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Simple Summary: Plant extracts contain a series of bio-active ingredients. Particularly, flavonoids exert efficient bio-activity and excellent microbial modulatory capacities, which are considered to be appropriate feed additives in husbandry production. In this study, flavonoids extracted from kudzu leaf (KL) was chosen to investigate their promotive effects on the productive performance and egg quality of layer hens. The results indicate that the kudzu leaf flavonoid (KLF) supplement significantly proliferated probiotics, such as Bifidobacterium sp. and Lactobacillus sp., which may have further interacted with hypothalamus genes, thus decreasing the deformity rate while increasing eggshell strength in the finishing phase. The findings indicate that KLF could be used as an effective feed additive for prolonging laying rates during the late-laying stage and may further improve feed efficiency, thus lowering costs. (1) Background: Improving feed efficiency and the vitality of the reproductive system in the late stage of the egg-laying period is of great significance for prolonging the egg-laying cycle and improving egg quality. In the present study, a new flavonoid, which was extracted from kudzu leaf, was chosen to investigate its effects on the productive performance and egg quality of late-laying hens. (2) Methods: A total of 360 500-day-old Hy-Line Brown layer hens were randomly divided into a control treatment group (no KLF supplementation), and groups that received 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8%, and 1.0% KLF supplement treatments. Each treatment contained 6 replicates, with 10 hens in each replicate. Productive performance metrics, including the daily egg production, egg weight, the number of deformed eggs, egg quality, egg density, egg shape index, eggshell strength, yolk color, and the Haugh unit, were meticulously recorded for each replicate. Furthermore, microbial communities and hypothalamus gene expressions were investigated based on the results of the productive performance and egg quality. (3) Results: KLF supplementation significantly decreased the deformity rate while significantly increasing the eggshell strength in the finishing phase afterward (p < 0.05). Specifically, hens supplemented with 0.6% KLF possessed the lowest deformed egg rate. KLF supplementation significantly increased the relative abundances of Bifidobacterium sp., Blautia sp., Lactococcus sp., and Lactobacillus sp., while significantly decreasing Parasutterella sp. and Escherichia-Shigella sp. (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the interactive analysis showed the hypothalamus gene expression mainly interacted with probiotics, such as Bifidobacterium sp. and Lactobacillus sp., through ribosome biogenesis, nucleocytoplasmic transport, and cAMP signaling pathways. (4) Conclusions: The findings of the present study indicate that KLF supplementation significantly proliferated probiotics, such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, which may have further interacted with hypothalamus genes, thus decreasing the deformity rate while increasing eggshell strength in the finishing phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have shown that epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), as an effective antioxidant, could attenuate the oxidative damage, inflammation and necrosis in the liver in response to oxidative stress. The present study investigated whether oral administration of EGCG could effectively alleviate the hepatic histopathological changes and oxidative damage in yellow-feathered broilers induced by tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP). Broilers were exposed to 600 μmol t-BHP/kg body weight (BW) to induce oxidative stress by intraperitoneal injection every five days, followed by oral administration of different doses of EGCG (0, 20, 40 and 60 mg/kg BW) and 20 mg vitamin E (VE)/kg BW every day during 5–21 days of age. The results showed that t-BHP injection decreased (p < 0.05) body weight and the relative weight of the spleen; the enzyme activities of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), catalase (CAT) and total superoxide dismutase (SOD); and gene mRNA expressions of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), CAT, SOD1, SOD2 and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACACA); as well as increased (p < 0.05) necrosis formation, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, reactive oxygen species (ROS)accumulation, and peroxisome proliferator activates receptor-α (PPARα) mRNA expression in the liver of yellow-feathered female broilers at 21 days of age. Treatment with 60 mg EGCG/kg BW orally could enhance antioxidant enzyme activities and reverse the hepatic damage induced by t-BHP injection by reducing the accumulation of ROS and MDA in the liver and activating the Nrf2 and PPARα pathways related to the induction of antioxidant gene expression (p < 0.05). In conclusion, intraperitoneal injection of t-BHP impaired body growth and induced hepatic ROS accumulation, which destroyed the antioxidant system and led to oxidative damage in the liver of yellow-feathered broilers from 5 to 21 days of age. It is suggested that EGCG may play an antioxidant role through the Nrf2 and PPARα signaling pathways to effectively protect against t-BHP-induced hepatic oxidative damage in broilers, and the appropriate dose was 60 mg EGCG/kg BW by oral administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Vitamin D3 is an essential trace element in the poultry diet and plays an important role in healthy poultry production. Establishing the amount of VD3 required in the yellow feather broiler diet is important for actual production. This experiment aims to determine the appropriate amount of VD3 for enhancing growth performance, tibia traits, slaughter performance, and meat quality and to further explore the metabolic pattern of VD3 in broilers by 16S rRNA and liver transcriptome sequencing. This study aimed to assess the effects of different dietary vitamin D3 (VD3) levels on growth and carcass performance, tibia traits, meat quality, and intestinal morphology of yellow-feathered broilers. One-day-old broilers (n = 1440) were assigned into four treatment groups with six replicates per group, and each replicate contained 60 chicks. Dietary VD3 significantly improved the growth performance and carcass traits of broilers, and only low-dose VD3 supplementation decreased the abdominal fat percentage. High-dose VD3 supplementation improved intestinal morphology in the finisher stage, while the b* value of breast muscle meat color decreased markedly under VD3 supplementation (p < 0.05). Serum Ca and P levels and the tibia composition correlated positively with dietary VD3 supplementation at the early growth stage. The weight, length, and ash contents of the tibia increased linearly with increasing dietary VD3, with maximum values achieved in the high-dose group at all three stages. Intestinal 16S rRNA sequencing and liver transcriptome analysis showed that dietary VD3 might represent an effective treatment in poultry production by regulating lipid and immune-related metabolism in the gut–liver axis, which promotes the metabolism through the absorption of calcium and phosphorus in the intestine and improves their protective humoral immunity and reduces infection mortality. Dietary VD3 positively affected the growth—immunity and bone development of broilers during the early stage, suggesting strategies to optimize poultry feeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The aim of this study was to elucidate the age-related changes in hepatic lipid metabolism and abdominal adipose deposition in yellow-feathered broilers. Parameters such as body and abdominal adipose weight and lipid-metabolism-related gene expression in the liver and abdominal adipose tissue were evaluated. The results demonstrated that the body weight and absolute and relative weights of the liver increased with age-related changes. The triacylglycerol content peaked on day 14, while the total cholesterol content peaked on day 56. The adipocyte diameter and area peaked on day 56, the total DNA content peaked on day 7, the mRNA expression of hepatic ChREBP, SREBP-1c, ACC, FAS, SCD1, CPT1, ApoB, and FABP1 peaked on day 7, PPARα on day 56, LPL on day 1, and MTTP on day 35. In abdominal adipose tissue, the mRNA expression of PPARα, CPT1, and LPL peaked on day 56, PPARγ on day 14, C/EBPα on day 42, and C/EBPβ on day 7. In addition, the age-related changes in the expression of hepatic lipogenesis- and lipolysis-related genes and abdominal adipose-deposition-related genes occurred during days 1 to 14 and during days 1 to 21, respectively. These results support the development of practical strategies to regulate hepatic lipid metabolism and reduce abdominal adipose deposition in yellow-feathered broilers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the age-related changes in hepatic lipid metabolism, adipocyte hyperplasia, hypertrophy, and lipid metabolism in the abdominal adipose tissue of yellow-feathered broilers. Blood, liver, and abdominal adipose samples were collected on days 1, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56. Body, liver, and abdominal weight increased (p < 0.05) with age-related changes. The triacylglycerol content peaked on day 14, and total cholesterol content peaked on day 56. The adipocyte diameter and area peaked on day 56, and total DNA content peaked on day 7. The age-related changes in hepatic lipogenesis-related gene (ChREBP, SREBP-1c, ACC, FAS, SCD1) expression mainly occurred during days 1 to 21, hepatic lipolysis-related gene (CPT1, LPL, ApoB) expression mainly occurred during days 1 to 14, and abdominal adipose-deposition-related gene (PPARα, CPT1, LPL, PPARγ, C/EBPβ) expression occurred during days 1 to 14. These results demonstrated a dynamic pattern of hepatic lipid metabolism and abdominal adipose deposition in yellow-feathered broilers, which provides practical strategies to regulate hepatic lipid metabolism and reduce abdominal adipose deposition in yellow-feathered broilers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heat stress response of broilers will adversely affect the large-scale and welfare of the breeding of broilers. In order to detect the heat stress state of broilers in time, make reasonable adjustments, and reduce losses, this paper proposed an improved Cascade R-CNN (Region-based Convolutional Neural Networks) model based on visual technology to identify the behavior of yellow-feathered broilers. The improvement of the model solved the problem of the behavior recognition not being accurate enough when broilers were gathered. The influence of different iterations on the model recognition effect was compared, and the optimal model was selected. The final average accuracy reached 88.4%. The behavioral image data with temperature and humidity data were combined, and the heat stress evaluation model was optimized using the PLSR (partial least squares regression) method. The behavior recognition results and optimization equations were verified, and the test accuracy reached 85.8%. This proves the feasibility of the heat stress evaluation optimization equation, which can be used for reasonably regulating the broiler chamber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]