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The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of soybean meal (SBM) treated with acetic or citric acids on growth performance, microbial population, digestive enzyme activities, nutrient digestibility, and jejunal morphology in broiler chickens. A total of 350 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly distributed into 7 experimental groups with 5 replicates per each. Experimental treatments were diets containing untreated SBM (control) and SBM treated with two acid sources and their concentrations including 5, 10, and 15% acetic acid (A1, A2, and A3) or 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75% citric acid (C1, C2, and C3). Results showed that trypsin inhibitors and lectins as the main SBM anti-nutrients significantly reduced in acid-treated SBM compared with untreated SBM (P < 0.05). During 1-24 days, body weight gain increased in chicks fed the C2 diet (P < 0.05). Feeding of the C2 diet increased feed intake compared with A1, A2, and C3 groups (P < 0.05). Feed conversion ratio improved in chicks fed with C2, C3, and A2 diets compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The greatest villus length, villus length to crypt depth ratio, and villus surface area were observed in the C2 diet (P < 0.05). A significant increase in protease and lipase activity was found in broilers which received a C2 diet compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Broiler chickens fed with the C2 diet had a higher organic matter and crude protein digestibility than the chicks which received the control diet (P < 0.05) and dry matter digestibility was the lowest in broilers fed with the A3 diet (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the acid hydrolyzing process had a beneficial effect on the nutritional value of SBM. In addition, data showed that acid-hydrolyzed SBM had the potential to exert positive influences on growth performance, jejunal morphology, and nutrient utilization in broiler chickens., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Genistein (GEN), a soybean isoflavone, is structurally and functionally similar to endogenous estrogen; therefore, it has the potential to enhance estradiol properties. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of GEN on the reproductive performance and bone status of laying hens. In total, 80 Hy-line W-36 (40 weeks old, the late stage of egg production cycle) with an initial body weight of 1,230&plusmn;15.8 g (Mean&plusmn;S.E.M), similar egg production, and egg weight were randomly assigned into two groups with 10 replicates and 4 birds in each replicate (40 laying hens per group). Laying hen diets had 0 (control) and 20 mg/kg GEN (white powder, Sichuan Guanghan co. Ltd., purity of 98.5%) for 6 weeks (41 to 46). At the end of the experiment, 20 hens (one hen from each replicate) were slaughtered, and the samples of bone and shell gland (approximately 50 mg) were surgically taken immediately after slaughter for Real-time PCR. The results indicated that dietary GEN increased egg production, feed intake, and egg mass; however, it decreased egg weight (p &lt;0.05). Furthermore, the feed conversion ratio was greater in birds received GEN, compared to those in the control group (p &lt;0.05). GEN enhanced egg quality indices included eggshell strength, thickness, and percentage (p &lt;0.05). Mechanical properties of the tibia, such as weight, length, and breaking strength were also increased by GEN (p &lt;0.05). Moreover, dietary GEN increased the calcium content of the tibia (p &lt;0.05). The mRNA expression of Calbindin-D28k (CaBP-D28k) and transient receptor potential vanilloid channel type 6 (TRPV6) upregulated in eggshell glands of hens treated with GEN paralleled to the controls (p &lt;0.05). In conclusion, the findings of the present study showed that GEN had the potential to improve the bone physical characteristics, mineralization, and the productive performance of Hy-line W-36 laying hens in their post-peak period., (Copyright © 2021, Author(s). Published by Kowsar.)

This study was conducted in two steps to determine the effects of in ovo injection of zinc acetate (ZAC) on some gene expression associated with embryonic growth and development, and with growth and carcass characteristics of the resultant chicks. In the first step the effect of in ovo injection of ZAC on the expression of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs:IGF-I and IGF-I), myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs) and metallothionein (MT) genes was examined, and in the step two, the associations between genes expression with fertility, embryonic mortality, hatchability, body weight (BW) and relative organ weight on day of hatch, and body weight (BW) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) a week after hatching were investigated. Seven hundred twenty fertile eggs (n=720) were randomly divided into 4 treatment groups consisted of: 1) noninjected (NI) group, 2) sham group (group injected with deionized water (DW)), and 3) and 4) groups injected with 3.64 and 5.23 M ZAC, respectively. On day 3 of incubation the eggs were injected with 50 µL of each treatment into the albumen. On day 5 of the incubation and on hatch day, liver and breast muscle of the chicks were removed and immediately stored at -80 °C until RNA extraction and real time-PCR analysis. In ovo ZAC injection increased myogenic differentiation factor both in embryo and breast muscle. MT mRNA expression was also increased by ZAC injection. Hatchability was lower in ZAC groups and early embryonic mortality was higher in sham control (SHC) and ZAC groups. Injection of ZAC improved both BW and FCR during the first week of rearing, and increased the relative weights of liver and breast muscle. In conclusion, in ovo injection of ZAC increased some of gene expressions of tissues and BW7 during the first week, but decreased hatchability. Hence, lower doses of ZAC are recommended to use in further experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]