Influences of flavonoid (quercetin) inclusion to corn-soybean-gluten meal-based diet on broiler performance.

Quercetin (a predominant flavonoid) is considered to have antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. This trial was conducted to evaluate the impact of graded doses of quercetin (QS) on growth efficiency, nutrient retention, faecal score, footpad lesion score, tibia ash and meat quality. In a 32-day feeding test, a total of 576 1-day-old Ross 308 broilers (male) were allocated arbitrarily with an average body weight of 41 ± 0.5 g. The trial had four dietary treatments with eight repetitions of 18 birds per pen and a basal diet incorporating 0%, 0.02%, 0.04% and 0.06% of QS. As the QS dosage increased, body weight gain tended to increase linearly on Days 9-21 (p = 0.069) and overall period (p = 0.079). Similarly, feed intake increased (p = 0.009) linearly with the increasing doses of QS on Days 9-21. Likewise, there was a linear improvement in dry matter (p = 0.002) and energy (p = 0.016) digestibility after QS administration. Moreover, the inclusion of QS supplement (0%-0.06%) linearly increased (p = 0.012) tibia ash in broilers. However, the faecal score and footpad lesion score showed no significant outcome (p > 0.05). By giving broilers a graded amount of QS, the relative organ weights of breast muscle (p = 0.009) and spleen (p = 0.006) improved linearly, meat colour lightness increased (p = 0.015), redness tended to improve (p = 0.065) linearly and drip loss decreased (p = 0.015) linearly. The inclusion of QS in the graded-level diet led to improvements in growth efficiency, nutrient absorption, meat quality and tibia ash, which recommended it as a beneficial feed additive for the broiler.

Micelle silymarin supplementation to sows' diet from day 109 of gestation to entire lactation period enhances reproductive performance and affects serum hormones and metabolites.

The aim of the present study was to explore the influences of varying doses of micelle silymarin (0%, 0.05%, 0.1%, and 0.2%) supplementation on sows' feed intake, milk yields, serum hormones, and litter growth using 40 multiparous sows (Landrace × Yorkshire, parity from 3 to 5) from the 109th prenatal day to the 21st postnatal day. Each treatment included 10 sows and each sow was used as an experimental unit. On weaning day, litter weight and litter weight gain were linearly improved (P < 0.01, both), corresponding to the increasing dose of silymarin micelle in the diet. Also, litter weight, litter weight gain, and average daily gain (ADG) of piglets born to treated sows exceeded (P < 0.05) those of offspring from the control sows (0% micelle silymarin). Feed intake in week 1, week 2, and the entire lactation period was increased (linear, P < 0.01) as micelle silymarin dose increased. Body weight (BW) loss of sows during lactation was linearly reduced (P = 0.003) with the increasing amounts of micelle silymarin. Average daily milk yields during lactation were also linearly increased (P = 0.002) in treated sows, exceeding (P = 0.046) that of control sows. Also, uniform increases were observed (P = 0.037) in fat content in milk produced by treated sows on day 14 of lactation. Epinephrine concentrations and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity in sow serum on day 21 postpartum were linearly declined (P = 0.010) as micelle silymarin dose increased, and were both declined (P < 0.05) in treated sows compared with the control. In addition, treated sows' serum had higher activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) at parturition and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), lower oxidized glutathione (GSSG) concentrations, and GSSG/GSH (glutathione) ratio (all, P < 0.01) on day 21 of lactation. Moreover, offspring from micelle silymarin-treated sows tended to (0.05 < P <0.1) have higher serum catalase (CAT) activity and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) concentrations. Taken together, the results showed that sows fed increasing levels of micelle silymarin from the 109th prenatal day to the 21st postnatal day had an incremental dose-dependent effect on higher feed intake, diminished BW loss, greater milk yields, and greater litter weight at weaning, and 0.2% of micelle silymarin could be optimal to achieve the better effect.

Bacteriophage cocktail supplementation improves growth performance, gut microbiome and production traits in broiler chickens.

BACKGROUND: Effective antibiotic alternatives are urgently needed in the poultry industry to control disease outbreaks. Phage therapy mainly utilizes lytic phages to kill their respective bacterial hosts and can be an attractive solution to combating the emergence of antibiotic resistance in livestock. METHODS: Five hundred and four, one-day-old broilers (Ross 308) were allotted to 1 of 4 treatment groups in a completely randomized design. Treatments consisted of CON (basal diet), PC (CON + 0.025% Avilamax®), BP 0.05 (CON + 0.05% bacteriophage), and BP 0.10 (CON + 0.10% bacteriophage). RESULTS: A significant linear effect on body weight gain (BWG) was observed during days 1-7, days 22-35, and cumulatively in bacteriophage (BP) supplemented groups. The BWG tended to be higher (P = 0.08) and the feed intake (FI) was increased (P = 0.017) in the PC group over CON group. A greater (P = 0.016) BWG and trends in increased FI (P = 0.06) were observed in the experiment in birds fed PC than CON diet. At the genus level, the relative abundance of Lactobacillus was decreased in PC (65.28%), while it was similar in BP 0.05 and BP 0.10 (90.65%, 86.72%) compared to CON (90.19%). At the species level, the relative abundance of Lactobacillus salivarus was higher in BP 0.05 (40.15%) and BP 0.10 (38.58%) compared to the CON (20.04%) and PC (18.05%). A linear reduction in the weight of bursa of Fabricius (P = 0.022) and spleen (P = 0.052) was observed in birds fed graded level of BP and an increase (P = 0.059) in the weight of gizzard was observed in birds fed PC over BP diets. Linear and quadratic responses were observed in redness of breast muscle color in birds fed graded level of BP. CONCLUSIONS: The inclusion of the 0.05% and 0.1% BP cocktail linearly improved broiler weight during the first 7 days, 22-35 days and cumulatively, whereas 0.05% BP addition was sufficient for supporting immune organs, bursa and spleen as well as enhancing gut microbiome, indicating the efficacy of 0.05% BP as a substitute antibiotic growth promoter in broiler diets.