The effect of dietary coenzyme Q10 supplementation on egg quality and liver histopathology of layer quails under cadmium challenge.

The demand for quail eggs has been increased over the last decade due to its beneficial nutritional quality characteristics; however, different nutritional and environmental stressors adversely impact the quality of the produced eggs. This study was conducted to investigate whether dietary supplementation of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) could mitigate the negative impact of cadmium (Cd) administration on egg quality and liver histopathology. A total of 162 six-week-old laying Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) were randomly allotted into three experimental groups. Treatments were as follows: (1) negative control (NC): feeding basal diet; (2) positive control (PC): feeding basal diet and Cd administration; and (3) CdQ10: feeding basal diet supplemented with CoQ10 (900 mg/kg diet) and Cd administration. Cadmium (10 mg/kg BW) was subcutaneously administrated at 10 and 11 weeks of age (woa). Feed conversion ratio (FCR), egg production, egg mass, mortality rate, Cd residue in egg, liver histopathology, and some internal and external egg quality indices were evaluated. Administration of Cd increased FCR in the PC group, but supplementation of CoQ10 partially ameliorated the impact of Cd on FCR (p < 0.05). Cadmium administration decreased both egg production and egg mass; however, CoQ10 supplementation partially mitigated these adverse effects of Cd injection in the CdQ10 compared to the PC group (p < 0.05). Cadmium decreased eggshell thickness and Haugh unit in PC quail compared to both NC and CdQ10 quail (p < 0.05). Moreover, egg yolk colour intensity was enhanced by CoQ10, where a* and b* indices were higher in CdQ10 compared to PC (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the current results demonstrate the beneficial effects of dietary CoQ10 supplementation on liver histopathology and some egg quality indices of Cd-challenged quail.

Steady shear flow behavior of sage seed gum affected by various salts and sugars: Time-independent properties.

The rheological properties of food hydrocolloids are remarkably influenced by the quality of solvent/cosolutes in a food system. In this work, the steady shear flow behavior of sage seed gum (SSG, 0.5% w/w) at the presence of different levels of salts (KCl & MgCl2, 0-100mM) and sugars (sucrose, lactose & glucose, 0-6% w/w) was studied. It was found that the rheological properties of SSG were affected by the type of sugars and salts and their concentrations as well. Synergistic interaction was observed between SSG and sugars which enhanced the viscosity of gum solutions, while salts addition diminished the viscosity. SSG solutions exhibited a shear thinning behavior at all conditions tested. Various time-independent rheological models were used to fit the shear stress-shear rate data, although the Herschel-Bulkley (R(2)=0.994-0.999) and Sisko (R(2)=0.995-0.999) models showed the best results to describe the flow behavior of SSG. In the presence of salts, the yield stress (τ0), consistency coefficient (k), and flow behavior index (n) values decreased. The k and τ0 values enhanced and the n value lowered in the presence of sugars. Divalent cations of Mg(2+) and sucrose roughly showed more effect on rheological parameters than others.