• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1592-1597
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• 2013

Type of dietary direct-fed microbials (DFMs) or poultry litter could directly influence the composition of gut microbiota. Gut microbiota plays an important role in shaping the developing immune system and maintaining the homeostasis of the mature immune system in mammal and chickens. The present study was carried out to investigate the interaction among litter, DFMs and immunity in broiler chickens exposed to a field-simulated environment. Immune status of broiler chickens was assessed by serum antibodies against Eimeria spp. and Clostridium spp. and intestinal cytokine mRNA expression. The current experimental design had a $3{\times}2$ factorial arrangement of treatments with three types of litter, i.e., fresh litter or used litter that was obtained from a farm with no disease outbreak (used litter) or a farm with history of a gangrenous dermatitis outbreak (GD litter), and two dietary treatments with or without DFMs. It was found that either DFM addition or type of litter significantly affected anticoccidial antibody levels of broiler chickens at d 42. In general, dietary DFMs increased the anticoccidial antibodies in the fresh-litter raised chickens, but lowered the levels in the GD-litter raised chickens. Serum antibodies against Clostridium perfringens ${\alpha}$-toxin were significantly (p<0.05) higher in chickens raised on GD litter compared with those raised on fresh litter. Cytokine mRNA expression was significantly (p<0.05) altered by either the type of litter or DFMs. Of interest, dietary DFMs lowered interferon-${\gamma}$, interleukin 1beta, and CXCLi2 cytokine mRNA expression in chickens raised on fresh litter but increased them in GD-litter raised chickens. In conclusion, dietary DFMs modulate various immune parameters of broiler chickens, but the DFM-mediated effects were dependent upon the type of litter on which chickens were raised.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Poultry Science Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.86-88
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• 2001

An experiment was conducted to determine how broiler performance, feces and litter concentration of N can be maintained and whether NH3 gas concentration can be reduced with reducing dietary CP, adding ALUM(AL2(SO4)3.14H20) in litter and supplementing with amino acid and vitamin D in feed. The experiment was divided into a starter period(1 to 21d) and grower period(22 to 42d), each having three different CP with 90 birds per treatment of 3 replications. The CP treatments consisted of a mean CP of 23.0(control 71), 20.4 (72) and 18.0 (73) % for starter and 21.0(control 71),19.3 (72) and 17.0 (73) % for grower, respectively, but with similar amino acid levels as the control. Alum was mixed in each treatment except control treatment with 200g in kilogram litter(rice bran) weight. Results suggested that reducing CP below control in the diets fed during 3wks and 6wks slightly increased feed gain and slightly decreased feed intake and weight gain. However, there were no significant difference among treatments. Reducing CP caused NH3 gas concentration to decline by 74.8 - 80.9% when Alum was mixed in litter(P < 0.05). Litter N concentration did not show any difference(P > 0.05) among treatments. These results suggest that dietary manipulation with adding Alum in litter show for significant reducing NH3 gas concentration while maintaining acceptable Production performance from broiler.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.1083-1090
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• 2023

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the short-term effects of dietary selenium supplementation on lactating sows on the physiological response, litter performance, milk composition, and tissue selenium retention in piglets when selenium was provided by different sources and at different levels in a lactation diet. Methods: A total of 48 multiparous sows (Yorkshire×Landrace) with average body weight, backfat thickness, and parity were assigned to one of the four treatments with 12 sows per treatment using a 2×2 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design. Inorganic or organic Se sources were added to the diet at 0.30 ppm and 0.50 ppm Se. Treatments were as follows: i) IS30, basal diet + inorganic Se 0.30 ppm; ii) IS50, basal diet + inorganic Se 0.50 ppm; iii) OS30, basal diet + organic Se 0.30 ppm; and iv) OS50: basal diet + organic Se 0.50 ppm. Results: At Day 21 of lactation, a high tendency of litter weight (p = 0.08) and litter weight gain (p = 0.09) were observed when sows were fed an organic Se source. The milk Se concentration in the organic Se treatment was higher than that in the inorganic Se treatment at Day 21 of lactation (p<0.05). The serum Se concentrations of sows and piglets at Day 21 of lactation were significantly higher when lactating sows were fed organic Se instead of inorganic Se (p<0.01). During the suckling period, the kidney and muscle Se concentrations of piglets at Day 21 of lactation were significantly higher when the sow dietary Se source was organic (p<0.05). Liver Se concentrations were affected by Se source and level (p<0.05). This also resulted in an interaction response at 21 days of lactation (p<0.05). Conclusion: The supplementation of dietary organic Se in a lactating diet could improve sow feed consumption, piglet performance, milk Se level, and the Se status of sows and piglets.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.233-237
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• 2001

Changes of the oribatid mite species composition during the litter decomposition was investigated in the north-facing and south-facing slopes with different lower vegetation (annual herbaceous plants in north and perennial Sasa in south) in the altitude 1,000 m of Mt. Jumbong, a nature reserve area in Korea, from August 1994 to September 1995. Total 58 species of oribatid mites were collected. The values of O1son's negative exponential index (k) were -0.56 in the south-facing slope and -0.49 in the north-facing slope, but there was no significant difference between them. The decomposition rate of litter increased rapidly until Oct. 1994, and decreased thereafter. Intensive settlement of the forest litter by oribatid mites was recorded in the autumn periods and it decreased in the next spring and summer. Species diversity index (H'), and species evenness (J') ranged from 1.74 to 2.69, and from 0.57 to 0.93, respectively, and the values were lowest in spring. In the successive periods of growing season, there followed great changes in the structure of species dominance. Heminothrus minor was one of the most dominant species in autumn in the first year when litter were placed, but was never recovered next seasons. In contrast, Platynothrus yamasakii was also dominant in the first autumn, then decreased very low in numbers in next spring and summer, but regained its number in autumn. On the other hand, an increase of the number during these periods was observed by Epidamaeus sp.2. Ceratopia bipilis and Epidamaeus sp.1 were abundant both in the north-and south-facing slopes. Trichogalumna nipponica was only found in the south-facing slope, and Nanhermannia elegantula was only found in the north-facing slope.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.143-150
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different litter mixture compositions on bedding system temperature, pH and volatile fatty acid and ammonia-N ($NH_3$-N) content, and the serum physico-chemical parameters and growth indices of calves. Thirty-two Limousin calves ($280{\pm}20kg$) were randomly assigned to four groups (n = 8 for each group) according to the bedding system used: i) control with soil only (CTR); ii) mixture with 50% paddy hulls (PH), 30% saw dusts (SD), 10% peat moss (PM) and 10% corn cobs (CC) (TRT1); iii) mixture with 15% PH, 15% SD, 10% PM, 40% CC, and 20% corn stover (CS) (TRT2); iv) mixture with 30% PH, 10% PM, 40% CC, and 20% CS (TRT3). The litter material combinations of different treatments were based on the cost of bedding system materials in China. The cost of four treatments from low to high: Control$NH_3$-N level (271.83 to 894.72 mg/kg) was lowest for TRT1 (p<0.0001) and highest for TRT2 (p<0.0001). The acetate, propionate and butyrate levels were highest for the control group (p<0.0001). In all the groups, the pH value (6.90 to 9.09) increased at the beginning and later remained stable at below 9.09. The temperature of deep litter increased at the first week and reached the maximum ($42.1^{\circ}C$) on day 38. 3,5,3'-Triiodothyronine ($T_3$) levels in the TRT1 group animals (p<0.0001) were lower than those in the control and TRT2 animals. 3,5,3',5'-Tetraiodothyronine ($T_4$) in the TRT1 group (p = 0.006) was lower than that in the other treatment groups. Cortisol (COR) in the control and TRT1 group was lower (p<0.0001) than that in the TRT2 and TRT3 groups. Corticosterone (CORt) in the control group was higher (p<0.0001) than that in the treatment groups. The findings indicate that the deep litter bedding systems provided better conditions for animal health and growth performance compared with the control system. Furthermore, the litter composition of TRT1 was found to be optimal among the three treatment groups.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.591-607
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• 2020

This study was aimed to investigate the changes of chemical composition of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from red pine needles in the process of needle abscission or senescence. The VOCs in intact, senescent, and litter red pine needle samples were analyzed by headspace-solid phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC/MS). And then, multivariate statistical interpretation of the processed data sets was conducted to investigate similarities and dissimilarities of the needle samples. Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were used to investigate the dataset structure and discrimination between samples, respectively. From the data preview, the levels of major components of VOCs from needles were not significantly different between needle samples. By PCA investigation, the data reduction according to classification based on the chlorophyll a / chlorophyll b (Ca/Cb) ratio were found to be ideal for differentiating intact, senescent, and litter needles. The following OPLS-DA taking Ca/Cb ratio as y-variables showed that needle samples were well grouped on score plot and had the significant discriminant compounds, respectively. Several compounds had significantly correlated with Ca/Cb ratio in a bivariate correlation analysis. Notably, the litter needles had a higher content of oxidized compounds than the intact needles. In summary, we found that chemical compositions of VOCs between intact, senescent, and litter needles are different each other and several compounds reflect characteristic of needle.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.264-274
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• 2023

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of β-glucan with vitamin E supplementation on the physiological response, litter performance, blood profiles, immune response, and milk composition of lactating sows. Methods: A total of 50 multiparous F₁ sows (Yorkshire×Landrace) with an average body weight (BW) of 233.6±4.30 kg and an average parity of 4.00±0.307 and their litters were used in this experiment. All sows were allotted to one of five treatments, taking into consideration BW, backfat thickness, and parity in a completely randomized design with 10 replicates. The experimental diets included a corn-soybean meal-based basal diet with or without 0.1% or 0.2% β-glucan and 110 IU vitamin E/kg diet. Results: All treatments added with β-glucan or vitamin E were statistically higher in the average daily feed intake (ADFI) of lactating sows compared to those of the control (Diet, p<0.01). Additionally, the ADFI of lactating sows was significantly higher in the groups supplemented with 0.1% β-glucan compared to 0.2% β-glucan (BG, p<0.01). There was an increasing trend in piglet weight at weaning (BG, p = 0.07), litter weight at the 21st day of lactation (BG, p = 0.07) and litter weight gain (BG, p = 0.08) in groups supplemented with 0.1% β-glucan. The addition of 110 IU vitamin E/kg diet increased vitamin E concentration significantly in lactating sows (VE, p<0.01) and exhibited a trend for higher concentrations of vitamin E (VE, p = 0.09) in piglets. Adding 0.1% β-glucan compared to 0.2% β-glucan induced a decrease in the concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α in lactating sows (BG, p = 0.06) and in piglets (BG, p = 0.09) on the 21st day of lactation. There were no significant differences in the milk composition of sows. Conclusion: Adding 0.1% β-glucan and 110 IU vitamin E/kg to a lactating sow's diet was beneficial to the growth performance of piglets by leading to an increase in the feed intake of sows and efficiently supplying vitamin E to both the sows and piglets.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2002

This study was conducted to determine changes in internal temperature and chemical composition during the composting of broiler litter(BL) and to evaluate the feasibility of use of a small-scale pelletizer for the pelleting of composted BL. BL was composted for 4 weeks in an wooden cell with a size of 1 m length $\times$ 1 m width $\times$ 1.2 m height. Internal temperature reached to peak(68$^{\circ}C$) at the fourth day and thereafter gradually reduced. Among chemical components in BL, composting reduced organic matter content and increased dry matter and indigestible protein(ADF-CP) contents. When BL was pelleted using an economical small-scale pelletizer, the proper die diameter was 8~18 mm and the proper moisture content of composted BL was 20~25%. Beyond these proper conditions, addition of heat and pressure or pellet aids may be necessary. Pelleting of BL resulted in nearly threefold increase of bulk density, significant moisture evaporation, and little change in chemical components except for increased indigestible protein. In conclusion, BL may be converted into a feed with low to medium nutrition by the composting and pelleting process.

• The Korean Journal of Food & Health Convergence
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.11-16
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• 2020

Footpad dermatitis (FPD) can be considered as a threat for poultry production due to it causes losses due to condemnation in slaughterhouse. The prevalence and the severity of FPD in broiler breeders increase over time with development of poultry industry. The condition is produced by multifactorial including include drinker design and management, diet composition, house (temperature and humidity levels), litter (type, quality, and quantity) and gut health. Bacterial infections can be associated. FPD lesions can develop in less than a week. FPD is a variable size of inflammatory lesion of the footpad in commercial poultry characterized by necrotic lesions on the plantar surface of the footpad of poultry. These lesions can be exposed after removal of fecal mass and litter stuck on it. There are considerable and numerous interactions between the environment and the genetic traits. Prevention depends mainly on improvement of litter condition. Genetic selection against footpad dermatitis must be contributed to reduce pain and suffering for particular bird experiencing contact dermatitis as well as to avoid economic losses. The objective of this review is to collect different literature written about FPD to be available to students, researchers and veterinarian in poultry practical.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1860-1868
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• 2023

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of optimal trace mineral levels on the physiological responses, reproductive performance, litter performance, blood profiles and milk composition in gestating sows. Methods: A total of 59 multiparous sows (Yorkshire×Landrace) with similar body weight (BW), backfat thickness (BF), and parity were assigned to one of four treatments with 14 or 15 sows per treatment using a completely randomized design. The treatments were 100% (M1), 300% (M3), 600% (M6), and 900% (M9) of the National Research Council (NRC) Nutrient Requirements of Swine. During lactation period, all the sows were fed the same commercial lactation diet. Results: No significant differences were observed in the BW, BF, reproductive performance, milk composition, or growth performance of the piglets. On day 70 of gestation, the serum zinc concentration showed a quadratic response to M6 treatment (quadratic, p<0.05). Moreover, as the dietary mineral levels increased, the zinc concentration increased linearly at 110 days of gestation (linear, p<0.05). Furthermore, copper and iron concentrations in the serum of sows at 24 h postpartum decreased linearly when high levels of dietary minerals were provided (linear, p<0.05). In the serum of piglets, serum zinc concentrations decreased linearly (linear, p<0.05), and iron concentration showed a quadratic response (quadratic, p<0.05) with an increase in trace mineral premix levels in gestation diets. Conclusion: The current trace mineral requirements of NRC (2012) are suitable for gestating sows, and the addition of dietary mineral levels in the gestating diet did not show any improvements during the gestation and lactation periods.