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Simple Summary: Several studies have reported the absolute weight and concentration of minerals in hen and turkey yolks during incubation. However, there is limited information about some minerals in goose egg yolks during the incubation period. The incubation period of goose chicks is 30 days, and the chicks emerge after this period. As a result of mineral transfer between the ovary, yolk, albumin and shell, egg yolk mineral content increases during incubation. We studied whether the mineral reserves of goose egg yolk changed, and whether mineral deficiency in goose embryos resulted in skeletal, cardiovascular and immune weakness. According to the present study, except for calcium, the content of all the examined minerals decreases during incubation. This study evaluated the changes in calcium (Ca), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), sodium (Na), phosphorus (P), strontium (Sr) and zinc (Zn) values in goose egg yolk during the incubation period. This study was conducted on a completely random selection using 200 fertile eggs from a local flock of geese. A selection of 30 fertile eggs were randomly sampled on days 0, 9.5, 19.5, 25 and 30 of incubation (total: 150 eggs), and the yolks of 5 eggs in each replicate were mixed together and considered as one replicate (six replicates in each incubation period). The mineral content of the yolks was measured using the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectroscopy method. The results of this study show that, during the incubation of goose eggs from 0 to 30 days of embryo growth, except for Ca, the yolk content (absolute weight) of all the measured minerals, including Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Sr and Zn, on day 30 of incubation were statistically significantly lower than on day 0 of incubation. Additionally, the yolk concentrations of Fe, K, Mg, Na, P and Zn declined, the yolk concentrations of Ca and Sr increased, and the yolk concentrations of Cu and Mn were unchanged on day 30 compared to the first day of incubation. The results of the current study demonstrate that goose egg yolks' mineral concentrations change in absolute value during the incubation period, which could be the basis for further studies on chick feeding during the embryonic and post-embryonic phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Amaranth, as a valuable edible plant source, has a favorable potential to meet nutritional requirements for poultry. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating effects of feeding different levels of amaranth grain with and without enzyme on laying hens in order to evaluate performance, egg quality traits, antioxidant status and lipid profile of blood and yolk cholesterol. Based on the findings, feeding amaranth in laying hens can lead to production of low-cholesterol eggs without any negative effect on egg quality. Concomitantly, it improves the antioxidant status and atherogenic index (LDL/HDL) of the birds. In addition, feeding amaranth with enzyme additives led to improved performance in laying hens. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of feeding Amaranthus hybridus chlorostachys grain (AG) with (+E) and without enzyme (−E) on performance, egg quality, antioxidant status and lipid profile of blood serum and yolk cholesterol in laying hens. A total of 960 white leghorn (Hy-line W-36) commercial layers (56 weeks) were divided into 10 groups with 8 replicates per group (12 birds per replicate, including 3 adjacent cages with 4 birds each). A completely randomized design was implemented with a 5 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments consisting of five levels of AG (0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 g/kg) and two levels of multienzyme complex addition (0 −E and 0.25 +E g/kg) fed to the hens for 12 weeks (2 wk. adaptation + 10 wk. main experiment). Feed intake (FI) and percentage of hen day production (HDP) were not affected by main effect of the AG level, but egg mass (EM) and egg weight (EW) were decreased (p < 0.01), and the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was impaired (p < 0.01). EM, EW and FCR were improved by enzyme addition (p < 0.01). EM, EW and FCR were affected (p < 0.01) by the interaction of AG and enzyme addition. The highest value of EM and the lowest value of FCR were observed in hens on the diet containing 200 g/kg AG with enzyme addition. Egg yolk cholesterol content was reduced (p < 0.05) by up to 10% with increasing levels AG in experimental diets. The egg quality traits, including Haugh units of protein quality, strength and shell thickness, were not affected by the main effects or interaction of AG and enzyme consumption. Amaranth feeding led to a decrease (p < 0.05) in triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) while also promoting increases (p < 0.05) in the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of the blood. A comparison of the effects of contrasts showed that functional parameters (except FI), yolk cholesterol, antioxidant parameters (except MDA) and blood lipid profile had differed significantly (p < 0.05) between the hens fed amaranth versus those not fed amaranth. These findings indicate that feeding a diet containing up to 200 g/kg of AG with enzyme addition can improve EW, EM and FCR. Feeding laying hens diets containing AG also positively influenced blood traits and antioxidant status in laying hens while reducing egg yolk cholesterol content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]