• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.1711-1724
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• 2022

Objective: The present study was to evaluate the effects of different rapeseed meal substitution (RSM) and glutamine (Gln) supplementation on growth performance, intestine morphology, and intestinal mucosa barrier of broilers. Methods: Four hundred and twenty Qiandongnan Xiaoxiang Chicken at 1 day of age with similar weight were chosen and were randomly assigned into 7 groups, consisting of 10 replicates per group and 6 broilers per replicate. Three groups were provided with diets separately containing 0%, 10%, and 20% RSM, and the other four groups were fed with diets separately supplemented with 0.5% and 1% Gln based on the inclusion of 10% and 20% RSM. At 21 and 42 days of age, 10 broilers per group were chosen to collect plasma and intestinal samples for further analysis. Results: The results showed that 10% RSM decreased average daily feed intake (ADFI) and average daily weight gain (ADG) of broilers at 21 days of age (p<0.05). Furthermore, both ADFI and ADG of broilers at 21 and 42 days of age were decreased by 20% RSM, while feed conversion ratio (FCR) was increased (p<0.05). Besides, 10% RSM resulted in lower intestinal villus height and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth, deeper crypt depth (p<0.05), combined with the lower mRNA expressions of occludin, claudin-1, and zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) in broilers at 21 days of age (p<0.05). Similar results were also observed in broilers at 21 and 42 days of age fed with 20% RSM. However, 1% Gln improved the growth performance of broilers fed with 10% and 20% RSM (p<0.05), ameliorated intestine morphology and elevated mRNA expressions of occludin, claudin-1 and ZO-1 (p<0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, the increasing inclusion of RSM resulted in more serious effects on broilers, however, 1.0% Gln could reverse the negative effects induced by the inclusion of RSM.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.384-389
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• 2016

A total of 400, one day-old commercial broiler chicks were divided into five diet groups (negative control, positive control group with 55 ppm Zn-bacitracin, 15 ppm ${\beta}$-glucan, 30 ppm ${\beta}$-glucan, and 60 ppm ${\beta}$-glucan) and fed for six weeks. Ten broilers were allotted to each of 40 floor pens. Eight floor pens were randomly assigned to one of the 5 diets. Each diet was fed to the broilers for 6 weeks with free access to water and diet. The survival rate, growth rate, feed efficiency, and feed conversion rate of the broilers were calculated. At the end of the feeding trial, the birds were slaughtered, breast muscles deboned, and quality parameters of the breast meat during storage were determined. The high level of dietary ${\beta}$-glucan (60 ppm) showed better feed conversion ratio and survival rate than the negative control. The survival rate of 60 ppm ${\beta}$-glucan-treated group was the same as that of the antibiotic-treated group, which showed the highest survival rate among the treatments. There was no significant difference in carcass yield, water holding capacity, pH, color, and 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances values of chicken breast meat among the 5 treatment groups. Supplementation of 60 ppm ${\beta}$-glucan to broiler diet improved the survival rate and feed conversion rate of broilers to the same level as 55 ppm Zn-bacitracin group. The result indicated that use of ${\beta}$-glucan (60 ppm) can be a potential alternative to antibiotics to improve the survival and performance of broilers. However, dietary ${\beta}$-glucan showed no effects on the quality parameters of chicken breast meat.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.559-567
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• 2019

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of pig skin collagen supplementation on growth performance, organ weight, blood characteristics, and intestinal microbiota in broilers. A total of 50 Ross 308 broilers were used for 2 weeks. The five dietary treatments were as follows: NC) basal diet, PC) NC + fish collagen powder 0.1%, T1) NC + pig skin collagen 0.1%, T2) NC + pig skin collagen 0.5%, and T3) NC + pig skin collagen 1.0%. The body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not affected (p > 0.05) by the dietary treatments in this experiment. Additionally, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in the organ weights among the treatments. Broilers fed T1, T2 and T3 diets had higher (p < 0.05) white blood cell (WBC) counts than the broilers fed the NC and PC diets. The Lactobacillus counts in the excreta were improved (p < 0.05) in the broilers fed the T1 and T2 diets. Moreover, the Salmonella counts in the excreta were decreased (p < 0.05) in the broilers fed the PC and T1 diets. In conclusion, supplementation of pig skin collagen in diets improved the white blood cells (WBCs) in the blood and Lactobacillus counts in the excreta, and reduced the Salmonella counts in the excreta. However, when pig skin collagen was increased in the diets, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05). Therefore, the addition of 0.1% pig skin collagen in the feed provided beneficial effects on the blood characteristics and the intestinal microbiota environment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.843-848
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• 2009

This experiment was conducted to compare the effects of oak acorns and corn on broilers growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat fatty acid (FA) composition according to different ages of broilers. Two separate groups of 400 male broilers, reared for six weeks, were fed diets containing 33.5% green oak acorns (GO) and 67% of corn (C), respectively. At day 35, the body weight of the chickens fed the GO diet was 12% lower (p<0.05) compared with controls (C). However, at day 56 birds reached similar final weights. Abdominal adipose tissue (AAT) was 78% higher in the controls compared to those fed the oak acorn-based diet. The total lipids (TL) of thigh muscle were higher in the controls compared to dietary treatment GO (3.1 against 2.5 g/100 g of muscle). There were significant differences in fatty acid (FA) composition of the muscle between two groups. The broilers fed oak acorn exhibited more C18:2, as well as a higher proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and PUFA:SFA (saturated fatty acid) ratio than those on the control diet, but no significant differences were observed among groups for the age of birds. There was a higher proportion of linolenic acid in broilers fed the oak acorn compared to the controls (0.8 vs. 0.6%). Furthermore, linolenic acid content decreased with age (p<0.001) in both groups. The results indicated no significant differences in FA with the age of birds. In conclusion, the meat fatty acids provided by the GO diet appeared to improve the nutritional quality preferred by the consumer.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.937-945
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• 2010

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary zinc (Zn), environmental temperatures and Zn${\times}$temperature interaction on growth, feathering score and mineral composition of broilers. A total of 256 d-old Avian male broiler chicks were randomly allocated to a $4{\times}2$ factorial arrangement with four corn-soybean meal basal diets (containing 44 mg Zn/kg) supplemented with 0, 40, 60 mg/kg Zn (Diets 1, 2 and 3, respectively; 0.8% Ca for these three diets) and non-Zn supplementation, 1.6% Ca (Diet 4) and two temperature conditions (low: 26, 24, $22^{\circ}C$ vs. high: 30, 28, $26^{\circ}C$). All birds were given feathering coverage scores for back, breast, wing, under-wing and tail. The wing and tail were further evaluated for the occurrence and severity of defect feathers. Feathers were then pooled for mineral composition analysis. The results showed that in high temperature conditions, broilers fed Zn-unsupplemented, 0.8% Ca ration (Diet 1) had significantly (p<0.05) lower ADFI and ADG (wk 1-6) than birds under low temperature conditions. However, when the birds were fed 40 and 60 mg/kg Zn supplementation (Diets 2 and 3), the ADFI and ADG in both temperature conditions were not significantly different. In low temperature conditions, the ADFI, ADG (p<0.05), all feather coverage (p<0.01) and tail defect scores (p<0.001) of birds fed Diet 4 (excess Ca) were significantly poorer than those fed Diet 1. More Ca (p<0.05) was retained in the feathers of broilers fed Diet 4 under high temperature conditions. Broilers fed the Zn-unsupplemented ration (Diet 1) had significantly higher feather phosphorus (p<0.01) and potassium (p<0.05) concentrations than those fed the 60 mg/kg Zn-supplemented ration (Diet 3). A reduction of feather phosphorus (p<0.01) and potassium (p<0.05) and higher manganese (p<0.05) concentrations were observed in Diet 4 broilers as compared to those fed Diet 1. Under high temperature conditions, broilers had lower iron (p<0.05) and higher manganese (p<0.05) concentrations in feathers. Broilers kept in high temperature conditions had a higher Zn requirement and 40 mg/kg Zn supplementation was sufficient for the birds to achieve optimum growth. Supplemental Zn ameliorated the adverse effect of high temperature on growth and occurrence of tail feather defects. Excess Ca disrupted Zn metabolism to exert a detrimental effect on growth performance and normal feathering and this was elucidated in the birds kept in low temperature conditions.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.204-210
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• 2018

Medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) provide polka dot grouper Chromileptes altevelis with a more readily utilizable source of energy than long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) and significantly elevate the plasma cholesterol level of chickens. As a possible alternative to feed antibiotics, this study investigated the effect of different phase levels of medium chain triglycerides on the growth performance, excreta microflora and blood profiles in broilers. A total of 450 ROSS 308 mixed-sex broilers with an average initial body weight of $49{\pm}0.79g$ (1 day of age) were used in this trial. They were randomly assigned to the following 3 treatments (15 birds / 10 replications): CON (Basal diet); MCT1 (Starter, Grower, Finisher: Basal diet + 0.1%, 0.075%, 0.05% of MCT) and MCT2 (Starter, Grower, Finisher: Basal diet + 0.1%, 0.1%, 0.1% of MCT). The results show that supplementing the diets with different phase levels of MCT did not have a significant impact on the body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) during the overall experimental period. Additionally, there were no differences in the blood profiles and excreta microflora among the treatments. However, this study found that the BWG was increased by 2.3%, and the FCR was decreased by 0.6% in the broiler fed MCT1 treatment group during overall experiment phase. Therefore, the results suggest that MCTs could be used as an alternative to growth promoting feed additives. Moreover, further research should be done to evaluate the effect of the different levels of MCTs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.573-578
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• 2013

A total of 720 1-d-old male broilers (Arbor Acres) with the initial BW = $45{\pm}2$ g were used in a 32-d experiment. Birds were randomly allotted into 1 of 4 treatments according to a completely random block design. Dietary treatments included: i) CON (basal diet), ii) ANT (CON+0.5 g antibiotics/kg feed (bacitracin methylene disalicylate)), iii) BP1 (CON+0.25 bacteriophage/kg feed), and iv) BP2 (CON+0.5 g bacteriophage/kg feed). The BWG and FI were not affected by dietary treatments throughout the whole experiment, whereas BP2 treatment reduced (p<0.05) the feed conversion ratio compared with the CON treatment during 0 to 14 d. The birds fed bacteriophages at the level of 0.25 g/kg increased (p<0.05) the relative liver weight. The inclusion of antibiotic and bacteriophage significantly reduced (p<0.05) the Escherichia coli and Salmonella concentration in the excreta compared with the NC group. Broilers fed the BP2 treatment had higher (p<0.05) lactobacillus counts compared with those fed NC and PC treatments. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of 0.5 g/kg bacteriophages increased feed efficiency and liver weight without effects on the breast muscle properties; also pathogens were inhibited by addition of bacteriophages.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.899-904
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• 2018

Objective: This experiment studied the effects of first feed intake time post-hatch on growth performance, nutrient apparent metabolic rate and intestinal digestive enzyme activities in broilers. Methods: Two thousand five hundred and twenty LingNan Yellow broilers were randomly allotted to seven treatments with six replicates of 60 each. The only experimental factor was the first feed intake time which was 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, and 54 hours after hatching. The whole experiment lasted for 21 days. Results: During the whole period, the 30 h treatment had the best body weight and average daily gain (p<0.05), followed by the 24 h group performance optimization. Also, the 30 h group was observed to have the best apparent metabolic rate for ether extract (p<0.05) and crude protein (p<0.05) and the highest activities of amylase, lipase and trypsin in small intestine. And the 24 h group was second only to the 30 h group in terms of the above two measures. Conclusion: These results indicated that the appropriate first feeding time of LingNan Yellow broilers was 24 to 30 hours after hatching.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.159-167
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• 2017

The microbial community is known to have a key role during the rearing period of broilers. In this study, gut microbial composition and diversity were examined to evaluate the relationships between these factors and broiler growth performance. By applying 454-pyrosequencing of the V1-V3 regions of bacterial 16S rRNA genes, six fecal samples from four- and 28-day-old chickens from three broiler farms and 24 intestinal samples of broilers with heavy and light body weights were analyzed. Microbial composition assessment revealed Firmicutes to be the most prevalent phylum at farm A, while Proteobacteria were predominant at farms B and C. Fecal microbial richness and diversity indices gradually increased from four to 28 days at all three farms. Microbial diversity assessment revealed that small intestine microbial diversity was lower in heavy birds than in light birds. In light birds, the Firmicutes proportion was lower than that in heavy birds. In conclusion, each broiler farm revealed a specific microbial profile which varied with the age of the birds. The microbial communities appeared to affect growth performance; therefore, gut microbial profiles can be utilized to monitor growth performance at broiler farms.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 1996

An experiment was conducted to compare the effects of early feed restriction on the performance and abdominal fat deposition in broilers. The treatments consisted of providing feed ad libitum (Full-fed) and three feed restriction treatments of restricting feeding between 8-21 days of age (DOA) either for a duration of 7 days or 14 days. The three feed restriction treatments were Restrict 8-14 DOA, Restrict 8-21 DOA and Restrict 15-21 DOA. Live weights and feed consumption were obtained at weekly intervals. Samples of both male and female broilers were taken at 43 DOA to determine the weight of abdominal fat, liver and gizzards. Feed efficiency was generally improved by feed restriction, but a compensatory gain was not observed in the restricted groups. Broilers on restricted feeding also had lower mortality as compared to the full-fed broilers. There is no effect of early feed restriction on the weight of the abdominal fat and the dressing percentages but the weights of the liver and gizzard were affected by restriction. Also there was an effect of sex on the weights of the abdominal fat, the liver and gizzard of the males and females.