saifali varmaghany

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effects of dietary artichoke level on growth performance, nutrients digestibility and plasma parameters in fattening male lambs. Twenty-four Kurdish lambs (30.18 ± 2.35 kg BW and 7 months age) were used in a completely randomized design. Experimental diets were diet containing 0% artichoke (control), diets containing 10 and 20% artichoke respectively. The experiment was lasted for 100 days including 20 days for adaptation period and 80 days for data recording and samples collection. Results showed that lambs fed diet containing artichoke had greater average daily gain and feed efficiency compared to the control group (P<0.05). Digestibility of dry matter (P=0.09), organic matter (P=0.09) and crude protein (P=0.10) tended to increase linearly with increasing artichoke level in the diet, whereas digestibility of neutral detergent fiber was not affected by artichoke level in the diet. Lambs fed diets containing artichoke had lower blood urea concentration compared to those fed control diet (P<0.05), but plasma glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were not affected by the experimental diets. It is concluded that feeding artichoke up to 20% of total mixed ration not only had no negative effect on feed intake and nutrients digestibility but also improved growth performance of fattening lambs.

Water shortage, low quality soils, and insufficient supply of feed are the main limitations for livestock production in arid and semiarid regions of the word. Therefore, there is a demand to cultivate new crops for these areas as an alternative to crops, which are hypersensitive to low fertile situation. Cultivation of acceptable-quality unusual plants, which are resistant to harsh environmental conditions is a proper way to overcome these challenges. Artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) is a highly productive crop and produce a large amount of forage per unit of area. Artichoke forage has good nutritional value for ruminant animals. In other hand, artichoke as a medicinal plant contains many secondary compounds including polyphenols, cynarin, chlorogenic acid, carotenoids and natural antioxidants. Lower blood cholesterol and triglyceride and carcass fat have been reported by these compounds in animals fed artichoke products. Therefore, we hypothesized that addition of artichoke forage to diet of fattening lambs may has beneficial effects on their carcass quality traits.
In order to evaluate the effects of dietary artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) level instead of alfalfa on meat fatty acids profile and carcass quality traits of fattening lambs, this experiment was conducted using 24 Kurdish male lambs (initial body weight of 30.2 ± 2.35 kg) in a completely randomized design with three treatments and eight replications. Experimental treatments included: 1) control (diet without artichoke hay), 2) diet containing 10% artichoke hay, and 3) diet containing 20% artichoke hay. The experiment was lasted for 100 days including 20 d of adaptation period and 80 d of data recording and samples collection. At the end of experiment, all lambs were weighed after an overnight fast (16 h). All lambs were slaughtered, and hot carcass were weighed. The carcass was split into two equal halves (left and right). The right half of carcass was cut into six primal cuts including neck, shoulder, breast-flank, loin, leg and tail. Meat chemical composition, color parameters and fatty acids profile were measured.
The results showed that incorporation of artichoke to the diet improved the daily weight gain of lambs (P<0.05). Also, hot carcass weight and dressing percentage increased linearly with increasing artichoke level in the diet (P<0.05). Dietary artichoke level had no effect on carcass cuts percentage (neck, shoulder, breast flank, loin, leg, and tail), meat chemical composition (moisture, protein, fat and ash) and color parameters (lightness, redness, yellowness). Meat fatty acids profile (including saturated fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acids) were not affected by artichoke level in the diets.
According to the results, feeding fattening lambs a diet contained artichoke (up to 20% of total mixed ration) has no detrimental effects on meat quality and improve their dressing percentage.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of olive leaf powder feeding in different breeding periods on immunity, intestinal bacterial population and blood biochemical parameters of Arian broiler chickens. A total of 336 one-day-old male broiler (Arian strain 386) were studied in a completely randomized design with six treatments for 42 days. The experimental treatments included: control diet (without olive leaves) and the other groups were fed a diet containing 1% olive leaves: from one to14 days, one to 21 days, one to 28 days, one to 35 days and one to days. Body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were similar in all groups, but the mortality rate in one to 42 days treatment was lower than other treatments (P <0.01). The amount of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol in one to 35 days and one to 42 days treatments was lower than other treatments (P <0.05). The alanine aminotransferase activity in the control treatment was higher and in the one to42 days treatment was lower than other treatments (P <0.05). Higher population of Lactobacillus were observed for treatments of one to 28 days, one to 35 days and one to 42 days in jejunum (P <0.01) and one to 21 days, one to 28 days, one to 35 days and one to 42 days in ileum. (P <0.05). The results of this experiment showed that feeding 10 gr/kg of dry olive leaves during the 42 days of the breeding period of broilers led to a reduction in mortality without any negative effect on performance and immunity.

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of addition of a nitroglycerin (NG) slow release drug on prevention of ascites syndrome in broiler chickens. A total of 500 broiler chicks at 7 days of age were used in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments, 5 replicates and 20 chicks per each replication. The experimental treatments included: 1) positive control group (without induction of ascites and without addition of NG); 2) negative control group (induction of ascites without adding NG, treatments 3, 4 and 5, including induction of ascites with 5, 10 and 20 mg/kg NG in diet, respectively. In order to induce cold stress, the temperature was fixed at 15oC from 15 until 42 day of age. The humeral and cellular immune responses as well as blood serum enzyme concentrations were evaluated. The results showed that cold stress significantly reduced the relative weights of spleen and thymus (p < 0.05) but had no significant effect on relative weight of bursa of Fabricius. The utilization of NG significantly increased the relative weights of Spleen and thymus (p < 0.05). The immunoglobulin M response and cutaneous basophilic sensitivity decreased as a result of cold stress, and significantly increased by using NG (p < 0.05). The concentration of AST and LDH enzymes increased as a result of cold stress and the utilization of 20 mg/kg of NG in the diet significantly decreased them (p < 0.05). The lipid peroxidation index improved near meaningfully as a result of using NG (P= 0.06)

This research was conducted to compare the immune system status, microbial population, blood parameters and performance traits of five common broiler strains in Iran. For this purpose, fertile eggs were prepared from broiler breeder flocks with 31 to 33 weeks of age including Arbor Acres, Arian, Ross 308, Cobb and Hubbard and a total of 260 one-day old broiler chick were raised in the same production condition for 49 days in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments(strains),4 replicates and 13 birds in each replication. The mean of live body weight, feed conversion ratio and production index were not significant among treatments. The highest and lowest feed intake were related to Ross 308 and Arian, respectively(p < 0.05). The difference was not significant in total white blood cells, lymphocyte, heterophile, eosinophil, monocyte and heterophile/lymphocyte ratio among treatments at 21 and 42 d.The effect of strain was not significant on relative weights of immune system organs including spleen and bursa of Fabricius at 21 and 42 d.The activity of aspartate aminotransferase enzyme did not show any significant difference among different experimental strains. The different experimental treatments had no significant effect on lactobacillus and Escerichia coli population and blood triglyceride, HDL and LDL concentrations at the end of experimental period.In general,the results of this examination showed that production index,immune system and microbial population of these strains were almost the same in identical production conditions so that broiler producers can raise each of these strains according to the quality of their one- day old chicks

The effect of different feeding methods in the first three days of the rearing period on production traits and immune system of one-day-old chicken broilers (Ross 308) for 49 days was studied. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with eight treatments / four replications and 15 chickens per replication The experimental treatments included: 1- water and starter diet, 2- water and corn powder for 48 hours, 3- water containing 5% sugar and corn powder for 48 hours, 4-water containing 5% sugar and corn powder for 72 hours, 5-water containing 5% sugar and starter diet for 48 hours, 6-water containing 5% sugar and starter diet for the 72 hours, 7 water containing glucoplus and corn powder for 48 hours and 8- water containing glucoplus and starter diet for 72 hours. Treatments of 1 and 8 had the highest live weight and body weight gain at d 42 in compare to the other treatments except treatment 6 (P<0.05). The greatest daily feed intake was observed in treatment 1 which had significant difference with others groups except treatments 6 and 8 (P<0.05). The mortality rate was not significant between treatments at 42 and 49 days. The greatest production efficiency factor was observed in treatment 8 at d 42, (P<0.05), which had significant difference with others groups ( excepttreatments 1 and 5). Experimental treatments had no effect on relative weight of internal organs, carcass components and white blood cells counts. According to the results and economic considerations, initial feeding with the starter diet and common water in broiler farms is recommended.

In this experiment, the effects of Hyssopus officinalis powder, Virginiamycine antibiotic and Aspirine on performance, immunity and ascites indexes of broiler chickens which subjected to cold stress were studied. In a completely randomized design, 500 male Ross-308 broiler chickens were allocated to 5 treatments with 5 replicates and 20 birds in each. The dietary treatments consisted of: 1) basal diet with no additive (control), 2 and 3) basal diet plus 300 g/tone Virginiamycine or Aspirine respectively and 4 and 5) basal diet containing 0.5 or 1 percent Hyssopus officinalis powder, respectively. As compared to control group, inclusion of 0.5 or 1 percent Hyssopus officinalis powder significantly increased feed intake, body weight gain and EPEF and improved FCR of broiler chickens. Feeding broiler chickens with diet containing Hyssopus officinalis powder or Aspirine decreased ascitic mortality, heamatocrite percentage and ascites indexe (relative weight of right ventricle to total weight of ventricles) at 42d of age. Dietary treatmens had no effect on antibody titer against New-Castle and influenza virus and relative weight of tymous, spleen and Burce of Fabrecoius of broiler chickens at 42d of age. Regards to the results of present experiment, addition of Hyssopus officinalis powder or Aspirine decreased ascytic incidence and its related mortality in broiler chickens under cold condition.

Medicinal plants play an important role in maintaining the health and performance of the poultry during stress. One of the most important medicinal plants is artichoke. Artichoke, the scientific name of Cynara scolymus and the Latin name Artichoks, is an herb of the chicory family of the oldest medicinal plants. The extract of this plant improves arthrosclerosis and liver damages. This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of Artichoke medicinal herb on growth performance, microbial population, liver enzymes and immune response in broiler chickens under cold stress condition in a completely randomized design.

In this experiment, 400 one day old broiler chicks of Ross 308 were used in a completely randomized design with five treatments, four replicates and 20 chicks in each replicate. Experimental treatments were control (basal diet), antibiotic (basal diet plus 0.0015 percent antibiotic virginiamycin), aspirin (basal diet plus 0.2 percent aspirin powder), 10 and 20 g/Kg artichoke powder. During the experiment (42 days), the chicks had free access to water and feed. The broiler chickens were exposed to a temperature of 32ºC at one-day-old, with stepwise reductions to 25 ºC, 20 ºC and 15 ºC on days 7, 14, and 21, respectively. At this point, a temperature of 15 ºC was maintained until the end of the experiment. At 21 and 42 days of each experimental unit, two birds were selected and the gastrointestinal tract opened in an aseptic condition adjacent to the flame. Using pre-sterilized aluminum foil pieces, 1 g of ileal contents was removed and added to tubes containing 9 ml of phosphate buffer saline and transferred to the laboratory to determine the population of Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and Escherichia coli (E. coli). The number of bacteria per gram of sample was calculated. At the end of days 21 and 42, the breeding period after two hours of starvation from each experimental unit of 2 birds were randomly selected and 2 ml blood was taken via a wing vein. Serum samples were isolated after blood coagulation and transferred to the micro tube and centrifuged for 10 minutes. The enzymes activity of Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) were measured. To assay the primary and secondary antibody responses against sheep red blood cell (SRBC), at 16 and 23d of age, 2 birds/replicate were immunized intramuscularly with 0.5 mL 10% SRBC. Blood samples were obtained from the brachial vein at 7d following each injection (days 23 and 30). Antibody titers against Newcastle virus were measured in serum samples by hemagglutination inhibition assay.

The results indicated that the population of E. coli was not subjected to experimental diets at 21 days. Lactobacillus population was subjected to experimental rations at 21 days. The effect of experimental diet on Bifidobacterium population was significant at 21 days of age. The experimental diets containing antibiotics and aspirin reduced and increased Bifidobacterium population respectively. The effect of experimental diets on the population of E. coli was significant at 42 days of age. Both levels of artichoke reduced the population of E. coli by comparison with the control and antibiotic groups. The diet containing aspirin and antibiotics also reduced and increased the E. coli population, as compared to the control group. The effect of experimental diets on Lactobacillus population was significant at 42 days of age. Antibiotic diet lowered the Lactobacillus population compared with other experimental groups. The effect of experimental diet on bifidobacterium population was significant at 42 days of age. The diets of 2% of artichokes and antibiotics increased and decreased bifidobacterium population respectively. One reported in a study thatevaluated the phenolic compounds of leaf extract and their antimicrobial activity that the compounds in the plant's extract such as chlorogenic acid, cinnarin, luteolin-7 rhinosinus and sinarocide showed high activity for combat with organisms. Experimental treatments had significant effect on activity of liver enzymes. The treatments 2% artichoke and aspirin were reduced activity ALT at 21 days. The treatment 2% artichoke reduced the amount of AST enzyme compared to control and other experimental diets. The experimental diets had no effect on ALP at 21 days of age. The effect of experimental diets on blood enzymes at 42 days of age was not significant. The result of a study showed that artichoke extract reduced the concentration of AST and ALT in broiler chickens. Kraft (1997) stated that watery extract of artichoke significantly reduced the concentration of AST, ALT and ALP compared to control group. The effect of different diets on the antibody titer against SRBC in 2 stages (23 and 30 days) and Newcastle disease (at 7 days of injection and 7 days after blood donation) was not significant. According to the results of the present study, Rahimi et al. (2011) reported that the antibody produced against RBC of sheep between rations (containing 0.1% garlic and control) in both temperature conditions (normal temperature and cold temperature to create ascites) was not meaningful. The results of this study showed that the diets containing each plant and their interaction did not have a significant effect on the antibody titer against Newcastle disease. Feed intake and body weight were increased and feed conversion rate was decreased in artichoke powder received groups in comparison with other treatment.

Antibiotics are used to prevent bacterial infections and improve the digestive system's health in the poultry diet. In this research, which was carried out under cold conditions, virginiamycin antibiotics not only had no positive effect on the ileum microbial population, but also compared with control treatment reduced beneficial bacteria and increased harmful bacteria. It is concluded that the inclusion of 2 percent of artichoke in broiler diet, under cold stress conditions had positive effect on microbial population, liver enzymes and immune response in comparison with control treatment and antibiotic treatment, therefore it can be recommended.

The effect of medicinal plant of Cynara scolymus (artichokes) were studied on ascites syndrome, systolic blood pressure and blood parameters in broiler chickens using a total of 400 one-day-old Ross 308 in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments, 4 replicates and 20 chicks for each replicate, up to 42d under cold temperature condition. Experimental treatements were control (basal diet), antibiotic (basal diet plus 0.0015 percent antibiotic virginiamycin), aspirin (basal diet plus 0.2 percent aspirin powder) and two basal diets containing 1 and 2 percent artichoke powder. The results showed that feed intake and body weight were increased and feed conversion rate was decreased in artichoke powder received groups in comparison with other treatment (P

In order to investigate the effect of fresh whole garlic bulb (FGBP) on production index, immune system and carcass characteristics of Arian broiler strain, 592 male one day old chicks were studied during 42 days in two independent experiments. The first experiment was conducted under normal temperature condition (NTC) with 4 treatments, 4 replicates and 21 birds per replicate and second experiment was conducted under cold temperature condition (CTC) with 4 treatments, 4 replicates and 16 birds per replicate basis balanced completely randomized design. The treatments were 1- basal diet without FGBP (control group), 2, 3 and 4 basal diet containing 0.5, 1 and 1.5 percent FGBP, respectively under both NTC and CTC. The highest level of body weight gain and production index were related to treatment of basal diet with 0.5 percent FGBP treatment under both NTC and CTC (P

The aim of this experiment was to study the effect of two levels of oak (Quercus persica) acorn (OA) with or without polyethylene glycol (PEG) on ruminal fermentation parameters and protozoa population of native goats during the last 60 d of pregnancy. Forty multiparous pregnant goats (41.8±3.5 kg BW) were used in a completely randomized block design with the 2×2 factorial arrangement. Oak acorn was used in two levels of 20 or 40% of diet dry matter with (20 gram/head/day) or without PEG. In addition, a control (C) diet without OA and PEG was used. The results showed that goats fed the C diet had higher ruminal NH3-N (P

This study was conducted to evaluate the growth performance and carcass characteristics of five commercial broiler chickens(Arborakers,Aryan,Ross308, Cubb and Hubbard)available in Iran. First of all, the fertile eggs were hatched from broiler breeder with 31-33 weeks age at the same time. Two hundred sixty one day old broiler chickens were allocated to a completely randomized design with 5 treatments (broiler strains),4 replicates and 13 birds in each replicate. The peirod of experiment was 42 days. The results of this experiment indicated that,treatements had effect significant on the amount of feed intake,the heighest and lowest feed intake related to Hubard(77.1g/d), Ross (83.38g/d) and Arborakers (84.15g/d) respectively(P0.05).In general,the results of this experiment showed weight gain, feed conversion and and carcass quality were not significantly different between broiler strains,therefore each of these could be raised in condition of management and feeding similar to this experiment.

The effect of dietary olive leaf in diet at different periods of breeding was studied on growth performance and ascites incidence in broiler chickens. A total of 336 one day-old male broiler chickens (Arian) used in complete randomize design with 6 treatments, 4 replications and 14 birds in each replication. The period of experiment was 42 days. The rations were supplied base on recommendation of Arian broiler management guide in three phase of feeding. In each phase, tow diets were provided with 0 (control) and 1 percent of olive leaves dried in diet. The treatments were diets:1) control, 2) from 1 to 14 days olive leaf, 3) from 1 to 21 days olive leaf, 4) from 1 to 28 days olive leaf, 5) from 1 to 35 days olive leaf, 6) from 1 to 42 days olive leaf. The effects of treatments were not significant on final body weight, daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio. The mortality due to ascites syndrome was reduced in treatments of olive leaf 1 to 14 and olive 1 to 42 (P