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This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of curcumin/nanocurcumin on blood parameters, intestinal morphology and microbial population in broiler chickens reared under normal and cold stress conditions. The experiment was designed with two identical houses; each consisted of five diets with 5 replicates of 10 birds each. The diets were (1) control; (2) and (3) Control + 200 or 400 mg/kg curcumin; (4) and (5) Control + 200 or 400 mg/kg nanocurcumin, respectively. Birds in both houses were reared under commercial temperatures until day 14. The temperature in the first house was maintained according to the commercial practices, whereas the temperature in the second house dropped to 15°C on day 14 and maintained between 13–15°C until day 42. Total weight gain was decreased, but plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), liver enzymes activities and heterophils/lymphocytes ratio were increased in cold-stressed birds compared to those that grew in normal temperature. Supplementation of curcumin/nanocurcumin in diet improved the weight gain and villus surface area of birds in concomitance to lower their plasma MDA, liver enzymes activities, caecal E. coli population compared to those fed control diet. It is concluded that the addition of 200 mg/kg curcumin/nanocurcumin to diet may improve the performance, antioxidant status and jejunal tissue health in broiler chickens.

This study investigated the effect of dietary α-tocopherol (α-Toc), pomegranate peel extract (PPE), and pomegranate peel (PP) on phenolic content and breast meat quality of broilers during 11 days of storage with the addition of α-Toc, PPE, and PP. Broilers were fed eight dietary treatments, including: control diet, α-Toc diet (200 mg/kg), PPE diets (100, 200, and 300 mg/kg), and PP diets (1, 2, and 3 g/kg) during 0–42 days. The extents of lipid oxidation in samples were assessed by measuring thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and the 1, 1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical-scavenging activities were determined. The feed efficiency was improved significantly in chickens fed diet containing 0.2 g/kg PPE, and the growth performance of chickens was impaired in chickens fed with PP diet. Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids n-3 were increased in breast muscles of broilers fed α-Toc and high levels of PPE diets (P

A total of 540 Japanese quail eggs were in ovo injected threonine (THR) at day 11 of embryonic development to evaluate the effects of in ovo feeding of THR on the hatchability, somatic attributes, and gut morphology of hatchlings. A completely randomized experimental design with 9 treatments and 4 replicates of 15 eggs per replicate was used. The treatments were non-injected (control) eggs and those receiving in ovo injections of 0.05 or 0.1 ml of saline (diluent) with or without THR (5 mg/ml) in the air sac (IAS) or under the air sac (UAS). Although the number of hatched eggs injected with 0.05 ml diluent both with and without THR under the air sac was not significant in comparison to the control group, it was higher than that of the other injected treatments. Interestingly, the under air sac injection of 0.05 ml THR showed enhanced gut morphology in comparison with the other treatments. The dried yolk-free body weight of all chicks was not statistically significant. Overall, the present results ...

Two bioassays were conducted to determine the ideal ratio of threonine (Thr) relative to lysine (Lys) in straight-run Cobb 500 broiler chickens from 15 to 28 d of age. Broiler chickens were fed wheat-corn gluten meal-based diet fortified with synthetic amino acids. A Lys-deficient basal diet was formulated to contain 0.60% standardised ileal digestible Lys (SID Lys) and subsequent treatments had 0.12% Lys added incrementally until a level of 1.2% SID Lys was reached for a total of six treatments. A Thr-deficient basal diet was formulated to contain 0.46% of standardised ileal digestible Thr (SID Thr) and subsequent treatments had 0.07% Thr added incrementally until a level of 0.81% SID Thr was reached for a total of six treatments. Both male and female birds were randomised across 48 floor pens (4 replicate pens, and 12 birds per pen) and fed one of the six levels of each of the test amino acid from 15 to 28 d of age. Body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) responded quadratically (P < 0.00...

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary genistein (Gn) on broiler immune system. A corn-soybean meal basal diet was supplemented with five genistein levels (10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 mg of Gn/kg) in a completely randomised design with 5 replicates of 10 birds. Dietary control treatments were included the negative control diet with no feed additive supplementation and two positive control groups supplemented with either virginiamycin or zinc bacitracin. Three hundred and fifty day-old male broiler chicks were fed with the experimental diets from 1 to 42 days of age. On days 13 and 23, chicks were vaccinated against Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and infectious bronchitis virus disease (IBV), respectively. The 10 chicks from each dietary treatment (two per pen replicate) were bled on day 6 and 12 after vaccinations. Sera samples were use in hemagglutination inhibition test for NDV and ELISA test for IBV. Dietary supplementation with 20 mg/kg Gn caused increases (p

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of different dietary levels of desiccated ox bile on the performance, fat digestibility, gut morphology and blood variables of broiler chickens fed tallow diet. One hundred and fifty one-day-old male broilers (Ross 308) were equally distributed into three treatments (with five replicates each) in a completely randomised design. Desiccated ox bile was added to the experimental diets during starter (7–21 day) and grower (22–42 day) periods (0.00, 0.25 and 0.50% of diet). During the experiment, the measured parameters were average body weight gain, average feed intake, average feed conversion ratio, gut morphology, serum cholesterol (Chol), triglyceride, high density lipoprotein and low density lipoprotein. During the grower and overall periods, ABWG and AFCR were significantly improved (p