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An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of level and chemical form of dietary vitamin E on alpha-tocopherol status of poults. The effects of a dietary bile salt and an antioxidant on concentrations of alpha-tocopherol in serum and liver were also tested. Six dietary treatments were obtained by supplementing a corn-soybean meal diet with 12 IU of DL-alpha-tocopheryl acetate (TA)/kg (LE), 12 IU of TA plus 800 mg of sodium taurocholate/kg (LB), 12 IU of TA plus 500 mg of ethoxyquin/kg (LS), 12 IU of D-alpha-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1,000 succinate (TPGS)/kg (LT), 100 IU of TA/kg (HE), and 100 IU of TPGS/kg (HT). Growth rate and feed efficiency of poults were unaffected (P > .05) by dietary treatments. The HE diet increased alpha-tocopherol in liver (P < .01) at 14 and 21 days of age. Liver and serum alpha-tocopherol concentrations were unaffected by dietary TPGS (LT and HT diets) at any age. Serum alpha-tocopherol concentration was unaffected by dietary treatments at 5 days of age. The HE diet, however, increased (P < .01) serum alpha-tocopherol at 9, 14, and 21 days of age. Age-related changes in alpha-tocopherol concentration were observed. Both liver and serum alpha-tocopherol decreased markedly from 1 to 14 days of age. The HE diet only partly alleviated the reduction of alpha-tocopherol in liver and serum. The water-soluble form of vitamin E, TPGS, dietary sodium taurocholate, or dietary ethoxyquin, did not prevent the marked decline in alpha-tocopherol concentration of liver and serum during the 21-day experiment.

An experiment was conducted to document the age-related changes in IgA concentration in the small intestine of newly hatched turkey poults reared in floor pens and to determine whether infection with stunting syndrome (SS) affects age-related changes. Day-old turkey poults were dose per os with .5 mL of saline carrier (control) or with .5 mL of one of two dilutions (250- or 2.5 x 10(6)-fold) of a "crude" SS-causing inoculum. Inoculation with the 250-fold dilution depressed body weight gain (P less than .01) throughout the experiment and impaired feed efficiency (P less than .05) at 5 and 9 days of age as compared with the control group. After 9 days of age, all inoculated poults utilized feed more efficiently than did control poults (P less than .01). Stunting syndrome did not affect IgA concentrations in either bile or jejunum at any specific age. Age-related changes in IgA concentrations, however, were observed. Bile IgA decreased from 1 to 9 days of age, and then increased until 29 days of age. The IgA concentration in jejunal tissue increased linearly from 1 to 29 days of age (P less than .01), whether expressed as IgA concentration per gram of wet tissue or as percentage of total protein in jejunum. Age-related changes in IgA concentration in both bile and jejunum suggest that the secretory immune system associated with the digestive mucosa is not fully developed at the time of hatch.

Developing embryos and hatchling poults were sampled (n = 4) at Days 22, 24, 26, and 28 of incubation and at 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 days after hatching, and selected characteristics of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) were measured. Body weight increased linearly up to day of hatching and also from 2 to 8 days posthatching. Residual yolk weight decreased rapidly starting on Day 26 of incubation and was nearly depleted by 4 days posthatching. Changes in weight of segments of the GIT nearly paralleled the increase in body weight until day of hatching. Thereafter, weights of the proventriculus, small intestine, and pancreas increased more rapidly than body weight until 6 days after hatching. At this time, change in weight of small intestine and pancreas seemed to parallel that of body weight, whereas proventriculus weight continued to increase more rapidly. Gizzard weight, as a percentage of body weight, increased until Day 4 posthatching and then remained relatively constant through 8 days. Specific activities (SA) of pancreatic amylase, lipase, and trypsin were low until after hatching. Subsequently, amylase SA increased nearly threefold by Day 6. Lipase SA remained nearly constant between Days 1 and 8, and trypsin SA increased only slightly. Total activities of pancreatic enzymes, however, increased substantially after hatching, mainly because of increased pancreas weight. Jejunal maltase SA was high at hatching but decreased markedly by Day 4. This decrease in SA resulted in a notable reduction in total maltase activity of the jejunum despite an increase in jejunum weight.