mohammad houshmand

A total of 224 69-week-old Nick Chick laying hens were allocated to eight treatments with eight replicate cages to investigate the effects of stocking density (SD) and dietary inclusion of different levels of grape waste (GW) on performance, some egg quality traits and yolk oxidative status of laying hens from 69 to 76 weeks of age. The experiment was conducted as a 2×4 factorial arrangement, with two levels of stocking density (3 and 4 hens/cage as normal (NSD) and high stocking density(HSD), respectively) and four dietary levels of GW (0, 1.5, 3 and 4.5 % of diet, as a corn replacement). The results indicated that rearing hens under HSD conditions resulted in a worse feed conversion ratio (FCR) and less egg production than NSD (P < 0.05). Dietary inclusion of GW had no detrimental effect on performance or egg quality traits. Increasing density had deleterious consequences on FCR, egg production, egg weight and egg mass (P < 0.05), while dietary addition of GW, particularly at the level of 4.5% alleviated those negative effects. Egg quality traits (shell weight, resistance and thickness, yolk weight, albumen height and Hague Unit) were significantly not influenced by GW, SD or their interaction. Stocking density did not affect malondialdehyde (a peroxidation indicator) level in egg yolk lipid, while all hens fed GW had lower levels of malondialdehyde than those fed diet without GW (P < 0.05). The interaction between SD and GW level significantly influenced egg albumen pH at 3 and 30 d room storage (P< 0.05). In conclusion, dietary inclusion of up to 4.5 % GW had no deleterious effect on laying hen’s egg quality and improved some performance traits and oxidative stability of egg yolk, particularly in hens reared under HSD. Thus, it could be used as a corn replacement in laying hens' diet.

In recent years, application of natural and safe feed additives such as herbs and herbal products has been increased, due to their beneficial concequences on health and thereby animal production. One of the natural important compounds present in plants, is phenolic compounds which has been recived high interest and many investigations have been conducted about their different effects on broilers. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary inclusion of Iranian oak acorn (Quercus brantii L.) (OA), as a phenolic cmpounds-rich feedstuff, on some breast meat traits of broilers at different refrigerated (4 °C) storage times.

A total of 160 one-day-old mix of male and female broiler chicks were distributed between 2 experimental treatments (with 4 replicates of 20 birds) in a completely randomized design and fed a control diet (without OA) or a diet containing 20% ​​OA. During the rearing period, birds were fed with starter (d 1-10), grower (d 11-24) and finisher (d 25-42) diets, respectively. At the end of the rearing period, two birds were slaughtered from each replicate and samples were taken from breast muscle and kept in refrigerator. Different parameters (population of  Lactobacillus, Psychrotriph bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, total aerobic bacteria, lipid oxidation, water holding capacity, cooking loss) were measured at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 d of storage.

The results showed that using OA decreased population of Lactobacillus at 6 and population of total aerobic bacteria at 6 and 8 d of storage (p <0.05). At 2 d of storage, the rate of lipid oxidation in breast meat of OA-recieved group was higher than the control group (p <0.05) but in other days no significant difference was observed between two treatments. Feeding birds with OA had no significant effect on water holding capacity of breast meat at different storage days. In birds fed with OA, breast meat cooking loss was lower than the control group at 4 d of storage, but it was higher than the control group at 10 d of storage (p<0.05).

In conclusion, under the conditions of this study, feeding broilers with OA had no significant and constant effect on the most of investigated parameters.

With the aim of investigation, the effects of oak acorn (OA) (0 or 20 % of diet) and tannin-reducing feed additives (without additive, 10 g polyethylene glycol (PEG)/kg of diet and 0.25 % diet sodium bicarbonate) on performance and liver and kidney tissues of broiler chickens, a total of 480 Ross 308 broiler chicks (average body weight of 41 gram and same male to female ratio) were distributed among 6 experimental treatments (4 replicates of 20 birds) in a 2×3 factorial arrangement and reared for 42 days. The results indicated that application of OA had no significant effect of overall feed conversion ratio, but significantly decreased overall body weight gain. However, sodium bicarbonate improved overall body weight gain, compared to the diet without additive. Feeding birds with OA significantly increased relative weight of gizzard, ileum and caecum at 24 d of age and relative weight of caecum and duodenum at 42 d of age. On d 24, more sever cellular congestion was observed in liver tissue of OA fed birds, but on d 42, the number of liver fat vacuole was less in these birds. Feeding with OA increased diameter of renal corpuscle. In conclusion, dietary inclusion of 20% OA had no significant effects on feed conversion ratio and liver as well as kidney tissue of broilers, but because of significant reduction in overall body weight gain and production efficiency factor, this level is not recommended. However, inclusion of additives did not prevent this reduction.

Background and objectives:

Some reports indicate that, due to different reasons, in grazing animals (such as nomad animals) nutrients deficiency may occur particularly for degradable and undegradable protein, metabolizable energy, vitamins and some minerals including sulfur and phosphorus. Thus, in some parts of the world, supplemental nutrients in the form of supplemental blocks are used in animal nutrition to overcome these deficiencies and to improve the nutritional value of consumed feeds. Application of supplemental blocks has been highly extended in recent years. The current study was designed and conducted to investigate the effects of supplemental block containing urea, molasses and mineral- vitamins on productive and reproductive performance of Qashqai ewes, in Fars province. Materials and methodsFor conducting the experiment, a total number of 75 Qashqai ewes (1-4 parity) were chosen and then distributed in a completely randomized design among 3 experimental groups (treatments) (25 replicates per treatment). All groups were fed with pasture forage as main feedstuff throughout the study. In the control group, ewes did not receive supplemental block but in two other groups, they received 100g (T100) or 150g (T150) block/ewe/day, in 2 phases (The first phase 20 days before breeding until 50 days after that and the second one 30 days before expected lambing until lamb weaning at 90 days of age). The supplemental block contained the following ingredients: molasses, urea, wheat bran, common salt, mineral-vitamin supplement, gypsum, cement and sodium bicarbonate.

Results :

The results indicated that feeding ewes with 100 or 150 g supplemental block resulted in a significant decrease in percentage of the barren ewes (P

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of oak acorn and sex on abdominal fat and mRNA expression of pancreatic lipase gene in broiler chicken. A total of 264 one-day old boilers of male and female for Cobb 500 strain were assigned in a completely randomized design to 3 experimental groups each with 4 replicates (22 broilers per replication). In the first treatment (control), the broiler chicks were fed with early and end-of-corn diets (without oak), while in the other two treatments, the diets contained 15 or 20% oak acorn. In order to determine the effect of treatments on lipase gene expression at the age of 21 and 42 days from each treatment, 6 broilers were slaughtered and sampled from their pancreatic tissue. Gene expression data were analyzed using SAS and REST softwares. The results showed that the expression of the pancreatic lipase gene was significantly higher in 15 and 20% oak acorn treatments relative to control group (P<0.05) on day 21,however, there was no significant difference in expression of lipase gene on day 42 (P>0.05). In addition, relative weight of abdominal fat was significantly increased in both treatments of oak acorn on day 42 (P<0.05).

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of olive leaf (OL) on the performance, abdominal fat pad and some ileal bacterial population of Cobb broiler chickens. A total number of 400 day-old chicks were randomly distributed into floor pens and reared under the same condition until 14 days of age. On day 14, each pen was randomly assigned to one of the five experimental treatments with four replicates of 20 male and female chicks. The dietary treatments were consisted of a control group which fed basal diet without OL entire period of the study and groups 2 to 5 that fed diets supplemented with 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00% OL powder, respectively. On days 21 and 42 of the experiment, ileal digesta samples were collected under the sterile condition to evaluate ileal bacterial population. The results indicated that birds fed diets containing various levels of OL, had higher body weight gain (except for 1.00% OL) and lower feed conversion ratio compared to that of the control group. Dietary inclusion of OL resulted in a higher count of Lactobacillus sp.  compared to the control group on 42 days of age, while Escherichia coli count significantly was not influenced. The abdominal fat pad was lower in birds fed OL supplemented diets. In conclusion, findings of the current experiment showed that the OL had positive effects on feed conversion ratio, abdominal fat pad deposition and ileal bacterial count of broiler chickens.

in this paper, cause of leakage on the caustic tank bottom is investigate using simulation cathodic protection and develop the NACE formula “current distribution with a close anode-to-structure spacing”. The Finite Element Method is used for numerical solution. Although, field measurements have been under protection of the tank bottom, However, the simulation results showed that only a limited area of the tank bottom was protected, which this area follows the NACE formula and the surrounding areas of the tank have a lower level of protection, that has led to the leakage this areas. There were many ways to increase the protection area, one of them was an increase the anode distance from the tank bottom that the NACE formula indicating this issue but the simulation results showed the opposite of this. Each anode make a potential gradient that can vary from one anode to another. Therefore, NACE formula can be used until; with increase anode distance from tank bottom, tank bottom don’t get out from anode potential gradient. For this reason, in this paper, the NACE formula has been developed by providing a complementary formula and using the specified condition, which has a higher efficiency than the previous formula.

This study was conducted to determine the amylase gene expression in liver and pancreas tissues of broiler chicks fed with two levels of oak acorn(OA) fruit. A total of 264 broiler chicks were fed a control diet (without oak) and diets containing 15 and 20% OA. At the end of starter and finisher period, 6 birds from each treatment were randomly selected and Tissue samples were taken from their pancreas and liver. REST and SAS software were used to analyze gene expression. The 2004 Bestkeeper software was also used to determine the sustainability of β-Actin gene expression. Results showed that β-Actin gene was not affected by sex, age and experimental treatments. Thus, it was used to normalize the gene expression data. At 21d of age, the level of mRNA of the pancreatic amylase gene was significantly higher in broilers fed with 15% OA compared to the control group (p<0.05). On d 42, significant differences in expression of liver and pancreas amylase gene were not observed (p>0.05). Also, feeding birds with diet containing 20% OA increased the relative weight of pancreas (p<0.05). In conclusion, the results showed that amylase gene expression in birds fed diets containing 15% OA significantly increased at 21d of age. In other cases, genes expression was not influenced by experimental treatments.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of pancreatic Charboxypeptidase gene and changes of pancreas weight of broiler chickens fed with different levels of oak acorn. For this purpose, three diets (control, 15% and 20% oak) were fed to broilers from 1 to 42 days of age. On days 21 and 42, body weight and pancreatic weight of 36 broiler chicken (18 for each time, 6 for each treatment) were measured. Then the total RNA extracted from the pancreatic tissue and cDNA was synthesized. The gene expression analysis is also fitted with the REST, 2009, and SAS 9.1 softwares. The gene expression results show that mRNA expression levels of Charboxypeptidase gene were significantly higher in treatment containing 15 percent oak acorn on day 21 in compared to those fed with diet without oak acorn (p<0.05). On day 42, the expression of Charboxypeptidase gene in chickens fed with diet containing 20% oak was significantly lower in compared to 15% oak diet (p<0.05). In addition, pancreatic relative weight was significantly increased in broilers fed with diet containing 20% oak on day 42 (p<0.05). Generally, the substitution of dietary corn with oak acorn lead to a change in expression of Charboxypeptidase gene, reducing body weight and an increase in the relative weight of the pancreas, and these effects depend on the value of DMI, the percentage of oak acorn, time period of its use and other factors .Hence, in order to understand the molecular mechanism polyphones function requires more research.

In order to clarify the role of microRNAs (miRNA) in megakaryocyte differentiation, we ran a microRNA microarray experiment to measure the expression level of 961 human miRNA in megakaryocytes differentiated from human umbilical cord blood CD133 cells.
In this experimental study, human CD133 hematopoietic stem cells were collected from three human umbilical cord blood (UCB) samples, and then differentiated to the megakaryocytic lineage and characterized
by flow cytometry, CFU-assay and ploidy analysis. Subsequently, microarray analysis was undertaken followed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to validate differentially expressed miRNA identified in the microarray analysis.
A total of 10 and 14 miRNAs were upregulated (e.g. miR-1246 and miR-148-a) and down-regulated (e.g. miR- 551b and miR-10a) respectively during megakaryocyte differentiation, all of which were confirmed by qPCR. Analysis of targets of these miRNA showed that the majority of targets are transcription factors involved in megakaryopoiesis.
We conclude that miRNA play an important role in megakaryocyte differentiation and may be used as targets to change the rate of differentiation and further our understanding of the biology of megakaryocyte commitment.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary inclusion of different levels of oak acorn(OA) with and without choline addition in broilers diet. A total of 528 one-day-old chicks were used in a factorial arrangement based on completely randomized design, with six treatments, four replicates and 22 chicks per each. Two studied factors were choline (0 and 0.3 % diet) and OA(0, 15 and 20% diet). In starter (d 1-21) and finisher (d 22-42) diets, corn was replaced with 15 and 20 % OA, without any change in percentage of other dietary feed ingredients. The findings indicated that feeding birds with diets containing 20 % OA reduced body weight gain during starter, finisher and entire period (d 1-42) of the study when compared to the diet without OA (P

The effects of replacing 0, 15 and 20 of corn by percent oak acorn (OA), in diets contacting recommended and twice recommended level of methionine by NRC (1994) on performance of broilers were investigated. 528 one-day-old Cobb 500 broiler chicks in a 2×3 factorial arrangement based on completely randomized design with four replicates of 22 chicks were used. Chicks fed with diets containing 15 and 20 percent OA had lower body weight gain and higher feed conversion ratio compared to those fed with diet without OA, in all experimental periods (P

The purpose of this study was to determine changes in the normal flora of the gastrointestinal tract and blood parameters of rainbow trout after taking probiotics and oregano extract. This study was completely randomized design with 5 treatments and 3 replicates each with 40 fry 22 g of the rainbow trout. Treatments consisted of basal diet, florfenicol, 0.5%, 1% and of oregano extract, 2% Bactocell probiotic. After an 8 week experimental period, blood smear for cellular immunity, content of digestive tract for useful and unusual bacterial counts, the liver and gill for detection of histomrphological changes were collected. The results showed that the number of lymphocytes in antibiotics group was significantly more than that of the control. The percentage of monocyte in extracts treatments increased significantly. Total number of bacteria in the digestive system did not change much, but the numbers of lactic acid bacteria in the treated extract 0.5 and 1% were more than that of the control group. In florfenicol groups, hepatocytes were vacuolated and ratio of lipids and glycogen in hepatocytes were increased. It seems that use of organo extract in fish diet have not bad effects on the liver and gill histology and may show good effects on the liver performance and detoxification roles and increased counts of lymphocytes, monocytes and lactobacillus bacteria in the digestive tract.

In order to investigate the influences of raw or acetic acid-treated oak acorn on the performance and cecal flora of broiler chickens, a total of 340 one-day-old male and female Cobb 500 broiler chicks in a completely randomized design consisting of five treatments with four replicates and 17 chicks each were used. First group was fed with a corn-based diet (without oak acorn) as control, while the chicks of groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 were fed with diets containing 20 or 25 % raw or treated oak acorn, respectively. The results indicated that treatment with acetic acid significantly reduced content of the all phenol components (total phenol, total tannin and condensed tannins). Dietary inclusion of raw oak acorn at the levels of 20 and 25%, significantly reduced broilers body weight gain (P

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of olive leaf (OL) on immune response and some blood metabolites of broiler chickens. A total of 400 one-day-old broiler chicks (male and female) were randomly assigned to 5 experimental treatments with 4 replicates of 20 birds each. Birds of different treatments were given diets containing 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1% OL powder from 14 to 42 d of age. At 21 and 42 d of the experiment, blood samples were taken from two birds of each pen (8 birds/treatment) to evaluate different blood metabolites. Moreover, in order to determine immunity status, at the end of the experiment, antibodies titer against SRBC and weight of bursa of Fabricious were determined. The results indicated that significant difference was not observed for total Ig and IgM, while IgY was higher in birds fed with 0.75% OL compared to the control group. The heaviest bursa of Fabricious observed in birds fed with 0.25% OL. Feeding with OL resulted in significant reductions in blood levels of triglyceride, cholesterol, glucose, LDL, VLDL, HDL and liver enzymes. In conclusion, the findings show that dietary supplementation with OL had positive effects on blood lipids profile, liver enzymes and immunity of broiler chickens

This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of the oral consumption of guggulplant resin on the performance and humoral immunity response of broiler chicks. For doing this experiment, 320 one-day old chicks of the Cobb 500 strains, in a Completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 4 replicates were used. Experimental diets include: control diet (without the guggul), control diet + 200 ppm guggul, control diet + 400 ppm guggul, control diets + 600 ppm guggul. Live body weight, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio were recorded at 21 and 42 d of experiment. To determine antibody titers against sheep red blood cell (SRBC) 1 ml of 3% suspension of sheep erythrocyte in phosphate buffer saline was injected into the wing veins at 29 and 35-day chicks. Treatments had significant effects on daily gain, feed conversion and feed intake during growth period (22-42 d). Treatments had significant effects on total antibody titers and IgY (p <0.05), but the effect of the treatments on the production of IgM was not significant. 6.The effect of the treatments on the bursa of Fabricius relative weight mean, was significant, but there was no significant effect on the spleen