Effects of different lipid sources with or without a probiotic on gastrointestinal tract, immune system and blood parameters of chickens: An animal model.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of different lipid sources, with or without a probiotic, on the gastrointestinal tract, immune system and blood parameters of Ross 308 male chickens. In this study, 360 one-day-old chickens were randomly allotted to six treatments with six replicates. Experimental diets were: (1) control (CTL); (2) a diet containing 30 g/kg lipid from tallow (CTL+TLW); (3) a diet containing 30 g/kg lipid from soybean oil (CTL+SO); (4) the basal diet plus a probiotic (CTL+PRO), (5) a diet containing 30 g/kg tallow plus probiotic (TLW+PRO); and (6) a diet containing 30 g/kg soybean oil plus probiotic (SO+PRO). The percentage of liver and jejunum in the treatments that used tallow alone or tallow with probiotics had a significant increase as compared to the control. The villus height and crypt depth of the ileum and villus height/crypt depth in the treatments that used soybean oil and probiotic alone had a significant increase compared to the control. The weight of the spleen, bursa of Fabricius, and thymus in the treatments that used probiotics had a significant increase compared to the control. The amount of alkaline phosphatase and alanine aminotransferase as well as triacylglycerol in the treatment containing probiotic and its mixture with soybean oil had the least significant difference with the control. The results showed that the use of soybean oil, probiotics, and their mixture can improve intestinal morphology, strengthen the immune system, and reduce liver enzymes in chickens.

Cottonseed meal with enzyme complex for finishing pigs.

This work evaluated the digestibility of the experimental diets, the performance and the economic viability of pigs in the finishing phase fed with diets containing increasing levels of cottonseed meal (CM) with enzymatic complex. In the digestibility test, 35 barrows with an average weight of 54.54 ± 2.49 kg were used and for the performance and economic viability test, 30 pigs with an average weight of 55.47 ± 5.3 kg were used. In both trials, the animals were distributed in five diets: control diet (0), control diet plus the enzyme complex (0E), diet with 5% CM plus the enzyme complex (5E), diet with 10% CM plus the enzyme complex (10E), and a diet with 15% CM plus the enzyme complex (15E). The digestibility coefficients of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and crude protein (CP) reduced with the inclusion of CM with enzyme complex in the diet of pigs in the finishing phase, in contrast to the ether extract (EE), which improved as the inclusion of CM increased. No statistical difference (P > 0.05) was found in the performance when all diets were compared; however, when comparing only the diets that contained the enzyme complex separately, a negative linear effect (P = 0.015) was observed for the feed conversion (FC) in period 2. The diets have no effects on periods 1 and 3. Diets 0, 5E, 10E, and 15E, presented better net income (P = 0.019) in March to May 2018 due to the different levels of inclusion of CM with enzyme complex; in the other evaluated items, there were no statistical differences (P > 0.05). The inclusion of CM and enzyme complex in the diets reduced the digestibility of the dietary components; however, it did not reflect on the performance and was not financially viable in the studied scenario.