Evaluation of dietary lignin on broiler performance, nutrient digestibility, cholesterol and triglycerides concentrations, gut morphometry, and lipid oxidation.

Two trials were performed in order to evaluate the effects of dietary Kraft lignin inclusion on broiler performance, ileal nutrient digestibility, blood lipid profile, intestinal morphometry, and lipid oxidation of meat. Trial 1 was conducted in order to evaluate performance and ileal digestibility for the period of 1 to 21 d of age, randomly distributing 490 day-old broiler chicks across 5 dietary treatments with 14 replicates containing 7 birds each in metabolic cages, while trial 2 was executed in order to evaluate performance, blood parameters, intestinal morphometry, carcass yield and abdominal fat, and lipid oxidation for the period of 1 to 42 d of age, randomly distributing 900 day-old broiler chicks across 5 dietary treatments with 15 replicates of 12 birds each in floor pens, being each bird in trial 2 challenged with coccidiosis vaccine at 10 d of age. The treatments used in both trials were: positive control (PC): basal diet + antimicrobial; negative control (NC): Basal diet; NC1: NC + 1% lignin; NC2: NC + 2% lignin; NC3: NC + 3% lignin. For trial 1, it was observed that birds fed diets containing 1% lignin had a significant positive effect for BW, feed intake (FI), average daily weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion rate (FCR), similar to the PC, but also showing better EE, CP and AAs ileal digestibility percentages when compared to other treatments. For trial 2, it was observed that during the period of 21 to 35 d, the inclusion of lignin in the diet provided better results in animal performance, similar to the PC group, but at 42 d, animals fed with dietary lignin showed results lower than animals fed the PC diet (P < 0.05). Animals fed with increasing lignin concentrations showed decreasing levels of HDL (P < 0.05). As of intestinal morphometry, animals fed with 1% and 3% lignin showed longer intestinal length (P < 0.05). At 14 d of age, it was observed that animals fed with lignin showed oxidation levels similar to the control treatments. The inclusion of up to 1% lignin in the diet provides beneficial effects on productive performance and nutrient digestibility, while the inclusion of 2% lignin provided lower cholesterol levels, lower villus/crypt ratio, and better internal organ development, therefore, it can be considered an alternative to performance-enhancing antimicrobials in broiler chicken diets.

Effects of feeding spray-dried plasma to broiler breeders and their progeny on broiler performance under stressful rearing conditions of coccidial challenge and heat stress.

A total of 216 Cobb 500 broiler breeder hens were randomly distributed across 2 dietary treatments with 0 or 1% spray-dried plasma (SDP) resulting in 27 replications/treatment and 4 birds/replication. In addition, 36 roosters were divided between the same treatments and housed, in individual pens, being each bird considered a replicate. Experimental diets were fed from 26 wk until 65 wk of age. At 29, 45, and 63 wk of age, broiler breeder hens were inseminated, and eggs were incubated. Three progeny studies were performed and hatched birds were allocated in a randomized 2 × 2 factorial design (maternal diet: with or without inclusion of 1% SDP × progeny diet: with or without the inclusion of 2% SDP from 1 to 7 d of age). After 7 d of age, all birds received the same diet until 42 d. In all trials, birds were challenged with coccidiosis vaccine at 7 d of age. Furthermore, in the second experiment, heat stress was also included for 6 h a day during the whole trial. At 42-days posthatch in the first experiment, greater FI, BW, and BWG in chicks hatched from breeders fed 1% dietary SDP was observed. This effect did not extend to the other hatches. In the second trial, a decreased FCR in broilers fed the control diet from breeder hens fed 1 % of SDP was observed, as well as an interaction between the SDP groups, since broilers supplemented with SDP and originated from breeders fed SDP showed higher BW and BWG in comparison to other groups at 42 d. In the third trial, contrary to what was observed in the first study, SDP supplementation did not affect any of the performance indexes. In the 3 studies, no differences were found in carcass characteristics. SDP did not affect hen BW, egg production, fertility, or hatch of fertile. These results suggest that providing dietary SDP to broilers has some beneficial effects on broiler chickens.

Influence of Dietary Phytase Inclusion Rates on Yolk Inositol Concentration, Hatchability, Chick Quality, and Early Growth Performance.

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of dietary phytase in breeder hens on yolk nutrients, hatchability, chick quality, and growth rate of their progeny, and their subsequent performance to 42 d post-hatch when fed diets with the same phytase concentrations. Breeder hens (n = 216) were divided into 3 groups receiving nutrient-adequate diets with reduced calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) (by 0.16% and 0.15%, respectively), supplemented with either 500, 1500, or 4500 FTU/kg phytase from 27 to 50 weeks of age. Eggs were collected at 38 weeks of age and incubated. On the day of hatch, the chick quality and hatchability were determined, and 18 chicks/group were euthanized for yolk sac collection and the determination of inositol and glycerol concentrations. The remaining chicks were divided into three groups, receiving different diets with reduced Ca and P (by 0.16% and 0.15%, respectively), supplemented with 0, 500, or 1500 FTU/kg phytase to 42 d post-hatch. Increasing the phytase concentration in the breeder hen diet linearly (p < 0.05) increased the number of early embryo deaths and decreased the number of late deaths and pips. The inositol concentration in the yolk sac at day of hatch increased (quadratic; p < 0.05) as the phytase dose increased in the breeder hen diet. The breeder hen diet (p < 0.05) influenced the body weight (BW), feed intake (FI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) up to 21 days of age. The supplementation of breeder hen diets with 1500 FTU/kg phytase increased the concentration of sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) in the yolk sac. The inclusion of phytase doses up to 4500 FTU/kg appeared to influence embryo mortality, chick feed intake, and BW gain to 21 days and the FCR throughout the entire production phase.

Maternal supplementation of different trace mineral sources on broiler breeder production and progeny growth and gut health.

Trace mineral minerals Zn, Cu, and Mn play important roles in breeder production and progeny performance. The objective of this study was to determine maternal supplementation of trace mineral minerals on breeder production and progeny growth and development. A total of 540 broiler breeders, Cobb 500 (Slow feathering; 0-66 weeks old) were assigned to one of three treatment groups with the same basal diet and three different supplemental trace minerals: ITM-inorganic trace minerals in sulfates: 100, 16, and 100 ppm of Zn, Cu, and Mn respectively; MMHAC -mineral methionine hydroxy analog chelate: 50, 8, and 50 ppm of bis-chelated MINTREX®Zn, Cu and Mn (Novus International, Inc.), and TMAAC - trace minerals amino acid complex: 50, 8, and 50 ppm of Zn, Cu, and Mn. At 28 weeks of age, eggs from breeder treatments were hatched for progeny trial, 10 pens with 6 males and 6 female birds per pen were fed a common diet with ITM for 45 days. Breeder production, egg quality, progeny growth performance, mRNA expression of gut health associated genes in breeder and progeny chicks were measured. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA; means were separated by Fisher's protected LSD test. A p-Value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically different and 0.1 was considered numerical trend. Breeders on ITM treatment had higher (p < 0.05) body weight (BW), weight gain and lower (p < 0.05) feed conversion ratio (FCR) from 0 to 10 weeks, when compared to birds fed MMHAC. MMHAC significantly improved egg mass by 3 g (p < 0.05) and FCR by 34 points (0.05 < p < 0.1) throughout the reproductive period (26-66 weeks) in comparison to ITM. MMHAC improved (p < 0.01) egg yolk color versus (vs.) ITM and TMAAC in all periods, except 28 weeks, increased (p < 0.01) eggshell thickness and resistance vs. TMAAC at 58 weeks, and reduced (p < 0.05) jejunal NF-κB gene expression vs. TMAAC at 24 weeks. There was a significant reduction in tibial dry matter weight, Seedor index and resistance for the breeders that received MMHAC and/or TMAAC when compared to ITM at 18 weeks. Lower seedor index but numerically wider tibial circumference was seen in hens fed MMHAC at 24 weeks, and wider tibial circumference but lower tibial resistance in hens fed TMAAC at 66 weeks. Maternal supplementation of MMHAC in breeder hens increased (p < 0.0001) BW vs. ITM and TMAAC at hatching, reduced (p < 0.05) feed intake vs. ITM at d14 and d28, and improved (p < 0.01) FCR and performance index vs. TMAAC at d28, reduced (p < 0.01) NF-κB gene expression and increased (p < 0.05) A20 gene expression vs. TMAAC on d0 and vs. ITM on d14, reduced (p < 0.05) TLR2 gene expression vs. ITM on d0 and vs. TMAAC on d14, increased (p < 0.05) MUC2 gene expression vs. both ITM and TMAAC on d45 in progeny jejunum. Overall, these results suggest that supplementation with lower levels of MHA-chelated trace minerals improved breeder production and egg quality and reduced breeder jejunal inflammation while maintaining tibial development in comparison to those receiving higher inorganic mineral supplementation, and it also carried over the benefits to progeny with better growth performance, less jejunal inflammation and better innate immune response and gut barrier function in comparison to ITM and/or TMAAC.

Cleaning and disinfection programs against Campylobacter jejuni for broiler chickens: productive performance, microbiological assessment and characterization.

Detailed cleaning and disinfection programs aims to reduce infection pressure from microorganisms from one flock to the next. However, studies evaluating the benefits to poultry performance, the sanitary status of the facilities, and the sanitary quality of the meat are rarely found. Thus, this study was designed to evaluate 2 cleaning and disinfecting programs regarding their influence on productive performance, elimination of Campylobacter, and characterization of Campylobacter jejuni strains when applied to broiler chickens' facilities. Two subsequent flocks with 960 birds each were distributed into 32 pens containing 30 birds each. In the first, the whole flock was inoculated with a known strain of Campylobacter jejuni in order to contaminate the environment. In the second flock, performance and microbiological evaluations were done, characterizing an observational study between 2 cleaning and disinfection programs, regular and proposed. The regular program consisted of sweeping facilities, washing equipment and environment with water and neutral detergent. The proposed cleaning program consisted of dry and wet cleaning, application of 2 detergents (one acid and one basic) and 2 disinfectants (250 g/L glutaraldehyde and 185 g/L formaldehyde at 0.5% and 210 g/L para-chloro-meta-cresol at 4%). Total microorganism count in the environment and Campylobacter spp. identification were done for the microbiological assessment of the environment and carcasses. The positive samples were submitted to molecular identification of Campylobacter spp. and posterior genetic sequencing of the species identified as Campylobacter jejuni. The birds housed in the facilities and submitted to the proposed treatment had better performance when compared to the ones in the regular treatment, most likely because there was a smaller total microorganism count on the floor, walls, feeders and drinkers. The proposed program also resulted in a reduction of Campylobacter spp. on floors, drinkers and birds. Moreover, it was possible to identify 6 different Campylobacter jejuni strains in the facilities. The proposed treatment resulted in a positive influence on the birds' performance and reduction of environment contamination for broiler chickens.