah ◽

Mamduh O. Abd-Elsamee ◽

Kout Elkloub M. E. Moustafa ◽

Mohamed Abdelrazik Khattab ◽

Abd-Elrahim A. A. Rehan

Keyword(s):

Growth Performance ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Body Weight Gain ◽

Control Diet ◽

Dietary Treatment ◽

Control Group ◽

Feed Conversion ◽

Treatment Groups ◽

Four Levels ◽

Hepatic Histopathology

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by different strains of fungi, such as aspergillus, fusarium, and penicillium that can contaminate feed ingredients or the entire feed of poultry and animals. Mycotoxins can cause many serious complications to both humans and animals due to carcinogenic, mutagenic, and immunosuppressive disorders. Therefore, the present experiment aims to investigate the effect of broiler chickens’ diets supplemented with different levels of nanosilica (NS) as an adsorbent agent of mycotoxins on their growth performance and hepatic histopathology. Detectable levels of toxins were present in the feed before feeding, and all levels of mycotoxins were above the normal limit. A total of 180 one-day-old male Arbor Acres broiler chickens were allocated randomly to six treatment groups with three replicates per group, including ten chickens per replicate. The experiment lasted for five weeks, and dietary treatments included control diet and diets with four levels of nanosilica as 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.15%, and 0.20% as well as 0.50% bentonite (fixfin® Dry) diet. Bodyweight, body weight gain, average daily feed intake, and feed conversion ratio were measured weekly. At the end of the fifth week, six chickens per treatment were sacrificed to investigate the effects of NS and bentonite on carcass characteristics and hepatic histopathology. The results showed that providing broiler chickens’ diets with an adsorbent agent, such as NS or bentonite, can reduce the side effects of mycotoxins and enhance their growth performance. The best record was achieved with NS at 0.20%, compared with the control group and other dietary treatment groups. Accordingly, 0.20% of NS could be used in broiler chickens’ diets to minimize the harmful effects of mycotoxins.

Download Full-text

Dietary Encapsulated Essential Oils Improve Production Performance of Coccidiosis Vaccine-challenged Broiler Chickens

10.20944/preprints202002.0435.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jeong-Woo Lee ◽

Da-Hye Kim ◽

Yoo Bhin Kim ◽

Su-Been Jeong ◽

Sungtaek Oh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Weight Gain ◽

Essential Oils ◽

Feed Intake ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Volatile Fatty Acids ◽

Body Weight Gain ◽

Control Diet ◽

Vaccine Dose ◽

Production Performance

The present study was conducted to evaluate encapsulated essential oils as an alternative anticoccidial in coccidiosis vaccine challenged broiler chickens. A total of 600 day-old male broiler chicks were provided with no-added corn-soybean meal-based control diet or diets that contained either salinomycin or EO at 60 and 120 mg per kg of diet. On day 21, half of the control groups were orally challenged with a coccidiosis vaccine at 25 times higher than the recommended vaccine dose. During 22 to 28 days (i.e., one-week post coccidiosis vaccine challenge), the challenged chickens had decrease (P < 0.05) in body weight gain and feed intake but increase in feed conversion ratio compared with the non-challenged, naïve control chickens. However, dietary EO significantly counteracted (P < 0.05) coccidiosis vaccine-induced depression in body weight gain and feed intake. Increasing dietary EO linearly decreased (P < 0.05) the concentrations of the volatile fatty acids. Dietary SAL and EO affected gut morphology in chickens at 20 days posthatch. Increasing dietary EO linearly (P = 0.073) increased serum catalase activity. Collectively, our study shows that dietary EO increased coccidiosis vaccine-induced growth depression and altered gut physiology in broiler chickens.

Download Full-text

Dietary Encapsulated Essential Oils Improve Production Performance of Coccidiosis-Vaccine-Challenged Broiler Chickens

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani10030481 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 481 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jeong-Woo Lee ◽

Da-Hye Kim ◽

Yoo-Bhin Kim ◽

Su-Been Jeong ◽

Sung-Taek Oh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Weight Gain ◽

Essential Oils ◽

Feed Intake ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Volatile Fatty Acids ◽

Body Weight Gain ◽

Vaccine Dose ◽

Production Performance ◽

Control Group

The present study was conducted to evaluate the encapsulated essential oils (EEO) as an alternative to anticoccidials using a coccidiosis vaccine challenged model in broiler chickens. A total of 600 one-day-old male broiler chicks were provided with no added corn/soybean-meal-based control diet or diets that contained either salinomycin (SAL) or thymol- and carvacrol-based EEO at 60 and 120 mg per kg of diet. Before challenge at 21 days, each treatment had 10 replicates except for the no-added control group, which had 20 replicates. On day 21, half of the control groups were orally challenged with a coccidiosis vaccine at 25 times higher than the recommended vaccine dose. During 22 to 28 days (i.e., one-week post coccidiosis vaccine challenge), the challenged chickens had a decrease (P < 0.05) in body weight gain and feed intake but an increase in feed conversion ratio compared with the non-challenged, naïve control chickens. However, dietary EEO significantly counteracted (P < 0.05) coccidiosis-vaccine-induced depression in body weight gain and feed intake. Inclusion of dietary EEO linearly decreased (P < 0.05) the concentrations of the volatile fatty acids. Dietary SAL and EEO affected gut morphology in chickens at 20 days post-hatch. Dietary EEO linearly (P = 0.073) increased serum catalase activity as the inclusion level increased. Collectively, our study shows that dietary EEO increased coccidiosis-vaccine-induced growth depression and altered gut physiology in broiler chickens. Our study adds to the accumulating evidence that dietary EEO is proven to be an effective alternative to anticoccidials for broiler chickens.

Download Full-text

Effect of Probiotics on Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics in Broilers at Farmer’s Door

Advances in Research ◽

10.9734/air/2020/v21i530201 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-5

Author(s):

Hemant Kumar ◽

Shikha Kumari

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Growth Performance ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Body Weight Gain ◽

Control Diet ◽

Carcass Characteristics ◽

Control Group ◽

Feed Conversion ◽

Commercial Diet ◽

Group B

Aims: An experiment was conducted to investigate the comparative efficacy of two probiotics of different origins (yeast and bacterial based) on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of broilers chicken. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Purnea between January, 2020 to March, 2020. Methods: Two hundred and forty, day old chicks were kept and were randomly divided into 4 groups (A, B, C and D) and each group had 2 replicates of 20 chicks. Four (A, B, C and D) iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous (ME 3000 kcal/ kg and CP 21.56%) broiler starter and finisher (ME 3000 kcal/ kg and CP 18.75%) diets were formulated containing Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Bacillus cereus toyoi and mixture of both @ 0.2% except group A which was control. Birds were raised for first week on commercial diet. Broiler starter and finisher diets were fed from 8-28 and 29-42 days, respectively. Results: A significant (P<0.05) effect was observed on overall performance of the birds fed diet containing probiotics. Probiotics in feed at 0.2% Saccharomyces cerevisiae supplementation improved body weight gain (+12.7%), feed intake (3.8%) and feed conversion efficiency (-8.7%) compared with the control diet. Among groups, no significant differences were observed in carcass traits but highest dressing percentage was recorded in group-B followed by group-C than group-D and lowest in control group. Conclusion: The result indicated that the addition of probiotics in feed containing 0.2% Saccharomyces cerevisiae improved broiler growth performances and it is beneficial to be used as supplement in feed of broiler chickens.

Download Full-text

The Effect of Prebiotic Administration in the Diet at Unusual Times on Fecal Shedding of Salmonella enteritidis and Meat Characteristics of Broilers

International Journal of Enteric Pathogens ◽

10.15171/ijep.2019.17 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 75-79

Author(s):

saeed seifi ◽

Razieh Partovi ◽

Rahem Khoshbakht ◽

Ali Gilani

Keyword(s):

Broiler Chickens ◽

Salmonella Enteritidis ◽

Body Weight Gain ◽

Control Diet ◽

Foodborne Pathogen ◽

Poultry Meat ◽

Broiler Chicks ◽

Performance Parameters ◽

Breast Meat ◽

Yeast Product

Background: One of the most important foodborne pathogen which causes enteritis is Salmonella enteritidis (SE). Human cases are mostly associated with the consumption of eggs and poultry meat. Objective: An experiment has been carried out to evaluate the impacts of a yeast product as liquid prebiotic on bacterial shedding, performance indices, and some breast meat characteristics of broiler chickens challenged with SE. Materials and Methods: A total of 90 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to three different groups with three replicates for each treatment. The treatments were as follows: (1) CONT: birds were not challenged, (2) SE: birds were challenged with SE and fed with a control diet without prebiotic, and (3) SE+PREB: birds were challenged with SE and fed with liquid prebiotic. The challenge with SE was performed on birds in groups 2 and 3 at 28 days of age. Performance parameters and Salmonella shedding were determined on days 7 and 14 post infection. Twelve birds per treatment were sampled at the end of the trial for evaluating characteristics of breast meat. Results: The challenged birds which received prebiotic showed significantly higher body weight gain, lower feed intake, and lower SE shedding than SE group (P<0.05). No significant differences were seen in meat characteristics. Conclusion: Prebiotics can have beneficial effects even if they are used in the diet at an unusual time. The supplementation of yeast product can improve some performance parameters and reduce bacterial shedding in SE challenged chicken.

Download Full-text

Effect of dietary supplementation with extracts of rosemary, olive leaves, pine bark and quercetin on selected performance indices of broiler chickens and microbiological status of their ileum

Medycyna Weterynaryjna ◽

10.21521/mw.6143 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 75 (03) ◽

pp. 6143-2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

KAMIL SIERŻANT ◽

JANUSZ ORDA ◽

MAŁGORZATA KORZENIOWSKA ◽

ADAM MALICKI

Keyword(s):

Weight Gain ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Body Weight Gain ◽

Dietary Supplementation ◽

The Body ◽

Pine Bark ◽

Coliform Bacteria ◽

Control Group ◽

Olive Leaves ◽

Microbiological Status

A total of 180 1-day-old male Hubbard Flex broiler chickens were used in a 32-day model experiment to determine the effects of dietary supplementation with quercetin (Q) and with polyphenolic extracts of rosemary (RO), olive leaves (OL) and pine bark (PB) on the performance of the birds and the microbiological status of their ileum. The chickens were randomly allocated into 9 groups: the control group (with 6 replicates, 6 birds per cage) and 8 treatment groups (with 3 replicates in each, 6 birds per cage), and fed ad libitum throughout the experimental period with a basal isoenergetic and isoprotein control diet or with the same basal diet containing two concentrations of RO, OL and PB extracts (2.50 and 5.00 g/kg), and Q (0.25 and 0.50 g/kg). The body weight gain (BWG) and the feed conversion ratio (FCR) were determined during the experiment. At day 32, two randomly selected birds from each cage were slaughtered, and 5-centimetre-long pieces of the ileum beginning from the Meckel's diverticulum were collected to analyze the number of microorganisms in the intestinal content. Chickens’ weight gain and FCR were not affected by the OL-, PB- and Q-enriched diets, but supplementation with RO significantly (P < 0.05) impaired FCR. BWG was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced when chickens were fed with mixtures containing 2.50 and 0.25 g/kg of the polyphenolic additives. The number of CFUs of intestinal microorganisms was not significantly affected (P > 0.05) by the diet modification. However, a large decrease (P > 0.05) was observed in the CFUs of coliform bacteria (up to 96%), E. coli (up to 93%), Lactobacillus spp. (up to 89%), molds and yeasts (up to 95%) and anaerobic Clostridium spp. (up to 52%) in the ileum content of chickens supplemented with the additives containing polyphenols.

Download Full-text

PSXIII-8 Acute challenge with a DON-contaminated diet induce transient changes on microbiota composition in finishing pigs

Journal of Animal Science ◽

10.1093/jas/skz258.936 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 97 (Supplement_3) ◽

pp. 477-477

Author(s):

Mathilde Le Sciellour ◽

Olivier Zemb ◽

David Renaudeau

Keyword(s):

Body Weight Gain ◽

Control Diet ◽

Age Groups ◽

The Body ◽

Control Group ◽

Microbiota Composition ◽

Large White ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Long Term Impact ◽

The Impact

Abstract The present study aimed at describing the impact of a deoxynivalenol (DON) - contaminated diet on microbiota composition. A total of 147 (Large White x Landrace) x Piétrain pigs from two replicates were affected to four different experimental treatments. Pigs in the control group (CC) received a control diet from 99 to 154 days of age. Groups DC, CD, and DD were given the DON-contaminated diet (3.02 mg DON/kg feed) for 7 days at 113, at 134, and at 113 and 134 days of age, respectively. The DON-contaminated diet was formulated with a naturally contaminated corn. The body weight gain and the feed intake were daily recorded from day 99 to 154. Fecal samples were collected at the beginning of the experiment (d99), immediately after the end of the 7-days DON challenges (d119 and 140), and at the end of the experiment (d154) for further 16S rRNA sequencing. During challenge periods, ADFI was decreased by 26% to 32% (P < 0.05) and ADG by 40% to 60% (P < 0.05). Short-term DON challenges induced transient changes in microbiota composition. Two weeks after the end of the DON challenges, this composition went back to control state. Whatever the age, DON challenged pigs could be discriminated from controls in a sparse PLS discriminant analysis based on 88 operational taxonomic units or 27 functional pathways with 16% error-rate. The main predictors raised by this discrimination belonged to Streptococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae and Clostridiaceae families. In our experimental conditions, changes in microbiota composition observed during DON challenges were poorly correlated to changes in ADG and ADFI. This experiment revealed a transient modification of the microbiota composition following the exposition to DON-contaminated diet, with no long-term impact on pigs’ performance. This study is part of the Feed-a-Gene Project funded from the European Union’s H2020 Program (grant 633531).

Download Full-text

Growth Performance and Intestinal Morphometric Features of Broiler Chickens Fed on Dietary Inclusion of Yellow Mealworm (Tenebrio Molitor), Larvae Powder

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1079968/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shadi Sedgh-Gooya ◽

Mehran Torki ◽

Maryam Darbemamieh ◽

Hassan Khamisabadi ◽

Alireza Abdolmohamadi

Keyword(s):

Growth Performance ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Body Weight Gain ◽

Control Diet ◽

Tenebrio Molitor ◽

Intestinal Morphology ◽

Control Group ◽

Feed Conversion ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Remarkable Effect

Abstract Climate change and the lack of conventional feed ingredients have made edible insects a highly nutritious alternative to feed production. The use of insects as food may help solve socio-economic and environmental problems around the world and be in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In this study, the growth performance and intestinal morphology of broiler chickens were evaluated under the influence of adding different levels of Tenebrio molitor larvae meal (TM meal) to their diets. One hundred eighty day-old broiler chickens were divided into 3 treatments and 5 replications (12 chickens/pen). The experimental diets included a control diet and treatments containing 2.5 and 5% TM meal, which were fed to birds in the starter (0-10 days) and grower (11-25 days) stages, and during the final period (26-42 days), all birds were fed a regular finisher diet. The results showed that the diet containing TM meal had no remarkable effect on the mortality rate and feed intake (FI) of broilers (P > 0.05). In the period of starter, the addition of 2.5% TM meal to broilers diet increased body weight gain (BWG) than the control group (P £ 0.05). Also, the use of 2.5% TM meal in the starter period showed a significant effect on reducing the feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to the birds fed by the control diet (P £ 0.05). Besides, the height of the villus, the depth of the crypt, and the ratio of them were not altered among the different treatments (P > 0.05). Overall, it can be concluded that TM meal could improve growth performance in the starter period, and had no negative effects on broilers' performance and intestinal morphology in all the periods of the experiment.

Download Full-text

Effects of Lactobacillus reuteri and Streptomyces coelicolor on Growth Performance of Broiler Chickens

Microorganisms ◽

10.3390/microorganisms9061341 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 1341

Author(s):

Sarayu Bhogoju ◽

Collins N. Khwatenge ◽

Thyneice Taylor-Bowden ◽

Gabriel Akerele ◽

Boniface M. Kimathi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Broiler Chickens ◽

Lactobacillus Reuteri ◽

Body Weight Gain ◽

Streptomyces Coelicolor ◽

Control Diet ◽

Probiotic Bacteria ◽

Feed Consumption ◽

Feed Conversion ◽

Wheat Middlings ◽

Dietary Treatments

There are well documented complications associated with the continuous use of antibiotics in the poultry industry. Over the past few decades, probiotics have emerged as viable alternatives to antibiotics; however, most of these candidate probiotic microorganisms have not been fully evaluated for their effectiveness as potential probiotics for poultry. Recent evaluation of a metagenome of broiler chickens in our laboratory revealed a prevalence of Lactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri) and Actinobacteria class of bacteria in their gastrointestinal tract. In this study Lactobacillus reuteri and Streptomyces coelicolor (S. coelicolor) were selected as probiotic bacteria, encapsulated, and added into broiler feed at a concentration of 100 mg/kg of feed. In an 8-week study, 240 one day-old chicks were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments. Three dietary treatments contained two probiotic bacteria in three different proportions (L. reuteri and S. coelicolor individually at 100 ppm, and mixture of L. reuteri and S. coelicolor at 50 ppm each). The fourth treatment had no probiotic bacteria and it functioned as the control diet. L. reuteri and S. coelicolor were added to the feed by using wheat middlings as a carrier at a concentration of 100 ppm (100 mg/kg). Chickens fed diets containing L. reuteri and S. coelicolor mixture showed 2% improvement in body weight gain, 7% decrease in feed consumption, and 6–7% decrease in feed conversion ratios. This research suggests that L. reuteri and S. coelicolor have the potential to constitute probiotics in chickens combined or separately, depending on the desired selection of performance index.

Download Full-text