ابوالقاسم گلیان

 Feed cost has gradually increased in poultry production worldwide. One approach to minimizing production cost is dietary manipulation of nutrient supplies through improved feed efficiency. The inclusion of lipids in broiler diets is essential to meet metabolisable energy requirement. Great amounts of animal fats and vegetable oils are usually added to broiler diets to increase their energy content. However, several factors can affect lipids digestion, both related to the animal characteristics such as bird age, genetic strain, secretion and activity of digestive enzymes, and to the diet composition such as type of fat used as lipid supplement, ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids in the diet, presence of pentosans and dietary fiber. Within this reality, researches have been conducted to study the increased digestibility of oils and fats by emulsifying substances, such as bile salts and phospholipids. Lysophospholipid (LPL) is a more effective biosurfactant in emulsifying properties than bile salts and soy lecithin because one molecule in the hydrophobic tail is removed, indicating more stability in the aqueous environment of the gastrointestinal tract. Another action of lysophospholipids is related to the antibacterial effect. They may modify the biological structure of bacteria causing changes in membrane permeability, raising the speculation of a combined effect with organic acids on poultry gut health. The changes in membrane permeability by lysophospholipids may facilitate the ion dissociation of the organic acids inside the bacteria. In turn, the control of the intestinal microbiota through these additives could preserve the integrity of endogenous, consequently, the present study was designed to investigate the effects of dietary LPL supplementation in diets differing in fat on blood parameters, intestinal morphology, ceca microbiome and performance in broiler chicks.

This experiment was performed in a completely randomized design based on factorial arrangement to evaluate the effect of lysophospholipid supplementation (0 and 0.25g/kg) in corn-soybean meal diets containing three fat sources (soybean oil, tallow and their blend 50: 50%) and each at two levels (1.5 and 3%) with 12 isocaleric and isonitrogenous starter diets. Each diet was fed to six replicates of 10 chicks each during 1 to 14 days of age. Performance traits, jejunal morphology, serum lipid composition, cecal microbial population of one chick from each replicate were measured at day 14.

the interaction effects of lysophospholipid supplementation, fat source and fat level were not significant on broiler performance during 1 to 14 days of age, except for the lysophospholipid supplementation and fat level that was significant on feed intake in the starter period. Among the main effects only fat levels had a significant effect on body weight, body weight gain in the starter period, and 3% fat level compared to 1.5% improved body weight and body weight gain. These results are in agreement with zampiga et al, (2016) that demonstrated the addition of the lysophospholipid did not statistically improve final body weight and daily weight gain of broilers in the whole period of trial (0–42 d). These observations are partially in contrast with Melegy et al. (2010) who reported that the use of an emulsifier based on lysolecithin at the dosage of 0.25 or 0.5 kg/ton of feed significantly improved these productive parameters. Other factors may be affect on broiler performance such as inappropriate dose of lysophospholipid in diet, low energy levels of the experimental diets, use of 3 factors in the experimental design, and low bird population in each treatment that combined the effects. The Interaction effects of lysophospholipid supplementation, fat source and fat level were not significant on jejunal villus height, villus width, diameter of epithelium layer, crypt depth and villus height to crypt depth ratio. The interaction effects of lysophospholipid supplementation and fat levels in diet showed a significant effect on villus width. The effect of fat levels was significant for villus height and it increased by the use of 3% levels. The Interaction effect of lysophospholipid supplementation, fat source and fat level was not significant on the concentration of triglyceride, cholesterol, HDL and LDL in serum of broiler chicks. The interaction effect of lysophospholipid supplementation and fat level in diet was significant on the concentration of triglyceride level, and the interaction effect of lysophospholipid supplementation and fat source in diet was significant on LDL in serum lipid level of broiler chicks. The main effect of lysophospholipid supplementation was significant on the concentration of triglyceride, and also the effect of fat source was significant on cholesterol and HDL in serum of broiler chicks. The Interaction effects of lysophospholipid supplementation, fat source and fat level was not significant for lactobacillus and E-coli population in ceca. The main effect of lysophospholipid supplementation was significant increase on the lactobacillus population in ceca, and the effect of fat level in diet was significant decrease on the E-coli population in ceca.

It can be concluded in this study that of lysophospholipids supplementation did not have a significant effect on performance in broiler chickens during the starter period.

This research was undertaken to evaluate the effects of different levels of dietary fiber and fat on the growth performance of broiler chicks using the central composite design and response surface methodology at 1-7 d and 7-14 d of age. The response surface methodology is a set of statistical and mathematical methods that help the researcher in design of experiment within the incomplete factorial designs. In this method, the obtained data is converted into a mathematical model and the obtained model is optimized to determine the values of the input variables in order to achieve the best output.

This study was carried out at the Research Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. A total of 420 one-day-old Ross 308 male broiler chicks with average weights of 46.90 ± 1.03 g were randomly distributed into 60 battery brooder cages. According to the scheme produced by 3-levels, 3-factors central composite design (CCD), 60 cages of 7 birds each were assigned to 15 experimental diets containing 3 levels of sugar beet pulp (SBP; 0.00, 1.75 and 3.5%), tallow (T; 0.00, 0.50 and 1.00%), and soybean oil (SO; 0.00, 0.50 and 1.00%), from 1 to 7 d and 7 to 14 d of age. Diet samples were analyzed for neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber was calculated from the difference of total crude fiber from its insoluble fraction. Fatty acids profiles of tallow and soybean oil were determined using gas chromatography. The average daily body weight gain (ADG) was calculated from the weight gain of birds in each cage. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was corrected for mortality and represented as grams of feed consumed by all birds divided by grams of body weight gain. The experimental data (60 data lines) obtained by CCD were fitted to the second-order polynomial equation by Minitab 2017.

The polynomial equation from raw experimental data for ADG (R2 = 0.79; root MSE = 1.65) and FCR (R2 = 0.88; root MSE = 0.14) at 7d of age was generated as follows: ADG (g/bird) = 27.54 – 1.07 × SBP – 5.57 × T – 1.99 × SO – 0.17 × SBP × SBP + 1.95 × T × T + 1.77 × SO × SO – 0.45 × SBP × T – 0.05 × SBP × SO – 0.71 × T × SO FCR= 0.87 – 0.03 × SBP + 0.38 × T – 0.08 × SO + 0.05 × SBP × SBP – 0.29 × T × T + 0.13 × SO × SO + 0.15 × SBP × T + 0.04 × SBP × SO + 0.002 × T × SOThe estimated parameters for SBP and T terms in the ADG model, and SBP, T, SO, SBP×SBP and SBP×T terms in the FCR model were significant. In the ADG and FCR models the linear terms had higher contribution to explain existing variation in the response of the chicks. Maximum ADG was observed with diet containing 0.15% SBP, 0.00% T and 0.00% SO and minimum FCR was observed with diet containing 0.07% SBP, 0.00% T and 0.28% SO. The predicted ADG and FCR at the optimal points were 27.54 g/bird per day and 0.96, respectively. The coefficient estimates for ADG and FCR models and the corresponding absolute t-values showed that among the investigating nutrients and their interactions, the linear effect of dietary SBP the largest effect on ADG and FCR of chicks. Lack of fit for both ADG and FCR models was insignificant, showing that the observed data are in good agreement with the model. The polynomial equation from raw experimental data for ADG (R2 = 0.78; root MSE = 3.60) and FCR (R2 = 0.80; root MSE = 0.14) at 14d of age was generated as follows:ADG (g/bird) = 52.50 – 7.81 × SBP – 26.01 × T + 14.37 × SO + 0.66 × SBP × SBP + 11.22 × T × T – 14.17 × SO × SO + 3.58 × SBP × T + 0.27 × SBP × SO – 3.46 × T × SOFCR = 1.01 + 0.07 × SBP + 0.35 × T – 0.26 × SO + 0.02 × SBP × SBP – 0.10 × T × T + 0.26 × SO × SO + 0.03 × SBP × T + 0.03 × SBP × SO + 0.14 × T × SOThe estimated parameters for SBP, T, T×T, SO×SO and SBP×T terms in the ADG model, and SBP, T and SO terms in the FCR model were significant. In the ADG and FCR models the linear terms had higher contribution to explain existing variation in the response of the chicks. Maximum ADG and minimum FCR were observed with diet containing 0.30% SBP, 0.00% T and 0.50% SO. The predicted ADG and FCR at the optimal points were 56.65 g/bird per day and 0.95, respectively. The coefficient estimates for ADG and FCR models and the corresponding absolute t-values show that among the investigating nutrients and their interactions, the linear effect of dietary SBP the largest effect on ADG and FCR of chicks. Lack of fit for both ADG and FCR models was significant, showing that a more complicated modeling method or other testing with extra variables should be made.

Current results showed that with increasing age and evolution of the birds’ gastrointestinal tract, the negative effects of soluble fibers were decreased and the broilers will be able to digest and absorb fats more efficiently. Central composite design reduces the number of trials and costs. Response surface model can be used to describe the relationship of nutrients to reach the optimum point.

 Modern layer strains have high genetic potential for egg production, and may produce eggs for more than one laying cycle by inducing molting. Good egg production is obtained when adequate nutrition is provided, one of the most important nutrients is protein, particularly limited nutritional essential amino acid. Additionally, in layer flocks feed represents more than 70% of the cost of production. In this context, protein is one of the most costly nutrients and therefore there is a benefit in reducing any excess protein in the feed by making use of synthetic amino acids wherever feasible to reduce both the excess waste of nitrogen and the production cost. Synthetic amino acids such as methionine, lysine and threonine are commonly used in the poultry industry because those are limiting in diets based on cereal and soybean meal and are now readily available at a competitive cost. The essential amino acid, threonine, is the third limiting amino acid. Most of the previous research has been done on determining the amino acids requirements of laying hens in the first production cycle, and information on laying hens requirements in the second production cycle is very limited. As a result, the nutrient requirements of second-cycle hens are assumed to be similar to those observed in hens during the first laying cycle in the strain booklet guide and or NRC, 1994. The objective of this study was to determine the digestible Threonine (dig Thr) requirement of laying hen during the second production cycle fed wheat-soy diet as measured by laying performance.

 The birds that used for this experiment were selected from a flock that were molted at the 80wk of age on a non-fasting feeding program according to the molting recommendation by Hy-line W36 laying hens guide and had 103wk age. Hens were selected according to body weight and egg production. The pre-experimental period was two weeks for acclimatization. Basal diet were formulated according to the guidelines in the Hy-Line W-36 Commercial Management Guide (2016) according to the average pre-experimental period data; egg production less than of 80% and feed intake 98 g/b/d. Three hundred and eighty four layers were distributed to the 6 increasing levels of dig Thr 0.44, 0.46, 0.48, 0.50, 0.52 and 0.54%, with Thr-to-Lys ratio of 60, 63, 66, 69, 72 and 75%, respectively in a completely randomized design, with 8 replicates and 8 birds per experimental unit. The experiment lasted from 105 to 116 weeks of ages. All hens were weighed at the beginning and at the end of the experimental period. Birds were given artificial light (16L: 8D). Feed and water were provided ad libitum. Egg production (number and weight) and mortality were recorded daily, whereas feed consumption was measured every 4wks as feed disappearance. The daily intakes of Thr were calculated by multiplying the concentration of each in the experimental diet by feed conception. Digestible threonine requirement for optimal laying performance response parameters such as egg production (EP), egg mass (EM) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) to the daily dig Thr consumption by using NLIN procedure, through linear and quadratic broken-lines and quadratic polynomial regression fit models.

 The increasing dig Thr levels showed linear effect on egg weight, and quadratic effect on egg production (EP), egg mass (EM), and feed conversion ratio (FCR). The EP and EM increased and FCR improved linearly as dietary dig Thr levels increasing up to 0.48% (Thr-to-Lys ratio of 66%), and then EP and EM decreased and FCR deteriorate. The dig Thr requirements for the optimization of laying performance was depends on what parameter is taken into consideration for optimization and it is possible to compare models by their R2 and MAE. In this study, the model that provided the best fit was the quadratic polynomial regression model for EP, EM and FCR. The predicted dig Thr requirements with quadratic polynomial regression model for optimal EP, EM and FCR were 502, 505 and 517 mg/b/d, respectively. The dig Thr requirement to produce 1 g of EM was 9.57 mg. The optimum values estimated for FCR was slightly higher compared to those estimated for EP and EM.

 The outcomes of the present study showed that, in the wheat-soy based diet formulated for second cycle of laying hen the threonine is a limited amino acid. The dig Thr requirements vary according on what parameter is taken into consideration for optimization. The dig Thr requirement for optimized FCR is higher than EP and EM. In the wheat-soy based diet formulated for second cycle of laying hen the level of digestible Thr 0.48% (Thr-to-Lys ratio of 66%) were recommended.

In recent years, increasing feed costs in broiler production encouraged nutritionists to reduce feeding expenditure, along with maintaining optimal performance of broiler chickens and minimizing environmental pollution. Phosphorus and calcium are two important minerals in the poultry diets, which is necessary to accurately feeding these minerals in the poultry nutrition. Environmental contamination, as a result of over-feeding of phosphorus by poultry, is a matter of concern, which has urged researchers to seek solutions such as reducing dietary phosphorus concentrations without adversely affecting the growth performance. Also, due to the interaction effect of phosphorus and calcium in the gastrointestinal tract, the ratio and balance between these two elements is also important. It has been argued that broiler chicks, when fed by diets containing lower levels of phosphorus and calcium, absorb these materials with higher efficacy and thus reduce their excretion from the gastrointestinal tract. Yan et al. (2005) reported that feeding broiler chickens with diets containing reduced levels of phosphorus and calcium during starter phase, and then using diets containing sufficient levels of phosphorus and calcium, caused better utilization and bone mineralization. Birds respond to dietary phosphorus and calcium content, by increasing the expression of mRNA encoding calcium and phosphorus transporters in the small intestine.More studies are needed to optimize the levels of phosphorus and calcium in the early stages of growth, as well as fine-tuning the appropriate time period for decreasing them with the aim of designing nutritional strategies that increase the utilization of phosphorus and improving the growth performance and mineralization of the bones. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of phosphorus and calcium restriction during grower phase and its effect on growth performance, blood and bone parameters and adaptation response in broiler chicks. A total of 648 one-day-old male broiler chicks of the Ross 308 strain were used in this study. The chicks were randomly distributed into floor pens (1.2 m × 1m). During the starter period (1-10 d), all birds were fed with a standard diet containing recommended nutrients of the Ross 308 strain. Then, the experimental diets in the grower period (11-24 d) were included: 1) standard diet as control 2) diets with 15% reduction in available phosphorus (aP) and calcium (Ca) and 3) diets with 30% reduction in aP and Ca. In this period, the control treatment included 6 replicates of 12 chicks, and the other two treatments included 24 replicates with 12 chicks each. On d 25 of age, each treatment group (except control) was divided into 4 treatment groups including 0, 10, 20 and 30% reduction in aP and Ca levels for the finisher period diets; so that a total of 9 dietary treatments with 6 replicates and 12 birds per pen were formed. Average body weight (BW), daily feed intake (DFI), daily weight gain (DWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured at the end of grower and finisher periods. On day 24, one bird from each pen, weighing closest to the mean body weight was selected and slaughtered, and the carcass parts, as well as internal organs were weighted and expressed relative to live body weight. Blood samples were taken from wing vein of 5 chicks in each treatment on day 24 and serum Ca, Pi and ALP levels were analyzed. Percentage of ash, Ca, Pi and breaking strength of tibia, were measured at the ages of 24 and 42 days. Data were analyzed as a completely randomized design using the General Linear Model (GLM) procedure in SAS software (SAS, 2009). Statistical significance of differences among treatments was assessed using Duncan’s test when the F-test from the ANOVA was declared significant (P< 0.05). The probability level between 0.05 and 0.1 was considered as a marginal trend toward significance. Linear and quadratic contrast was also investigated in response to dietary calcium and phosphorus reduction at the end of each experimental period (grower and finisher). The results of this experiment showed that none of growth performance parameters were affected by the treatments during the grower, finisher and the whole experimental period. The relative liver weight was increased in a linear trend with dietary calcium and phosphorus reduction at 24 d of age. Similarly, serum alkaline phosphatase level was linearly increased with decreasing of calcium and phosphorus reduction at 24 d of age. Tibia ash, calcium and phosphorus percentage were significantly affected by experimental treatments; so that they were decreased in a linear trend when dietary calcium and phosphorus decreased at 24 and 42 d of age. Tibia breaking strength was not significantly affected at 24 d of age; nevertheless, it had a trend to be significant and was decreased in response to decreasing dietary calcium and phosphorus at 42 d of age. The different response between growth performance and bone characteristics can be due to the fact that calcium and phosphorus requirements are higher for maximum bone function than soft tissues growth. In fact, bone contains 99% and 80% of the body's calcium and phosphorus, respectively. Both act as the main component of hydroxyapatite during the hardening of soft tissue in combination with the organic bone matrix to increase the mechanical strength of bone. The present study showed that reducing the percentage of dietary calcium and phosphorus, despite their significant effect on the blood and bone characteristics of broilers chicken had no significant effect on broilers growth performance. In general, available phosphorus and calcium can be reduced by 15% during the grower period and up to 10% in the finisher period. However, further reduction in the percentage of calcium and phosphorus of diet can lead to adverse effects on the measured traits.

 Corn is one of the most important cereals used for poultry feeding due to its high starch, available energy and protein. Starch is an important source of energy in cereals and it is important to pay attention to its availability. In the cell wall of the endosperm, cereal grains, contain some of the structural carbohydrates that are soluble in the small intestine and have high molecular weight which may cause viscosity. Positive physical and chemical changes by steam conditioning, include starch gelatinization, denaturation of digestive enzyme inhibitor proteins, and cell wall breakage. Regardless of NSP content, some amounts of nutrients pass through the birds gut without being digested in corn-soy diets. Supplementing broiler diets with exogenous enzymes to degrade NSP has been a useful tool to release energy and nutrients, which can increase the value of low quality corn in poultry feeds and improve growth performance.

This project was conducted at the Poultry Research Center of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. A batch of corm grains was obtained from a commercial supplier and ground in a hammer mill to pass through screen sizes of 3.0 and 5.0 mm for starter (1-10 d) and grower (11-24 d) periods, respectively.First trial: Apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and digestibility of corn crude protein (CP) and dry matter (DM) were determined in basal diets, which the corn was the sole source of ME and CP. Basal diets contained the conditioned (at temperatures of 55, 70 and 85 °C) or unconditioned corn and was or was not supplemented with enzyme (Rovabio®; Adisseo, France) at the amount of 0.5 g/kg diet. Total excreta collection was performed with 144 chicks in 8 treatments with 6 replicates and 3 birds each, during 7 to 9 days of age using battery cages. Excreta from each replicate cage were collected early in the morning and in the evening. After removing feathers, feed residues, and other contamination sources, excreta were air dried in an oven at 55 °C for 72 hours. Then the excreta were weighed and homogenized, then a sample of approximately 30% of the excreta was randomly separated and kept at -20 °C to further analysis. Then, dried excreta samples were ground in a micro-mill and submitted to the Animal Nutrition Lab. Feed and excreta dry matter, gross energy, and nitrogen contents were determined.Second trial: In second trial, 576 d-old broilers from Ross 308 strain with initial BW of 43 g, were fed with mash diets containing conditioned corn which was or was not supplemented with enzyme, during starter (1-10 d) and grower (11-24 d) periods. The experiment was done based on a completely randomized design with 4 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments evaluating four corn conditioning temperatures (unconditioned and conditioned at 55, 70 and 85 °C) and two enzyme (Rovabio®; Adisseo, France) levels (0 and 0.5 g/kg diet). chicks were assigned under eight treatments with 6 floor pen replicates. Each floor pen of 1.2 × 1 × 0.8 m (L × W × H) included 12 chicks (6 male and 6 female, equally for all replicates). Floor pens were covered with 1.5 Kg/m2 of wood shavings. Four of eight experimental diets were supplemented with 0.5 g/kg of a multiple enzyme complex composed of cellulases, 6400 unit; β-glucanase, 2000 unit and Xylanase 22000 unit per gram (Rovabio®; Adisseo, France). Corn-soy-based diets were formulated to meet the Ross 308 strain recommendations for major nutrients for starter and grower phases. Feed and water were supplied for ad libitum consumption throughout the trial with a tube feeder and two nipple drinkers in each floor pen. House temperature was initially set at 32 ◦C on day one and was decreased linearly by 0.5 ◦C per d to a temperature of 21 ◦C. During the experiment, the lighting program consisted of 23L:1D. A completely randomized design with 4×2 factorial arrangement was used in the both trials. Main factors were included corn conditioning temperatures (unconditioned and conditioned at 55, 70 and 85 °C) and two enzyme levels (0 and 0.5 g/kg diet). The data were analyzed using generalized linear model (GLM) procedure, SAS software (9.4) and the differences between them was tested by Duncan's test (P ≤ 0.05).

 Conditioning and enzyme supplementation had no significant effects on AME and CP digestibility. Conditioning at 80 °C decreased DM digestibility of corn in comparison to control group (P<0.05). Enzyme had no significant effect on DM digestibility. In second trial, there were no significant differences in productive performance among treatments during 11-24 d and the accumulated period (1 to 24 d). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) of the birds fed diets containing conditioned corn at 85 °C was significantly more than that of 55 and 70 °C diets during 1-10 d; although it was not significantly different with control group. Neither corn conditioning nor enzyme supplementation had significant effect on carcass characteristics, and small intestine segments length and weight at 24 d. Enzyme supplementation significantly increased villi height and width at 24 d (P < 0.05). Corn conditioning significantly increased villi width and crypt depth but decreased villi width to crypt depth ratio. Bifidobacteria, E. coli and clostridia population in the ileal contents were not affected by corn conditioning and enzyme supplementation. Lactobacillus population was increased by enzyme addition and also by corn conditioning at temperature 70 °C in compare to control group. These results are in agreement with those reported by Gonza´lez-Alvarado et al. (2007) who reported no significant differences in growth performance of broiler chicks fed heat treated corn-based diets. However, negative effect of higher pelleting temperatures on the WG of birds fed corn-based diets have also been reported. They showed that pelleting a corn–soybean meal diet at 65 ◦C resulted in higher weight gain compared to the basal mash diet and diets pelleted at 75 and 85 ◦C.

 In general, corn conditioning and enzyme supplementation did not improve growth performance and nutrient utilization but improved gut histomorphology and microbial status.

 Wheat is an important cereal due to high starch, available energy and protein contents and is used in poultry diets. Thermal processing is one of the common ways to increase the digestibility of feed, nutritional value of protein through denaturing the anti-nutritional compounds.

 Materials and Methods:

 This project was conducted in two experiments at the Poultry Research Center of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.

First experiment: 

This trial was designed to determine the apparent metabolizable energy and the digestibility of crude protein and dry matter in four heat treated wheat with and without enzyme supplementation. One hundred twenty mixed sex day-old broiler chicks were fed standard starter (0-10d) and grower (11-15d) diets, 96 of them were divided into 48 groups of two each and randomly assigned to 48 metabolic cages on day 15. Eight diets in which the sole source of energy and protein was wheat, were prepared and each was randomly fed to six replicates of two chicks each from 15-21d. At 18th day of age, 12 hours of starvation were imposed on all chicks; then trays were placed under each cage and feeds were supplied to all cages for 72 hours when the 2nd 12 hours of starvation was imposed and the collection of excreta continued until the end of the second starvation period. The amount of feed consumed by chicks in each cage in three days was determined by the differences of feed supplied and remained. Excreta collected from each cage was placed in a room air flow for 48 hours and then placed in an oven at 60°C for 72 hours to dry completely.Second experiment: in this trial, 576 birds (11d) were divided into two groups, (male and female) from which six males and six females were randomly assigned to one of the 48 pens. To prepare 8 experimental diets, only one grower diet (11-24days) containing 70.11% wheat was formulated based on Ross 308 nutrients recommendation and an untreated and three heat treated wheat with and without enzyme supplementation (Rovabio) were replaced to prepare the 8 diets. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with factorial (2×4) arrangement with 6 replicates of 12 birds each. Diets were randomly assigned to 48 pens in a way that each diet fed 6 replicate birds. On the final day of the trial (24d), one male bird from each replicate group was weighed and slaughtered. The carcass, breast, thighs, back, wings and neck, as well as the weight of internal organs including the heart, spleen, proventriculus, gizzard, liver, pancreas, bursa fabrisius, abdominal fat, duodenum, jejunum and ileum were measured. Duodenum, jejunum and ileum length were also measured. To evaluate the effect of different untreated and heat treated wheat at different temperatures with and without enzyme supplementation on the microbial condition of the digestive contents of the ileum digesta on 24d, about 3 grams of the contents of the ileum region from each slaughtered chicken transferred to the sterile tube containing 9 ml of buffer phosphate and placed in an ice flask and transferred to laboratory.

Results and Discussion:

 Thermal treatment significantly improved the apparent metabolizable energy, digestibility of crude protein and dry matter of wheat, so that the highest apparent metabolizable energy and dry matter of wheat was obtained when wheat was processed at 85°C. Whereas the highest digestibility of crude protein in wheat was obtained at 70°C thermal processing. The effect of enzyme on apparent metabolizable energy, apparent digestibility of crude protein and dry matter of wheat was not significant. The results of this study showed that thermal processing of wheat has a significant effect on feed consumption, daily gain, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Whereas the feed conversion ratio in chicks fed with diet containing wheat processed at 70°C was similar to those fed other diets contained heat treated wheat and was significantly better than those fed control diet. Dietary enzyme supplementation had a significant effect on body weight, daily gain and conversion coefficient, so that the daily gain of chicks fed diet containing enzyme was increased by 4.5% and the conversion factor was improved by 4.2% compared to those fednon-enzyme diet. Thermal treatment of wheat significantly affect relative percentage of thigh weight and relative weight of broiler chickens at 24 day age, so that the highest relative percentage weight of thigh and breast was in chicks fed diet contained wheat processed at a temperature of 70°C. On the other hand, thermal treatment of wheat significantly affect the relative percentage of abdominal fat, which increased compared to untreated wheat. Also, the present study showed that processed wheat did not have a significant effect on the percentage of carcass weight, back, wings and neck, liver, pancreas, heart, spleen and bursa. Also, the interaction effect of thermal processing of wheat and enzyme supplementation on the relative weight of carcass, its parts and internal organs was not significant. The supplementation of enzyme had only a significant effect on ileum weight. Thermal processing of wheat at different temperatures had a significant effect on the height and width of villi in jejunum, but did not have a significant effect on the depth of the crypt and villi height to crypt depth. The lactobacillus population in the ileum region has not been affected by the heat treatment of wheat and a negative response to Salmonella infection was observed in all chickens. On the other hand, the use of enzyme supplementation did not have a significant effect on villi height and depth of crypt and villi height to crypt depth. The interaction effect of heat treated wheat and enzyme supplementation was not significant for neither of the measurements.

Conclusion:

 The results of this experiment showed that although thermal processing of wheat at 85°C increased the apparent metabolizable energy by 5.32% and dry matter digestibility by 5.61%. In addition, the inclusion of heat treated wheat in diet led to an increase in height and width of jejunal villi and improvement of feed intake weight gain and feed conversation ratio in broiler chickens.

Soybean meal (SBM) is the main source of protein in broiler diets. Interest has been increased in the use of roasted full-fat soybean (RFFS) as a replacement of soybean meal and fat in broiler diets. The use of full-fat soybean can eliminate the high cost of oil usage and allows the use of a protein supplement in the broiler diets. Full-fat soybeans could provide both protein and energy in one feed ingredient. Use of raw soybeans in poultry diets is not efficient due to presence of anti-nutrient factors like trypsin inhibitor factors. One method of raw soybeans heat processing is roasting the beans by a rotating chamber in which they are directly exposed to a flame. It has been reported similar weight gains by broiler chicks fed heat treated full-fat soybeans or SBM. Heat-treated full-fat soybeans have been included in broiler diets at the level of 15% and reported that body weight at 6 weeks of age were not significantly affected. In contrast, heat-treated full-fat soybeans in starter and finisher diets at the level of 30% reduced growth performance during the starter period. However, the adverse effects became less severe as bird age increases. In some cases weight gain significantly decreased by full-fat soybeans compare to SBM containing diets. When 100% of the soybean meal was replaced by roasted full-fat soybeans, body weight was significantly decreased at 3weeks of age. The high energy of full-fat soybeans may change carcass composition. It has been shown that carcass yield of broiler chickens improved 3% when soybeans were included 10% of the diet. Information about full-fat soybeans for broilers is limited. Therefore, the aim of this experiment was to examine the effects of substituting different levels of roasted full-fat soybean for soybean meal in diets of broiler chickens on performance and blood metabolites.

In order to evaluate the effects of roasted whole soybeans replacement for soybean meal in male broiler chicken diets on growth performance, carcass characteristics and blood parameters, a completely randomized design with four treatments and four replicates was carried out with 192 day-old Ross 308 male broiler chicks up 42 days. In this experiment, RFFS was roasted in 130 centigrade degrees for 30 minutes. All groups were fed with a standard starter diet during 1-14 d. RFFS was substituted in 4 dietary levels of zero, 25, 50 and 75 percent for soybean meal during growing (15-28 d) and finisher (29-42 d) periods. Diets were formulated to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous. Feed and water were provided ad libitum throughout the experiment. Body weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured during grower and finisher periods. Birds were reared on litter floor pens and a lighting program with 23:1 h light and darkness was used from 1-42 d. At day 42 after 3 h fasting, one bird from each replicate close to group mean weight was selected to determine carcass characteristics and blood parameters. Blood samples were taken from the wing vein and serum was separated by centrifugation at 3000×g for five min. The serum samples were kept in -20°C until analysis. Results and Discussion Results showed that 75% level of RFFS replaced with SBM significantly decreased weight gain, body weight at the end of each period and feed intake in grower period. In finisher period the replacement of 75% of SBM with RFFS, resulted lower body weight, daily weight gain and feed consumption in compare to other replacement levels (p < 0.05). FCR in grower period was not significantly affected by treatments but control group in finisher period had better feed conversion ratio compared to other treatments (p < 0.05). Carcass parts including breast, thighs and pancreas were not significantly affected by the treatments. But, liver and abdominal fat pad weights were increased when the FFSM level was increased to 75% substituting level (p < 0.05). RFFS had no significant effects on blood serum triglycerides, low density lipoproteins, lactate dehydrogenase and alanine transaminase concentrations. But, blood serum cholesterol and high density lipoproteins (HDL) concentrations in control group were significantly lower than other treatments. Serum aspartate transaminase concentration in 75% replacement level of RFFS for SBM was significantly lower than other treatments (p < 0.05). Serum creatine phosphokinase concentration in control group was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than other groups.

of this experiment revealed that replacement of 50% of diet SBM with RFFS during 15-42 days of age has no adverse effect on broiler chickens growth performance and increases blood HDL.

Introduction:

The digestion and absorption of dietary fats involve processing of insoluble triglycerides in water, which is done by bile activity to emulsify the fats and then to hydrolyze them by lipase. Lipid digestion is not optimal, especially in young birds and it is improved with increasing age; this is due to the low capacity of the digestive system in the secretion of lipase and bile acids, so that the lipase function in one-day-old chickens is one percent of its activity in 21 days of age. Emulsifiers can distribute fat droplets in the emulsion, which is required for the digestion and absorption of fats. Lysophospholipids increase the ability of the emulsion of the fat in the diet and facilitate the development of the chylomicron and, as a result, it increases the digestive capacity and absorption of lipids, such as essential fatty acids and lipid soluble vitamins in the small intestine. The purpose of this study was to estimate the added value of lysophospholipid supplement in corn-soybean diets and its added effect on metabolizable energy (ME) of different types of fat during the growth period of broiler chicks.

Materials and methods:

 Three hundred and fifty day-old male Ross 308 broiler chicks were obtained from a commercial hatchery unit. First, the whole chicks were kept in the pan for up to 14 days of age and fed with standard starter (1-10 days) and grower (11-14 days) diets. At 15 d of age, 288 chicks were divided into 144 two-part groups, then they were transferred randomly to metabolic cages and fed with experimental diets. The trial was conducted in a completely randomized design with factorial arrangement of two lysophospholipid (0 and 250 g/ton) levels, three fat sources (soybean oil, tallow and their mix) and four levels of fat (0, 3, 6 and 9 % replaced in diet) with 6 replicates of 2 male birds each. Twelve experimental diets were prepared by replacing and mixing four levels of soy oil, tallow and/or their mixture (50:50) in the basal diet. Then, each diet was divided into two equal parts; one part was mixed with 0.25 g/kg of supplemental lysophospholipid and the other one was kept intact to make 24 diets.

Results and Discussion:

 According to the different ratio of saturated fatty acids to unsaturated fatty acids (SFA: UFA) between tallow (33:60) and soybean oil (16:84), it is known that saturated fatty acids are less digestible in animal fats compared with fatty acids of vegetable oils. Addition of supplemental lysophospholipid did not have any significant effects on dietary ME, digestibility of dry matter (DM) and crude fat (CF). The interaction effect of the replacement level and the sources of fat was significant for the ME of diet, in which the basal diet with 9 percent soybean oil replacement had the highest ME compared to the other levels and the other fat sources. Two and three way interactions were not significant for ME and digestibility of dietary DM and CF. No significant effect of lysophospholipids on the digestibility of dietary nutrients using 1 and 1.5 g/kg of diet. The effects of lysophospholipids on the digestibility of nutrients depend on factors such as the difference in the base diet, especially in ingredient, the composition and ratio of fat in the diet and the emulsifier (lysophospholipid), which can lead to different responses. Soybean oil had the most ME among the sources of fat. The ME of soybean oil, tallow and their mixture was determined using replacement method to be 8367, 6134 and 6547 kcal/kg, respectively. Studies have shown that the degree of saturation, the amount of free fatty acids, and the position of fatty acids on the glycerol basis affect utilization of fat by the bird. Possibly, the effect of lipophospholipids on the digestibility of crude fat from diets containing tallow can complete the function of bile salts. In normal conditions, there is little effect on high amounts of saturated fatty acids. The lysophospholipid supplementation improved the ME of various sources of fat about 596.4 kcal/kg. The estimated added value (matrix) of lysophospholipid supplement for ME in each kilogram of soybean oil, tallow and their mixture, were 157, 43 and 211 kcal/kg, respectively.

Conclusion :

The results of this study showed that the lysophospholipid supplementation increased the ME of supplemental fats but had no significant effect on the ME, digestibility of DM and CF in diet.

[1] Increasing feed costs are significant issues in the poultry industry. Therefore, poultry producers often interested to feed low energy and nutrient dense diets to reduce production cost, while low energy and nutrients dense diets may not appear to supply sufficient energy for laying hens. Hens can regulate their feed intake to maintain energy and nutrient intake in accordance with their requirements. In this way, hens will consume more of a low energy and nutrients dense diet than of a high energy and nutrients dense diet, ensuring the calories and nutrient consumed be sufficient. However, some studies have shown that hens especially the modern ones are not precise in adjusting their feed intakes, such as the Hy-Line W-36, since they only have a limited capability to increase their feed intake to ensure adequate energy and nutrients intake. While low energy and nutrient dense diets are less expensive to purchase, they may not ensure optimal egg production if hens are unable to adjust their feed intake. On the other hand, the purchase price of low energy and nutrient dense diets can be substantially lower than high-density diets, if they are effective in maintaining long-term egg production performance, so that can result in increased returns for the producer. Thus, feeding low energy and nutrient dense diets to laying hens may result to improve returns due to a lower cost of diets. However, it has been shown that the increased efficiency of birds fed on high energy and nutrient dense diets can offset the higher cost of feed. The hypothesis of this study was to investigate how Hy-Line W-36 laying hens in post molting period can respond to lower energy and nutrients dense diets, through their increase in feed intake to maintain energy and nutrient consumption to support egg production.

The birds that used for this experiment were molted at the 70wk of age on a non-fasting feeding program according to the molting recommendation by Hy-line W36 laying hens guide. Three hundred twenty 78wk Hy-Line W36 hens were individually weighed and randomly assigned to 80 cages of four birds each. Eight replicate groups of 8 hens each (two adjacent cages) were randomly assigned to each of the 5 treatment diets with location within house as blocking criteria. The pre-experimental period was two weeks for acclimatization, and the experimental period was from 92-103 weeks of age (three 28d periods; 92-95, 96-99, 100-103wk of age). Experimental diets were formulated according to the guidelines in the Hy-Line W-36 Commercial Management Guide (2015) for 104g feed intake according to the average pre-experimental period egg production and feed intake data. Thus the control diet (100% of recommendation) was formulated to contain 2845 kcal/kg AMEn; 14.42% CP; 4.14% calcium; 0.48% available phosphorus; 0.17% sodium; 0.67% digestible lysine; 0.36 digestible methionine; 0.56 digestible methionine + cysteine; and 0.47 digestible threonine. Four other dietary concentrations of energy and nutrients density were formulated to provide 91, 94, 97, and 103% and one diet with the 100% of recommendations stated in the 2015 Hy-Line W36 commercial management guide. Egg production (number and weight) and mortality were recorded daily, whereas feed consumption was measured every 4wks as feed disappearance. Six eggs/replicate (48 eggs/treatment) laid in the last 72 h of each 28d period were collected and transported to Egg Quality Laboratory at the Ferdowsi University for of egg weight, albumen, yolk and shell relative weight, Haugh units, egg shape index, egg special gravity, and shell thickness determination. The feed cost/kg egg production was calculated by feed costs time feed conversion ratio. Data were analyzed by ANOVA using the GLM procedure of SAS 9.1 (2003), with dietary treatment and block as independent variables. Diet effects were evaluated using linear and quadratic orthogonal polynomial contrasts. The linear broken-line (LBL) and quadratic-broken line (QBL) regression models were used to estimate the dietary energy and nutrient density ratios for optimization of egg mass and feed conversion ratio.

Previous research showed that hens would linearly adjust their feed intake in response to diet nutrient density by eating significantly more feed that was low in energy and less feed that was high in energy. These changes in feed intake were not in agreement with the results of the current study showed that egg production, and egg mass were increased and feed conversion ratio (FCR) decreased significantly and linearly, with the increase in dietary energy and nutrients density. There was not any significant difference in the egg production, egg mass and feed conversion ratio in birds fed diet containing three percent (103%) more nutrient density than that of strain recommendation. Whereas, feed intake, egg weight, white yolk and shell relative weight, egg shape index, specific gravity, egg shell thickness as well as Haugh unit were not significantly affected by dietary energy and nutrients density. Significant linear increase due to increase in energy and nutrients density were observed for most measured parameters, including hen-day egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed efficiency, energy intake, and body weight gain. The hen-day egg production showed that hens fed diets containing 91% of control diet laid fewer eggs than those fed diets with 100 or 103% of nutrients recommendation. The energy and nutrient requirement for optimal egg mass (g/b/d) and FCR during the post molting period (92-103Wk) by LBL model were 94.96 and 97.02%, and by QBL model 95.71 and 95.95% of strain recommended, respectively.

In summary, the increase in energy and nutrients density in diet of Hy-Line W-36 laying hens increased egg production, egg weight, egg mass, energy intake as well as decreased body weight losses and feed conversion ratio. The regression analyses of data showed that, laying hens diet formulated at the 95-97% of nutrients recommendation had the optimal egg production and economic performance during the second egg production cycle. Furthermore, hens were unable to adjust their feed intakes since the lowest energy and nutrients density diet deteriorate egg production performance.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of finisher diet nutrient density and slaughter age on energy and protein retention efficiency of broiler chickens. Three hundred 23-day-old Cobb-500 male broiler chickens were assigned in a 5×2 factorial arrangement of completely randomize design with 10 treatments, 6 replicates and 5 birds each. The experimental treatments included five nutrient levels of finisher diets (102.5, 100, 97.5, 95, and 92.5% levels of nutrient composition recommendations stated by the Cobb-500 Commercial Management Guide) and two slaughtered ages (38 and 46 days of age). As increased dietary nutrient density significantly and l inearlyincreased weight gain, feed efficiency, energy and protein retention efficiency and decreased maintenance energy requirements per unit of weight gain (P<0.05). By increasing slaughter age from d38 to d46, above indices significantly deteriorated (P<0.05). The highest residual feed intake belonged to birds fed the finisher diet with 97.5% of strain recommendation nutrients level. Dietary nutrient density level for optimal weight gain, feed efficiency, and energy and protein retention efficiency by linear broken line models were estimated 101.7, 98.7, 97.7 and 99.5% of strain recommendation, respectively. Whereas, these values were 2.3-5.5 percent less than those estimated by the quadratic broken-line model. As a conclusion, residual feed intake methodology can be a viable alternative to measure dietary energy efficiency. Formulation broiler finisher diet with nutrients concentration lowers than 97.5% of strain recommendation is not suitable.

Heat stress is considered as one of the most important stressors accompanied by economic losses to the poultry industry. It causes reductions in weight gain and a series of metabolic disorders in broiler farms. Methionine is one of the most limiting amino acids, playing a crucial role in body protein synthesis, and therefore it would be beneficial to spare its function as a methyl donor. Broilers can utilize the isomers and analogs of methionine for protein synthesis, because of the unique enzymatic pathways to convert methionine isomers to L-methionine in the liver and kidney. Betaine is a common term for trimethylglycine, a substrate for betaine-homocysteine methyl transferase in the liver and kidney that acts as a methyl donor during methionine synthesis from homocysteine. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of supplemental methionine sources and betaine replacement on growth performance and carcass characteristics of normal and heat-stressed broiler chickens.  This experiment was carried out in two adjoining poultry houses (n=1200, Ross 308). The experiment was designed in a 2 (Met sources)×2 (temperature)×3(Met levels)×2 (betaine levels) split-plot form, with two poultry houses (60 pens each) as the main plot and 12 different diets as the subplot, with 5 replicates of 10 birds each. Mash corn-soybean meal basal diets were prepared for starter (1–10 d), grower (11–24 d) and finisher (25–42 d) periods to meet 2014 Ross 308 nutrient recommendations, except for Met. Methionine levels in basal diets were adjusted at 30% lower than recommendation. They were increased to recommendation and/or 30% more than recommendation by supplementing DL-Met and/or L-Met. Betaine was substituted with 30% of supplemental DL-Met and/or L-Met. The betaine levels were calculated according to a molecular weight basis. Betaine contains about 3.75 times the methyl groups compared with Met. The temperature of both houses was set to thermal comfort temperature until 10 d of age. Then, the temperature of one house was gradually decreased by approximately 3°C/week until reached to the basal temperature (23°C) at d 28 and remained constant thereafter. In the other house, the temperature was gradually increased to 32°C between 0800 and 0930 and this high temperature was maintained for 6 h (until 1530). After that, the temperature was gradually decreased to the basal level by 1700. Body weight gain (WG) and feed consumption (FI) were recorded periodically, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated for each period by dividing feed intake by weight gain taking into account the mortality weights. Feed intake in broilers fed diet with 30% higher methionine was significantly lower than the other two groups. Body weight gain was higher in birds fed diets with recommended or 30% higher than recommended methionine compare to those fed diets with 30% less than recommended. It is tendentiously due to the inciting effect of Met on growth by means of growth factors and its influence on protein synthesis and breakdown. FCR in diet of 30% less than recommended methionine and containing L-methionine was significantly improved in comparison to diet containing DL-methionine in the same level. Chicks required 138 or 141 units of DL-methionine to achieve the same daily weight gain and G: F of birds receiving 100 units of L-methionine. Also, a number of studies have shown that the effectiveness of DL-methionine is similar to that of L-methionine in chicks. In this study, replacing of betaine with 30% of supplemental methionine, showed no significant differences on performance parameters, which implies the sparing effect of betaine for methionine. It appears that methionine and betaine supplementation to slightly methionine deficient broiler diets could result in an equivalent growth response and that methionine could be slightly spared by betaine. The production efficiency factor improved by elevated levels of DL-methionine, but no difference was found between highest level of methionine and its standard level. Carcass yield, breast yield and tights yield had significant increase in birds fed diets with recommended or 30% less than recommended methionine. This may be due to increased muscle protein deposition induced by methionine. Birds fed diets with recommended or 30% less than recommended methionine had the lowest and highest percentage of abdominal fat, respectively. The improvement in carcass lean percentage may be attributed to a higher availability of recommended and cystine for protein deposition. This is because an enhanced utilization of dietary amino acids for protein synthesis may result in fewer amino acids available for deamination and eventual synthesis of adipose tissue. In the present study, replacing betaine with 30% methionine showed similar responses to methionine. Changes in hormone levels and growth factors involved in the regulation of fat synthesis and degradation, as well as lower activities of lipogenic enzymes, have been observed following dietary betaine supplementation. Heat stress reduced performance and carcass yield and increased mortality and abdominal fat content. HS disturbs the intestinal flora balance and thereby diminishes nutrient digestibility and absorption. These results indicated that replacing 30% of methionine with betaine resulted same result in broiler performance. The use of methionine below the recommended level, reduces performance in broiler chickens. L-methionine appears to be more effective methionine source in improving the FCR than DL-methionine.

Cereal grains are the major source of energy for commercial poultry nutrition and incorporate about 60-70% of the diet volume. Corn is mainly used in the production of poultry feed mixtures, but the amount of corn production in Iran is not sufficient and more than 50% of corn requirement for poultry production is provided via import, therefore, for economic reasons its content in poultry diets might reduce. Barley can be the preferred grain for cultivation in many areas in Iran due to its resistance to drought region. Hull-less barley (HLB) differs from conventional barley in that the hulls firmly attached to the kernel and consequently is detached after thrashing, leading to a higher level of valuable nutrients and increased nutrient density. Reported that the HLB has a higher AME and protein content than hulled barley because of diluting effect of the fibrous hulls. The high protein content in HLB compared to corn grain and its considerable AMEn make it a potentially good ingredient for poultry diet formulation. However, since the high content of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) probably decrease nutrient digestibility and performance due to the lack of an appropriate enzyme in the digestive tract of chickens, some concern has been expressed in relation to the inclusion levels of HLB in broiler diets. This experiment was carried out to study the influence of enzyme supplementation on the apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen (AMEn), apparent digestibility of dry matter (DMD), and crude protein (ACD) of two varieties of HLB by using the total excreta collection method in broiler chickens. Sixty-four male broiler chicks "Ross-308", 16d of age, assigned to 16 metabolic cages in a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment with a factorial arrangement (2×2), 4 treatments with 4 replicates/treatment and 4 birds/replicate. The factors included two varieties of HLB (HMB-83-7 and native of Tabas, Iran) and two levels of enzyme cocktail (was a blend of 3500 U/g β-glucanase, 1600 U/g xylanase, 25 U/g cellulase and 1000 U/g phytase activity obtained from Phileo-Lesaffre-Animal-Care, Co. "Marcq-en- Baroeul-France") supplementation (0 and 0.5 g/kg of diet). The experimental diets were made so that the HLB barley was the sole source of energy and nitrogen supply. The digestion trial included a 4-day preliminary period in 16–19d of age, followed by 4 days of total excreta collection. The feed was provided ad libitum during the preliminary and the collection period. During the collection period (20-23d of age) total feed intake was measured, and excreta from each cage were collected twice a day, pooled, and kept frozen at -18oC until subsequent analyses. The excreta samples were freeze-dried to determine DM content. The dried excreta and diet samples were ground through 20 mesh screens, and nutrient content was determined according to AOAC (2000). The gross energy of the dried excreta and diet samples was measured. The apparent digestibility of crude protein (CPD) and dry matter (DMD) of HLB was calculated. The apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen (AMEn), of HLB was calculated. The average DMD, CPD and AMEn of HLB were obtained 64.39±2.80%, 59.50±7.66% and 3034±212 kcal/kg as-fed basis, respectively. The DMD, CPD and AMEn of HLB in Tabas native variety were 67.45, 67.41% and 3189 kcal/kg as-fed basis respectively, which were significantly more than HMB-83-7 variety (Vs 64.67, 55.1% and 2961 kcal/kg for DMD, CPD and AMEn). Dietary enzyme supplementation increased the hull-less barley DMD (64.39% Vs 67.73%, 5.18% improvement compared to basal content), as well as increasing the CPD (50.59% Vs 63.03%, 5.93% improvement compared to base value) and AMEn (3034 Vs 3107 kcal/kg, 2.41% improvement compared to base value), so that the differences were significant (P <0.05). The effectiveness of dietary enzyme supplementation on the improvement of nutritional value of different HLB varieties that used in this experiment was varied. The Tabas native HLB variety was more effected than HMB-83-7 variety by dietary enzyme supplementation. Hull-less barley contains considerably higher levels of anti-nutritional factors consisting mainly of soluble non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs), especially ß-glucans compared to corn and wheat. Water-soluble β-glucan with gel-forming characteristics increases the gastrointestinal (GI) tract contains viscosity, decreases digestive enzymes contact with substrates, increases the thickness of the unstirred water layer in the GI tract mucosa and hence depresses nutrient digestibility. Many researchers have studied the beneficial effects of the addition of exogenous enzymes to the rich non-starch polysaccharide diets. The positive nutritional effects achieved by the dietary supplementation of exogenous enzymes are proposed to be caused by several mechanisms. Mainly, it has been shown that the antinutritive effects of viscous cereals such as barley, wheat, rye, oats, and triticale are associated with raised intestinal viscosity caused by soluble β-glucans and arabinoxylans present in those cereals. These problems are overcome by dietary supplementation of β-glucanases and xylanases. It is assumed that the ability of β- glucanases and xylanases to degrade plant cell walls leads to release of nutrients from grain endosperm. According to the results of this experiment; the hull-less barley AMEn, DMD and CPD value affected by variety. The dietary exogenous enzyme supplementation improved the hull-less barley DMD, CPD and AMEn value.

The present study was conducted to determine the zinc (Zn) requirement in broiler chickens fed wheat-soy based diet. Two hundred fifty day-old broiler chicks (Ross 308), were randomly assigned to a completely randomised design (CRD) experiment with 5 treatments, and 5 replicates of 10b each. The experimental treatments included five dietary Zn levels (30, 70, 110, 150, and 190 mg/kg) provided by the addition of reagent grade “ZnSO4.7H2O”. The experiment lasted from 1-42d of age. Increasing dietary Zn level to 70mg/kg significantly increased 10, 24 and 42d live body weight (LBW), feed intake (FI) and weight gain (WG) during 1-10, 25-42 and 1-42d of age and feed efficiency (FE) during 1-10d of age. The linear broken-line (LBL), quadratic-broken line (QBL) and the quadratic polynomial (QP) regression models were used to estimate the Zn requirement. The Zn requirement for optimal final LBW and FI, WG, and FE during 1-42d of ages by LBL model were 68.77, 83.12, 66.99 and 62.75 mg/kg of diet, and by QBL model 70.00, 79.93, 69.63 and 58.01 mg/kg of diet, respectively. In conclusion, Zn requirement varied between 58-83 mg/kg, which is higher than NRC and is lower than strain recommendation in the broiler chickens fed wheat-based diet.

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of graded dietary levels of pure curcuminoid on productive performance, egg quality traits, some biochemical blood parameters, immune response and its digestibility in the late phase of production of laying hens. A total of 160 sixty-weeks-old Hy-Line (W-36) laying hens were used in a completely randomized design, including 4 treatments in four replicates of 10 hens each. Dietary treatments diets contained 0 (control), 400, 800 and 1200 mg curcumin per kg of diet. Performance traits were assessed weekly and egg quality variables were measured bi-weekly. Adding curcuminoids to the diet caused a significant increase in production percentage (p<0.05). The hens receiving curcuminoid had more egg mass values. Changes in yolk color index as one of the internal egg quality traits were significant after the first week of experiment (P<0.05). Significant increase in ALT activity was observed in the group supplemented with 1200 mg in week 64 (P<0.05). In week 68, the ratio of HDL: LDL was significantly higher in the treatments that supplemented with 400 and 800 mg curcuminoids (P<0.05). Adding 400 mg curcuminoid resulted in the highest immune response and also the hightest amount of absobtion (P<0.05).using 400 mg curcuminoid changed yolk color improved immune response and decresed LDL and the highest level of obserbtion was also observed in 400 mg curcumioid.

Adjuvants are an essential component of modern vaccines. An adjuvant is an entity added to a vaccine formulation to ensure that robust immunity to the antigen is inoculcated. The adjuvant is typically vital for the efficacy of vaccines using subunit (pepdids, proteins and virus like particles) and DNA antigens. Furthermore, these components are used to reach the current new goals of preventing and/ or treating chronic infectious diseases and cancers. This review focuses on formulation aspects of adjuvants, safety considerations, progress in understanding their mechanisms of action and also their side effects with using 97 articles are acceceble in pubmed central and google scholar indexing which published during 1980-2016. Adjuvants can be broadly divided into two classes, based on their principal mechanisms of action; the first class are vaccine delivery systems that generally particulate and mainly function to target associated antigens into antigen presenting cells. The others are immunostimulatory adjuvants that predominantly derived from pathogens and often represent pathogen associated molecular patterns which activate cells of the innate immune system. Adjuvants induce cellular and humoral responses, in particular neutralizing antibodies that able to inhibit the binding of pathogens to their cellular receptors. Efficient Th1-immunity-inducing adjuvants are highly in demand. The adjuvants promote good cell-mediated immunity against subunit vaccines that have low immunogenicity themselves. However, attempts to develop a new generation of adjuvants, which are essential for new vaccines, is important, but their use is limited because, little is known about their mechanisms of action and health risks.

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of raw and/or autoclaved grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) seed in diet on performance and egg quality of laying hens. Three hundred and thirty-six Leghorn laying hens strain W-36 at 87 week of age were assigned in a completely randomize designed (CRD) experiment with 7 treatments, 6 replicates and 8 birds each. The experimental treatments included; corn-soybean meal (control) diet, and 8, 16 and 24% dietary levels of either raw or autoclaved grass pea grain. The experiment lasted for 12 weeks. Feed consumption, egg production percentage and egg mass of hens fed diets containing different levels of raw and autoclaved grass pea grain were significantly lower and their feed conversion ratio was significantly higher than those fed control diet. The autoclaving of grass pea grain resulted in significant increase in performance and eggshell quality indices in birds fed diets containing 16 and 24% grass pea grain. Although autoclaving of grass pea grain reduced the negative effect of its replacement in the diet on performance and egg characteristics, however, it could not compensate the reduction in performance. According to the results of this experiment, the utilization of raw grass pea grain is not recommended in laying hen diets. Also, autoclaving process alone can’t destroy the anti-nutritional factors present in grass pea grain.

Plants (specially herbs) have been used as food for medicinal purposes for centuries and some of them have played a significant role in maintaining human health and improving the quality of human life for thousands of years (Osman et al. 2005). Aromatic plants have been used traditionally in therapy against some diseases for a long time in the world. In different herbs, a wide variety of active phytochemicals, including the flavonoids, terpeniods, lignans, sulfides, polyphenolics, carotenoids, coumarins, saponins, plant sterols and phthalides have been identified (Craig 1999). Feed additives were used for broiler breeders to increase utilization of the limited feed allowance and, in turn, improve egg production performance, fertility, and hatchability. The addition of aromatic plants to feeds and water has been shown to improve feed intake, feed conversion ratio and carcass yield (Hertrampf 2001). Some studies stated that fennel (Foeniculumvulgaris) is one of the aromatic plants containing a high percentage of linolenic and stearic acids. In addition, fennel is characterized by the presence of 16.81% trans anethole and 47.20% Estragole with 64.01% of total sweeting components in essential oil. It is generally assumed that estrogen decrement over the production cycle, drops slowly during molt (Hoshino et al. 1988), and estrogen level increases again with the beginning of egg production cycle (Johnson, 1986). These changes underlie the egg production patterns of commercial layers, where a gradual decline in egg number from the peak reached shortly after sexual maturity, is witnessed. Hansen et al (2003) confirmed the dramatic decrease in blood estrogen concentration in hens at 70 week compared to those at peak production (~29 weeks).
Materail and In this study, the decoction (the process of boiling a substance in a liquid to extract its active ingredients) was used to preserve the active ingredients of the herb without any increase in temperature. Twenty gram of fennel seeds was mixed in 200 ml of 70% ethanol. The mixtures were then left in refrigerator overnight to release all active components from the herb and then fil-tered through gauze and evaporated under vacuum conditions at 40ºC using a rotary evaporator (Rotavapor R-114, Buchi Labortechnik AG, Flawil and Switzerland) (Saeedi et al. 2010). The completely randomize design with seven treatments (1-Contorol, 2-Ten percent decrement in calcium and phosphorus, 3-Twenty percent decrement in calcium and phosphorus, 4-As the second treatment with twenty percent increase in vitamin D3, 5-As the third treatment with twenty percent increase in vitamin D3, 6- As the second treatment supplemented with 50mg/kg FE, 7-As the third treatment supplemented with 50mg/kg FE) were used in this experiment that each treatments assigned to 4 replicates. In each pen 10 hens and 1 rooster (2×1 m2) were assigned, with 16 L:8 D lighting program and a temperature maintained close to 21̊C. Eggs were manually collected 6 times a day. Thirty-six settable eggs per pen were set for incubation biweekly. Eggs were incubated in Jamesway model Micro Pt- 100 commercial incubator. Incubator was set at 37.15 ̊C dry bulb and 29.62 ̊C wet bulb temperatures (0-19 days). Eggs were candled on day 10 of incubation for monitoring infertile eggs. All infertile eggs were opened and examined macroscopically for evidence of embryonic mortality. All unhatched eggs were analyzed for developmental stage of dead embryos. The time of embryonic death was assigned to one of four categories: early dead (≤7 days), mid-dead (8-16 days), late dead (17-21 days), and pips. Fertility was expressed as the rate of fertile eggs to total eggs set. On day 19, eggs were transferred to baskets and the baskets were placed randomly into the hatcher cabinets. Hatcher was set at 36.44 ̊C dry bulb and 32.18 ̊C wet bulb temperatures. The number of eggs that hatched was recorded at 21.5 days of incubation. Hatchability of fertile eggs was ex-pressed as the rate of hatching chicks to fertile eggs, and cumulative hatchability was expressed as percentage of hatching chicks to the total eggs set. At the end of 21.5 days of incubation, pipped eggs were recorded and real hatch was expressed as: Real Hatch= total hatched chicks / total egg - (fertile eggsꘪ楹 eggs). Real hatch parameter include some of the eggs recorded as "pipped", which survived through incubation but did not hatch; therefore, they were not included in the analysis. Such eggs were counted as if they hatched, thus causing the estimate of failure to hatch to be biased downward. Chick quality was defined as normal and abnormal chick, already described by Dziaczkowska (1980). After hatching, broiler chickens were feather-sexed for gender rate.
During the experiment hatchability, embryonic mortality, percentage of male chick, chick weight and ovarian components were evaluated. Results of this experiment showed that dietary treatments had no significant effect on the embryonic mortality and follicular hierarchy. Loss of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D3 (treatments: 2, 3) significantly increased embryonic mortality; also, follicular hierarchy significantly decreased in the third treatment (P The results of this experiment indicated that using of fennel extract could decrease mid stage embryonic mortality same as vitamin D3.

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of varying levels of digestible protein (DP) and dietary electrolyte balances (DEB) during the finisher period on performance, blood parameters and small intestine histology of broiler chickens exposed to heat stress. A total of 500 mixed sex chickens (Ross 308) were used in a completely randomized design as a 2×5 factorial arrangement with two levels of DP (%16.5 and %19) and five levels of DEB (150, 200, 250, 300 and 350 meq/kg of diet)with five replicates of 10 birds each during the finisher period. The chicks were exposed to heat stress of 32±2 °C for eight hours/day during 28-42 days of age. Increasing DP levels did not have a significant effect on weight gain under heat stress during the finisher period. Feed intake and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of chickens fed 16.5% DP diet was significantly more than 19% DP fed birds (P0.05) on small intestine morphology. Diet containing 250 mEq/kg of diet EBD significantly (P

The impact of the conditioning process (steam and dry) and processed sodium bentonite (SB) in pellet diet on performance, carcass characteristics and some blood metabolites of broiler chickens in growing period was investigated. For this purpose, 810 day-old male broiler chickens, Ross 308 strain were used. A completely randomized experiment in a 3×3 factorial framework with three types of feed conditionings (without conditioning (dry), 2 minutes steam-conditioning and 4 minutes steam-conditioning) and three levels of sodium bentonite as a pellet binder (0, 0.75 and 1.5 percent) in with nine treatments and six replicates was explored. Processing form alone had a significant effect on the average daily gain and feed conversion ratio(P

1, 25-dihydroxycholecalciferol [1, 25 (OH)2 D3], the major biologically active metabolite of vitamin D3 is produced by two sequential hydroxylation reactions. The first hydroxylation occurred when vitamin D3 is transported to the liver, forming 25-hydroxycholecalciferol [25-(OH) D3] and the second in the kidney, by the enzyme 1-alpha-hydroxylase (VD3 1 hydroxylase) forming 1, 25 (OH)2 D3. Vitamin D3 may have a role in regulating the morphological and functional development of intestinal villus mucosa. Calcium ions have an essential role function in activation and maturation of lymphocytes. Previous studies have demonstrated that the intracellular concentration of free Ca2 increases in several types of cells during stress. For example, acute restraint stress enhances Ca2 mobilization in lymphocytes from mice. In addition, Ca2 ions are essential for production of interleukin-2 by T cells (22). Withania somnifera (WS) is an annual herb and a rich source of bioactive compounds. Several pharmacological activities of the plant have been attributed to its roots. Oral administration of root extract of WS at 10, 30 and 300 mg/kg body weight for 15 days stimulated B and T cells proliferation, induced type 1 immunity, increased the activity of machrophage and levels of immunoglobulin which indicated the potent role of extract on humoral and cellular immunity. The present study aimed to evaluate the main effects and interaction of calcitriol and WS root extract in either low or adequate Ca diets on immune response and small intestinal morphology of broiler chickens.
Material and Six hundred male day old Ross 308 broilers obtained from a commercial hatchery, and reared in 60 floor pens with wood shavings litter at a stocking rate of 10 birds per pen (1×1 m). Feed and water were provided ad libitum throughout the 6–wk experimental period. The experimental design was a 2×3×2 factorial comprising of two dietary concentration of Ca (negative and positive control), three concentrations of WS root extract (0, 75 and 150 mg/kg diet), two concentrations of 1, 25 (OH)2 D3 (0 and 0.5 g/kg diet). SRBC test was used to measure humoral immunity response. So, at 25 and 32 days of age chicks were injected to evaluate the primary and secondary antibody response. On d 21 and 42, one bird per replicate was killed to determine small intestinal morphology and lymphoid organ weights. Sample sections (2.5 cm in length) were taken from the middle region of the jejunum. The tissues were stained for measurement of villus length, villus width, crypth depth and thickness of muscle layer. The General Linear Models of SAS were used to analyse all the data.
The results of humoral immune response showed that reduction of dietary Ca level by 30% resulted to depression of immunoglobulin M and total antibody levels. Supplementation of WS at 150 mg/kg significantly improved the level of immunoglobulin G only in primary test. Calcium ions have an essential role function in activation and maturation of lymphocytes (10). Previous studies have demonstrated that the intracellular concentration of free Ca2 increases in several types of cells during stress. For example, acute restraint stress enhances Ca2 mobilization in lymphocytes from mice. In addition, Ca2 ions are essential for production of interleukin-2 by T cells. It was found that supplementation of calcitriol resulted in shorter villus length at 21 d and shorter villus width at 42 day of age, respectively. Reduction of dietary Ca level by 30% resulted to shorter crypth depth compared to positive control diet. A researcher reported that supplementation of 25-OH-D3 decreased the length and weight of small intestine. The duodenal putrescine content was enhanced in parallel with the increase in intestinal calcium absorption, suggesting that polyamines, in particular putrescine, may be involved somehow in the intestinal calcium transport mechanism. The aliphatic polyamines, putrescine, spermidine, and spermine, are considered to be essential cell constituents that play an important role in modulating cell proliferation and differentiation.
The results of humoral immune response showed that decreasing of dietary Ca level to 30% resulted to reduction of total antibody response. The findings showed that supplementation of calcitriol did not exert beneficial effects on intestine morphology. Supplementation of WS root extract did not affect intestine characteristics.

The purpose of this experiment was to compare the effects of calcium, phosphorus, and fennel extract (FE) and vitamin D3 on performance and egg shell quality in post molted Ross broiler breeders from 96 to 102 weeks. Each pen consisted of 10 hens and 1 rooster. This experiment was done in a completely randomize design with seven treatments (different levels of calcium, phosphorus plus fennel extract or vitamin D3) that each treatments assigned to 4 replicates. The addition (50 mg/kg diet) FE had significant affection egg production, egg mass, settable egg, shell quality, relative albumin weight and body weight gain (p0/05), but lower levels of calcium and phosphorus (20%) significantly affect these parameters (p