Poultry Science Journal
Volume:9 Issue: 1, Winter-Spring 2021

The goal of the current study was to determine the effect of ginger extract on some quality parameters of rooster spermatozoa during liquid storage. A total of 10 healthy adult native roosters were selected and sampled twice a week for three weeks. Treatment groups were made up of basal extender supplemented with various concentrations of ginger extract including 0, 20, 40, 60, and 80 μg/mL. Sperm plasma membrane integrity, viability, and motility were assessed at 0, 24, 48, and 72 hours after semen collection. However, the sperm DNA fragmentation test was determined only after 48 hours of storage. The sperm membrane integrity was high at 24 (81.66%) and 48 (58.66%) hours in control and 60 µg/mL of ginger extract, respectively. The highest sperm viability (70.50%) and motility (76.50%) were obtained in 20 μg/mL ginger extract at 48h. The lowest sperm DNA fragmentation (32%) was observed in the 20 μg/mL of ginger extract. According to the results, the ginger extract showed a protective effect against time-associated harmful changes in semen quality of roosters during liquid storage.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of supplemental L-threonine and enzyme in a wheat-based starter diet (WBD) on the growth performance, intestinal morphology, and immune responses of male ROSS 308 broiler chickens. A total of 240 one-day-old chicks were allocated to six different dietary treatments in a completely randomized design with a 2×3 factorial arrangement. The treatments were two WBD (with or without enzyme) each supplemented with three levels of L-threonine (100%, 120%, and 140% of the NRC recommendation). To evaluate the humoral immune system, sheep red blood cells (SRBC) antigen was injected, and for evaluation of cutaneous basophil hypersensitivity (CBH) response, the phytohemagglutinin-P was injected subcutaneously. On day 21, two chicks were selected out of each replicate and were bled, slaughtered, and then their internal organs were dissected and weighed. Blood samples were used for malondialdehyde (MDA) measurement. Jejunal and ileal contents and tissues were sampled for the viscosity and morphometric measurements. The supplemental L-threonine at the level of 120% of the NRC recommendation improved body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and anti-SRBC titer (P < 0.05). Also, the supplemental L-threonine at the level of 140% of the NRC recommendation increased the jejunal crypt depth and decreased the jejunal and ileal crypt width (P < 0.05). Nevertheless, the supplemental L-threonine did not affect serum MDA, the viscosity of intestinal contents, and the CBH response (P > 0.05). The enzyme supplementation decreased the viscosity of jejunal contents and increased the villus height to crypt depth ratio in the jejunum (P < 0.05). In conclusion, it seems that more dietary L-threonine is needed to support the performance and health of the broilers when fed the WBD. However, no synergism was observed when L-threonine and enzyme supplementation were simultaneously applied in this study.

This study aimed to compare the accuracy of artificial neural networks (ANNs) in estimating the weight of broilers using video image processing technology. A total number of 900 broiler chicks from three different strains (Ross 308, Cobb 500, and Arbor Acres) were fed on commercial diets and reared under standard situations for 42 days. Thirty male and female chicks from each strain were weighed randomly using digital scales every day while simultaneously filmed from top view using a Xenon camera (2MP 1080IP lens). In image processing, digital images initially were extracted from films and then each image was processed using GUI of MATLAB software. Sixteen morphological features extracted from images that significantly correlated with the chicks' weight, were used as inputs of the artificial neural network, and multilayer perceptron ANN was trained to predict the weight of chickens of each strain via an error propagation algorithm. The procedure was the same for all three strains. The accuracy of ANN models to predict the weight of chicks were 98.4% (with an average error of 7.9 g), 99.54% (with an average error of 0.37 g), and 99.67% (with an average error of 2 g) for Ross, Cobb, and Arbor Acres strains, respectively. In conclusion, a comprehensive intelligent model can be designed based on artificial neural networks and video image processing technology to estimate the weight of broiler chickens regardless of their strain type.

This study examined the effect of dietary supplementation of Kigelia pinnata (KPL) and Plukenetia conophora (PCL) leaves in comparison with oxytetracycline (OXY) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) on growth performance, selected blood biochemical parameters, caecal microbiota, splenic interleukins (IL), serum immunoglobulins (Ig), carcass traits, meat quality, and oxidative stability in broiler chickens. One day old Arbor Acres chicks (n=420) were randomly assigned to either basal diet only (BD); basal diet + 0.5 g/kg oxytetracycline + 0.12 g/kg BHA (OXYBHA); basal diet + 1 g/kg KPL (KPL-1); basal diet + 2 g/kg KPL (KPL-2); basal diet + 1 g/kg PCL (PCL-1); or basal diet + 2 g/kg PCL (PCL-2) for 42 d. Each dietary treatment had seven replicates with 10 chicks per replicate. Supplemented birds gained (P < 0.05) more weight and had a better feed conversion ratio compared with the BD birds. Hematological indices, IL-1β, and IL-6 did not differ among the treatments. BD birds had lower (P < 0.05) carcass weight and IL-10, and higher (P < 0.05) IgG, IgM, Salmonella spp., and E. coli counts than the supplemented birds. The KPL-2 birds had the least (P < 0.05) E. coli and Salmonella spp. counts and IgM among the supplemented birds. Lactobacillus spp. count was lower (P < 0.05) in OXYBHA birds compared with KPL and PCL birds. Carbonyl and malondialdehyde contents in the Sartorius muscle, and drip loss and carbonyl content in the Pectoralis muscle of the BD birds were higher (P < 0.05) than those of the supplemented birds. These results illustrate that the 2 g/kg KPL and 2 g/kg PCL could be used as an antioxidant and an antimicrobial in the diets of broiler chickens.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of incorporation of the probiotic mix, prebiotic, and synbiotic supplements on immune response, interleukin-6, interleukin-10, and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene expression, hematology, and oxidant-antioxidant biomarkers of broilers infected with Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium mixed infection. A total of 273 commercial Cobb 500 chicks were randomly allocated into seven experimental groups, including NC group: fed only a basal diet (negative control), PC group; fed a basal diet and infected with Salmonellae on 3 rd life day (positive control), ProSa group: administrated probiotic mix in drinking water and then infected with Salmonellae, Presa group: fed prebiotic with basal diet and then infected with Salmonellae, SynSa: received probiotic mix and prebiotic (synbiotic) and then infected with Salmonellae, Pro group: given probiotic mix in feed, and Pre group: basal diet supplemented with prebiotic. The probiotic mix, prebiotic, and synbiotic supplementation significantly increased total IgY levels in the sera of infected birds in comparison to those of positive control. Also, the additives significantly downregulated IL-6 and iNOS gene expressions while they significantly upregulated IL-10 gene expression in the caeca of infected birds, in comparison to those of positive control. Also, the supplementary treatments significantly improved Salmonella-induced changes in hematology and oxidant-antioxidant biomarkers of infected groups. Compared with different supplementary treatments, the synbiotic significantly robust immune response of Salmonellainfected birds when compared with single supplementation of probiotic mix or prebiotic. In conclusion, probiotics, prebiotic, and in particular synbiotic supplements improved immune response, hematological and antioxidative biomarkers of birds experimentally infected with mixed Salmonellae.

This study investigated the effect of adding watermelon juice, vitamin Eselenium and vitamin C to the drinking water on growth performance, internal organs’ weight, and prececal nutrient digestibility in broilers under heat stress. Two hundred and fifty Hubbard F15 day-old broilers were allocated to five treatments with five replicates of 10 broilers per each replicate, based on a completely randomized design. The birds in the control treatment did not receive any supplement in drinking water and reared in thermoneutral temperature. Birds in the other four treatments received watermelon juice at 60% or 30%, vitamin C at 50 mg/L, or vitamin E-Selenium at 1 mL/L of drinking water during the heat stress period. Heat stress applied for 9 hours from day 12 onward. Results indicated birds that received 60% watermelon juice had similar body weight and feed intake compared to control birds. The relative weight of proventriculus, intestine length, and prececal dry matter nutrient digestibility was significantly higher in 60% watermelon juice treatment than other treatments. It is concluded that watermelon juice supplementation at 60% concentration into the drinking water could improve the performance of birds reared under heat stress as a result of restoring water and feed intake and also better prececal dry matter digestibility.

This study aimed to differentiate indigenous chicken populations of four administrative zones including Kaffa, Sheka, Metekel, and Bale based on morphometric measurements using multivariate analysis. Data on quantitative traits were collected from 3069 adult indigenous chickens of both sexes. Live weight (LW), body length (BL), breast circumference (BC), wingspan (WS), shank length (SL), shank circumference (SC), keel length (KL), back length (BkL), and neck length (NL) were recorded. A cluster and discriminant analysis was applied to identify the combination of variables that best differentiate among chicken populations. Results indicated that Metekel chickens were characterized by higher LW, BL, KL, and BkL and differed from other groups (P < 0.05). Sheka chickens demonstrated the highest BC, WS, SL, SC, and NL being different from others (P < 0.05). Cluster analysis generated two distinct groups in which chickens of Bale and Sheka were clustered in one group while those of Metekel and Kaffa in another group each separated with sub-clusters. All Mahalanobis distances among the four chicken populations were significant being the shortest between Sheka and Bale chickens and the longest between those of Metekel and Bale (P < 0.0001). Three statistically significant (P < 0.001) canonical variables (CAN) were extracted of which CAN1 and CAN2 accounted for 73.2 and 14.6% of the total variations, respectively. The scatter plot generated by canonical discriminant analysis showed that CAN1 effectively discriminated between chickens of Metekel and Kaffa while the CAN2 best discriminated against those of Bale and Sheka. The discriminant analysis correctly classified 95.3, 94.9, 92.3, and 82.2% of Metekel, Bale, Kaffa, and Sheka chickens into their origin population, respectively. The current study revealed that multivariate analysis of morphometric traits provided a practical basis for differentiating the indigenous chicken populations into different groups. However, the authors recommend genetic characterization studies to validate the detected morphometric-based differentiation in chicken populations.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of the herbal extract on growth performance, carcass yield, and meat quality in quails raised under thermal-neutral (TN) and heat stress (HS) conditions. For this purpose, a total of 384 one-day-old Japanese quail chicks (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were randomly allocated to 4 treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with two levels of dietary herbal extract (Digestarom® Poultry; 0 and 100 mg/kg of diet) and two thermal environments (TN and GS). A corn-soybean meal-based diet was prepared for starter and grower phases according to NRC (1994) recommendations. Growth performance along with carcass and meat quality characteristics including color, pH levels, L* , a* , and b* values, cooking loss, and water holding capacity were recorded. Heat stress negatively affected the feed intake of birds during the second phase of the experiment (P < 0.001). Meat pH levels were decreased at the 15th minute postmortem in quails subjected to HS (P < 0.05), while other meat quality parameters were not affected. The HS also had no significant effect on blood stress indicators such as heterophil/lymphocyte ratio or malondialdehyde concentration. The herbal extract could not extremely improve growth performance and meat quality in quails, but it helped to some extent to buffer the negative effects of HS. In conclusion, it seems quails have a high tolerant capacity and the beneficial effect of dietary herbal extract addition might be achieved when quails are subjected to higher thermal conditions.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of olive, milk thistle, and artichoke extracts on growth performance, biochemical and enzymatic changes in birds intoxicated with CCl4 (at 0.5, 0.75, and 1 mL/kg body weight in days 14, 21, and 28 of age, respectively). Two hundred twenty-five 10-day-old Ross 308 female broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized block design to evaluate the effects of five treatments consisting 1) a basal diet given to the birds injected intraperitoneally with 0.5 mL saline (control-), 2) The same basal diet given to birds injected intraperitoneally with CCl4 (control+), 3, 4, and 5) The basal diet supplemented with either 400 mg/kg milk thistle, olive extracts, or artichoke extract given to the birds injected with CCl4. Dietary Supplementation of each herbal extract increased feed intake compared with the control birds (P < 0.05). The broilers fed on the artichoke supplemented diet showed a greater serum concentration of HDL-c than other birds on day 28 of age (P < 0.05). Feeding the control diet to the CCl4 injected birds and the olive extract-included diet with no injection resulted in a greater serum alanine aminotransferase concentration at day 42 of age (P < 0.05). Serum malondialdehyde concentration decreased in the birds given the control diets (P < 0.05). The supplementary olive extract increased serum concentrations of malondialdehyde and total anti-oxidant on day 42 of age (P < 0.05). Liver health score improved in the broilers grown on the herbal extract-added diets (P < 0.05). In conclusion, administration of olive, milk thistle, and artichoke extracts promoted feed intake and exerted a potentially positive role as an antioxidant in liver health as evidenced by certain promising changes in serum biochemistry and enzyme activity as well as liver health score.

The objective of this study was to examine the influence of the addition of milk kefir (MK), as a natural probiotic to drinking water, individually or in combination with organic acids (OA), on the growth performance, intestinal microbial counts and morphology, serum metabolites and immune status in broiler chickens. Two hundred and fifty one-day-old broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly distributed into 4 treatment groups including a control group, and the control group with MK (2% of drinking water), OA (350 mL/1000 L of water), or MK+OA. At d 35, Body weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio were recorded. At the end of the experiment (d 35), five birds per treatment were selected to determine the bacterial population, serum biochemical metabolites, and intestinal morphology. According to the results, water supplemented with MK increased the mRNA levels of IFN-γ and IFN-β at 35 d in the jejunum (P < 0.05). OA supplementation significantly increased the gene expression of IL-6 (P < 0.05). On the other hand, the gene expression of IL-12 increased in broilers fed the control diet (P < 0.05). The broiler chickens that received MK+OA showed an improvement in feed conversion ratio (P < 0.05) compared with OA and control groups. The addition of MK+OA resulted in a higher relative weight of thigh in broiler chickens compared with the MK group (P < 0.05), while the relative weight of spleen was lower in OA and MK treatments compared with the MK+OA group (P < 0.05). The results also indicated that the addition of MK+OA decreased the ileocaecal E. coli population compared to other treatments (P < 0.05). Conversely, the birds that received MK+OA had a higher viable count of ileocaecal lactobacilli (P < 0.05) compared with the OA group. In conclusion, the combination of OA with MK had beneficial effects on the performance, intestinal immune-related genes, and gut microbiota activity of broiler chickens.

This experiment was conducted to study the effect of thyme extracts from Zataria multiflora and Ziziphora clinopodioides Lam on some productive traits and blood parameters. A total of 240 one-day-old, male broilers of Ross 308 were used in a completely randomized design with 6 experimental groups and 4 replicates with 10 birds in each. Experimental treatments consisted of a basal soybean-meal diet (control), the basal diet supplemented with vitamin E at 200 mg/kg, Zataria multiflora essential oil at 200 mg/kg or 400 mg/kg, and Ziziphora clinopodioides essential oil at 200 mg/kg or 400 mg/kg. The results showed that the birds in the experimental groups consumed more feed and had significantly greater body weight as well as energy and protein efficiency in the whole experimental period, especially Ziziphora clinopodioides at the level of 400 mg/kg, compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Thyme extracts had a significant effect on the most blood factors, except cholesterol and LDL-c (P < 0.05). Thyme extracts significantly reduced serum albumin and improved HDL-c level (P < 0.05). The experimental groups had a significant effect on the relative weight of breast and thigh, malondialdehyde concentration, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant enzyme activity (P < 0.05). Based on the results, Ziziphora clinopodioides at the level of 400 mg/kg can be introduced as an effective oral additive to improve the studied traits.

The present study aimed to assess the antibiotic resistance of commensal Escherichia coli (E. coli) of the healthy ostriches (Eho) and the diseased chickens with colibacillosis (Epc) and to determine if the odds that Eho (test group) shows antimicrobial resistance different from the Epc (reference group). In this descriptive cross-sectional study, we calculated the odd ratio (OR) after determination of the resistance and multidrug resistance (MDR) rates, MDR pattern, and the antibiotype of Eho (n= 49) and Epc (n= 39) against ampicillin, amoxicillin, gentamicin, amikacin, oxytetracycline, sultrim, lincospectin, and chloramphenicol. All of the Eho (100%) were resistant to ampicillin, gentamicin, and amoxicillin (P < 0.05) and 100% of Epc were resistant to ampicillin (P < 0.05). Thirty point two percent of Eho and 87.2% of Epc isolates were MDR. MDR Eho (P < 0.05) and MDR Epc (P < 0.05) showed two (P1 and P3) and four (P1-4) MDR patterns, respectively. Eho and Epc showed seven (P < 0.05) and 21 (P > 0.05) antibiotypes, respectively. The odds of Eho being resistant to ampicillin, amoxicillin, and gentamicin (P > 0.05) and P1 MDR pattern (P < 0.05) and three (P > 0.05) and one (P < 0.05) antibiotypes were higher in Eho compared to those in Epc. Our findings emphasized the development of antibiotic resistance in commensal E. coli and indicated that not only one antibiotic may not treat the disease in chickens, but antibiotic susceptibility testing is also of great necessity for veterinary health. The possible contamination of meat, carcasses, and eggs of apparently healthy ostriches by their fecal MDR E. coli threatens human health.