Determination of the adequate dose of garlic diallyl disulfide and diallyl trisulfide for effecting changes in growth performance, total-tract nutrient and energy digestibility, ileal characteristics, and serum immune parameters in broiler chickens.

The objective of the current experiment was to determine the adequate dose and impact of graded concentrations of garlic diallyl disulfide (DADS) and diallyl trisulfide (DATS) on growth performance, total-tract nutrient and energy digestibility, serum immune parameters, and ileal morphology in broiler chickens. At 28-d post-hatch, male broiler chickens were allotted on the basis of initial body weight (1.34 ± 0.106 kg) in a randomized complete block desing ( RCBD: ) to one of six treatments that consisted of an oral gavage of 0, 0.45, 0.90, 1.80, 3.6, or 7.2 mg of DADS + DATS per kg bodyweight (BW) with 8 replicate cages per treatment and 4 birds per cage. The DADS + DATS was administered to birds by daily oral gavage for a period of 6 d. Growth performance was recorded and excreta were collected for analysis of DM, nitrogen ( N: ), and energy ( E: ) digestibility and on the last day of the experiment, the median bird in each cage was euthanized and the mid ileum was excised for morphological and gene expression measurements and blood was collected for serum natural antibody and complement assays. Body weight gain and villus height were linearly increased (P < 0.01) with oral gavage of DADS + DATS. There was a quadratic effect (P < 0.01) of the oral gavage on digestibility of DM, N, and E that corresponded to an average broken-line regression-derived adequate dose of 1.16 mg DADS + DATS per kg BW. Supplementation of DADS + DATS by oral gavage had no impact on gene expression markers although there was a tendency for an increase (P = 0.10) in serum natural antibody activity due to treatment. Results from the current study indicate that supplementation of a gavage containing DADS + DATS improves BW gain, ileal morphology, and digestibility of DM, N, and E and may affect serum immune parameters in broiler chickens. The average broken-line regression-derived adequate dose to optimize BW gain and villus height response was 2.51 mg DADS + DATS per kg BW.

Trehalose hydrogels for stabilization of enzymes to heat.

Enzymes can catalyze various reactions with high selectivity and are involved in many important biological processes. However, the general instability of enzymes against high temperature often limits their application. To address this, we synthesized a trehalose-based hydrogel in two steps from commercial starting materials with minimal purification procedures. Mono- and multi-functional trehalose monomers were cross-linked by redox-initiated radical polymerization to form a hydrogel. Phytase, an important enzyme utilized in animal feedstock, was employed to study the effectiveness of the trehalose hydrogel to stabilize proteins against heat. Addition of the phytase solution to the hydrogel resulted in enzyme internalization as confirmed by confocal microscopy. The phytase in the hydrogel retained 100% activity upon heating at 90 °C compared to 39% when the hydrogel was absent. The enzyme could also be recovered from the hydrogel. The trehalose hydrogel synthesis reported herein should be readily scalable for thermal stabilization of a wide variety of enzymes.