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3 Abstract: A trial was conducted to observe potential changes in turkey poults reared to 21 d by feeding diets with naturally occurring mycotoxins. Two sources of corn, one each with Aflatoxin (AFL) and Deoxynevalenol (DON), were obtained. Treatments (T) were: 1) clean corn (C), 2) AFL (A), 3) DON (D) and 4) ½A+½D (AD). A marker (celite, 1.5%) was added for 21 d AMEn determination. A basal ration with ingredients except corn was mixed. The basal and corn were mixed for T feeds. Feed was pelleted and crumbled. Male poults were placed into 24 pens in petersyme batteries (7 birds/pen; 6 pens/T). Feed consumption, by pen and BW were determined by wk. At 21 d, birds were euthanized. Heart (H), spleen (S), gizzard (G), liver (L) and bursa of fabricious (B) were weighed and Breast Muscle (BM) collected for color analysis. Light microscopic analysis of HE AD = 2,758±29). Relative (R) S weight of D (0.11) fed birds was reduced versus A (0.14) but not C or AD (0.12, 0.13±0.006 g/g). The RL weight of birds fed A (2.26) and AD (2.52) were reduced versus C (2.68±0.07g/g). The A fed birds had reduced SA (by OD). Mortality, RH, RB and RG weights, G score and BM colors were not affected. There were no differences in AB. The L of the A fed birds had hepatic parenchyma with diffuse degenerative changes. The hepatocytic nuclei were swollen and had condensed nucleoli. Some hepatic cords had hepatocyte necrosis. There was some sinusoidal congestion with dilatation/congestion of few central veins. These lesions were suggestive of aflatoxin toxicity. The effects of AFL and DON in this study were reflective of what has been reported in the literature. Feeding naturally occurring mycotoxins to poults can be used as a model to study interventions.

4 Abstract: The objective of this research was to determine the effect of using nipple drinkers during brooding on the performance of Large White turkeys. There were 6 different drinkers tested: the control and 5 nipple drinker systems. The control was the Plasson Drinker and the nipple systems tested were the Plasson Easy Start (PES), Val-Co Turkey Drinker (VC), Lubing Traditional Nipple (LTN), Lubing EasyLine (LEL) and Ziggity TM Big-Z Activator (BZ). Three experiments were conducted with turkeys brooded using the 6 drinker types. Some nipple drinker treatments were used in the rearing periods. At 20 wk, Body Weight (BW) was reduced for toms brooded to 6 wk on the LTN and brooded and reared on the VC. The use of LEL and LTN (during brooding) resulted in improved Feed Conversion (FC) at 20 wk. Trial 2-experiment 1 with hens of two strains was terminated at 3 wk because of excessive mortality from dehydration with some drinker types. In trial 2 -experiment 2, there were no poult hydration issues. The BW of hens at 6 wk brooded on the Plasson Drinker and the VC were higher compared to the BW of hens brooded on the PES and the BZ with the BW of hens on the LEL being intermediate. The use of the LTN resulted in significantly lower hen BW compared with all other drinkers through 10 wk. By 16 wk, there were no longer differences in hen BW due to drinker type. Drinker type did not have an effect on hen FC. Nipple drinkers can be used effectively to brood turkeys with some types also being useful during the rearing period. However, poor quality, inactive, or diseased poults may be at risk for dehydration on some nipple drinker systems.

Salmonella enteritidis (SE) colonizes the intestinal tract of poultry and causes food born illness in humans. Reduction of (SE) colonization in the intestinal tract of poultry reduces potential carcass contamination during slaughter. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of SE-specific yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) on prevention of SE colonization in orally infected broiler chickens. Commercial Single Comb White Leghorn (SCWL) hens were hyperimmunized with SE whole cell antigens. The presence of anti-Salmonella antibody, IgY and IgG in egg yolk and serum respectively, was monitored by Enzyme Linked Sorbent Assay (ELISA). Two hundred forty male `Ross 308` day old chicks were randomly assigned to 8 groups and 3 replications of 10 birds were grown for 42 days of experiment. Eight experimental groups identified with, S, P, A, SP, SA, AP, SPA, C. Four birds from four challenged groups (S), were orally inoculated with 1 mL of bacterial suspension that contained 1×106 CFU mL-1 S. enteritidis at 3 day of age. The groups that supplemented with antibody (A) received 15 mL of yolk contained antibody mixed per 3.84 mL of drinking water on day 1 and continuing for duration of the experiment. The probiotic treated groups (P) were received probiotic, 0.1% of feed and 0.5% of feed, until day 21 and 56 respectively. One group as control (C) did not received any treatment of probiotic and antibody. A-treated and A-P treated groups had significantly lower fecal shedding (p

Avian Influenza (AI) is a contagious disease of poultry which caused by type A influenza virus. In the present outbreak of AI in Iran, the isolates (H N ) were characterized as a low pathogenic form of the 9 2 virus. Outbreaks due to H N subtypes have been reported in many countries. Because the common 9 2 methods of control of outbreaks of AI may not be very effective to prevent and control of this disease, we decided to study the effect of egg derived antibody on reducing morbidity and spread of virus in a population of chickens by using so-called transmission experiments. Birds in test group (which received antibody in drinking water) had lower morbidity (p

4 Abstract: Embryo heart rates were measured on 400 fertilized turkey eggs (399 viable embryos) at 4 day intervals beginning at day 12 of development. Heart rates varied directly with eggshell porosity and were significantly and positively correlated with eggshell conductance (G) and conductance constants (k) but not with initial egg weight. When only eggs with embryos that died were analyzed the significant correlation coefficients increased. In a second experiment, eggshell pores were occluded to reduce G then heart rates were measured. Heart rates decreased concomitantly with decreases in G. In the final experiment, approximately 15,912 eggs were weighed individually to calculate G for each egg and were then incubated. Embryo survival was noted in High and Low G groups. Embryo heart rate and cardiac physiology in each group was measured. Low G reduced heart rates and improved embryo survival and cardiac physiology compared to High G. Thus, cardiomyopathy due to High G and its consequent lack of energy for myocardial function may contribute to turkey embryo mortality late in development.

4 Abstract: Supplementing 500 ppm of a chelated calcium proteinate (CCP) to a commercial breeder diet resulted in thicker shells and improved embryo livability. The CCP diet was fed to one half of a flock of breeders on a commercial farm that was suffering shell problems, and a standard commercial diet was fed to the remaining half. Egg production, eggshell thickness, fertility and hatchability of eggs were all monitored over an 18 wk laying period. Feeding CCP increased shell thickness and reduced numbers of cull eggs after 8 wk of lay compared to the controls. When differences in eggshell thickness were seen after 10 weeks of egg production, embryo survival and cardiac physiology were examined in three trials comparing the thicker shells to thin. Thick shells (0.44 versus 0.39 mm) improved embryo survival 2% by decreasing numbers of embryos dying late in development compared to controls and affected cardiac physiology. Thus, thick shells may improve embryo viability by affecting cardiac health during the plateau stage in oxygen consumption.

Embryo and hatchling survival diminish as turkey breeder hens age. Recent data indicated that a chelated calcium proteinate (CCP) additive given to turkey breeder hens improved embryo survival as hens aged but did not affect shell thickness. We hypothesized that the mechanism by which this occurred may be by improved functional shell quality and its consequent effect on cardiac physiology. To test the hypothesis, CCP was supplemented to the diet of Large White turkey breeder hens for a 25 week egg production period and compared with controls without supplementation. Eggshell conductance, conductance constants, poult growth and cardiac physiology were measured at weeks 10, 18 and 25 of production. Because elevated temperatures increase heart rates and reduce heart weight and survival, half of the eggs was incubated at 37.9°C whereas the remaining eggs were incubated at 37.5°C. Embryos and poults from the CCP group exhibited increased heart weights and improved cardiac health. The hatching poults from CCP-fed hens also grew faster for the first 3 d of life. We conclude that CCP improves eggshell conductance, and the subsequent eggshell conductance constant (k) of eggs from turkey breeder hens. The change in k improved embryo cardiac health and poult BW after hatching.

Turkey poults were randomly placed in batteries and fed one of four dietary treatments: control (C); control plus 4ppm diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS); control plus 300ppm Fusaric Acid (FA); and control plus 4ppm DAS and 300ppm FA (FD). There were 10 poults per pen with 6 replicate pens per treatment. Individual BW, BW gains (BWG) and feed consumption by pen were determined at d6, d12, and d18. Period and cumulative feed to gain were calculated. Mouth lesions were scored for treatments at d18. On d18 poults were euthanized for determination of organ weights and jejunal histomorphometrics. FA had no effect on BW or BWG at any period compared to C. Poults fed FD had reduced BW and BWG compared to C, while poults fed DAS had lower BW than all treatments at every period. Poults fed FA or C had better feed to gain (P

Wheat varies in apparent metabolizable energy N-corrected (AMEn) due to the presence of non- starch polysaccharides (NSP), which can be improved by dietary enzyme supplementation. Poults from 0-17 d-age were fed diets containing various wheat sources (WS) with or without Natugrain Blend® (NB) (BASF, Germany). Five replicate cages of 10 poults were assigned to each eight-soybean-meal/wheat treatment diets and a control soybean-meal/corn diet. The treatments were a factorial arrangement of 4 WS (A, B, C, D) and 2 enzyme levels (0 and 200 mg NB/kg). The WS differed by the degree of frost damage during seed development. Regardless of the source of wheat, NB increased 17 d BW (351 vs 381 g, P < 0.001) , decreased 1-17 d FCR (1.55 vs 1.49, P < 0.05), increased AMEn (2,204 vs 2,455 kcal/kg, P < 0.001), and increased apparent nitrogen retention (ANR) (35.0 vs 41.4 %, P < 0.05). No effects of WS were seen on growth performance, but WS A and B had higher (P < 0.05) AMEn than sources C and D (2,396 and 2,460 vs 2,246 and 2,216 kcal/kg, respectively). Gut viscosity was higher (P < 0.05) in poults fed wheat-based diets than the control diet. Enzyme supplementation to the wheat-based diets decreased viscosity (5.57 vs 3.98 cP, P < 0.05) to a level similar to the corn-based control diet, and it resulted in equivalent growth performance. Viscosities were negatively correlated with AMEn. The results demonstrated a positive effect of enzyme supplementation on nutrient utilization and performance of turkeys.

The adverse effects of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) on turkeys fed wheat-based diets may be alleviated by dietary supplementation of endoxylanase (to reduce the adverse effects of digesta viscosity) or phospholipase (to improve the digestibility of fat). BUTA toms were fed wheat-based diets containing one of 5 enzyme treatments: unsupplemented control, Natugrain Blend® (> 5,500 EXU/kg diet; NB), Lyxasan®-50 (> 2,250 EXU/kg diet; LX50), Lyxasan®-100 (> 5,500 EXU/kg diet; LX100), and Phospholipase (> 500 PLU/kg diet; PL) (BASF, Germany). Each treatment group was assigned to 8 pens containing 12 birds to evaluate growth performance (1-128 d), and 2 pens of 12 birds (excluding LX50) for the apparent metabolizable energy N-corrected (AMEn) and ileum viscosity determination (56-128 d). All enzyme treatments improved growth performance. In comparison to the control, dietary enzyme increased (P < 0.05) BW and decreased 1-128 d feed/gain (2.45 vs 2.37, P < 0.005). PL was most effective in reducing feed/gain during the starting phase and LX100 during the finishing phase, while NB had intermediate benefits throughout the experiment. PL increased AMEn from 9 to 12 wk, while NB and LX-100 resulted in the highest AMEn during the later finishing period. Viscosity was significantly higher for PL than the other treatments (13.5 vs 7.07 cP, P < 0.001). Growth performance and energy utilization of turkeys fed wheat-based diets can be significantl y enhanced by phospholipase supplementation of starter feeds and endoxylanase supplementation of growing and finishing feeds. However, enzyme blends may provide a positive response regardless of turkey age.

Local and national laws regulating poultry litter (PL) land application may require that PL be applied based on crop needs and PL nutrient content such as N and P. In addition, some may require monitoring of soil metals such as Cu and Zn. Even with efforts to decrease fecal nutrient excretion, there is also a need to extend the useful life of current bedding materials and to develop alternative uses of spent PL. Heat treatment of PL may extend bedding life and offer alternative uses of PL. The objective of this study was to determine if heat processed turkey litter (TL) can be reused as bedding for turkeys. Pine shavings (PS) which had been used as bedding to rear Large White male turkeys from hatch to 20 weeks of age was processed at 95 and 220 C in an enclosed auger system. Four litter treatments (LT) were used: 1) control - new PS (T ), o 1 2) TL processed at 95 C (T ), 3) a 70:30 (w/w) mixture of TL processed at 95 or 220 C (T ) and 4) a 95:5 o o 2 3 (w/w) mixture of TL processed at 95 or 220 C (T ). These bedding mixtures were placed in 36 floor pens in o 4 a randomized block design to provide 9 replicate pens per LT. Thirty Large White turkey hen poults were placed in each pen on day of hatch. The birds were reared to 14 wk. Mortality and feed consumption were monitored. Period and cumulative feed conversion (FC) ratios were calculated. Regression analysis of SAS, Inc. was used for data analysis. The LS Means procedure was used to separate treatment means (P

The hypothesis was proposed that changes in functional qualities of eggs, or the eggshell conductance constant (k), may affect cardiac weight and physiology and predispose poults to a weakened condition. Improved knowledge of this relationship may allow selection of k to optimize hatchling cardiac health. Egg weights (EW), eggshell conductance (G) and lengths of the incubation period (IP) (the three components of k) were manipulated to determine their effect on the heart. Eggs were selected based on EW and G in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, eggs from the same strain were obtained from flocks of different ages so they differed in EW. Half of the eggs were exposed to increased temperature treatments resulting in shorter incubation periods (IP). Interactions of EW and G affected heart weight and metabolism in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, imposing short IP on different EW reduced cardiac weights as well as elevated glycogen to lactate ratios in the heart. Post-hatching growth was also depressed by k due to interactions of EW and IP. Thus, k affects cardiac weight and function and may contribute to weak poults.