Effects of essential oil mixtures on expression of genes involved in lipogenesis and fatty acid oxidation in geese (Anser anser).

The use of essential oils has recently increased in the poultry sector. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of essential oil mixture (juniper, mint, oregano and rosemary oil) on fatty acid oxidation and lipogenic gene expression in geese. Research groups were formed as C (control; no additives), EK1 (0.4 ml/l essential oil mixture supplemented) and EK2 (0.8 ml/l essential oil mixture supplemented). Relative expression levels of genes included in lipogenesis (ACCα, ChREBP, FASN, LXRα and SREBP-1) expression levels of genes included in fatty acid oxidation (ACOX1, CPT1, CPT1A, PPARα and PPARγ) were measured using RT-qPCR. Group EK1 upregulates the mRNA expression levels of genes involved in lipogenesis such as ACCα, ChREBP and SREBP-1, while it downregulates the mRNA expression in levels of all genes involved in fatty acid oxidation. Group EK2 increases the mRNA expression levels of genes involved in lipogenesis such as ACCα, FASN and SREBP-1, while it decreased mRNA expression at the levels of all genes involved in fatty acid oxidation, as in the other group. In the study, adding an essential oil mixture to drinking water is predicted to increase fatty liver because it upregulates genes related to fat synthesis (lipogenesis) and downregulates genes related to fat degradation (fatty acid oxidation).

Performance and gut health status of broilers fed diets supplemented with two graded levels of a monoglyceride blend.

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of 2 graded levels (0.03 and 0.05% of diet) of a monoglyceride blend containing butyric, caprylic, and capric acids in broilers' diet for optimizing gut structure and animal growth performance. For this purpose, a total of 210, one-day-old male Ross 308 broiler chicks were randomly allocated to 3 experimental treatments using 7 replicates each and 10 birds/replicate. The treatment groups involved supplementation of blend of short and medium chain fatty acids at the level of 0, 0.03, and 0.05% of the diet for 42 d. The incorporation of mixes of monoglycerides into broilers' diet linearly improved BWG between d 0 and 21 (P = 0.034). At the end of trial, however, no significant changes were observed in performance indexes (BWG, FI, FCR). Jejunal morphometric parameters (villus height, crypt depth, and their ratio) remained unaltered with the monoglyceride supplementation on d 21. The results further showed that monoglycerides supplementation increased the goblet cell counts along the jejunal villi (P = 0.034) and crypt regions (P = 0.022), as well as it effectively modulated the mRNA abundances of tight junction protein (ZO-1, P = 0.033) and nutrient transporters (SGLT, PePT1; P = 0.005, 0.023, respectively) in the jejunum. Moreover, the downregulation in mRNA abundance of TNFα (P = 0.030) was observed with the monoglyceride supplementation. The SCFAs analysis of cecal contents showed no notable differences with monoglyceride blend supplementation when compared to the unsupplemented group. Collectively, high goblet cell numbers in the jejunum along with downregulation of the mRNA abundances of pro-inflammatory cytokines, upregulation of tight junction proteins, and nutrient transporters showed favorable responses of low doses of monoglycerides blend in broiler feeding. Further studies should be conducted in different rearing conditions to examine the effectiveness of such low levels of a monoglyceride blend in the modulation of gut structure, its functionality and animal performance.

The effect of glucose treatment on ruminal dry matter and crude protein degradability characteristics of soybean meal, full fat soybean and soybean seed.

A high ruminal protein degradation is especially undesirable in high producing dairy cows and beef cattle, since these animals have high requirements of protein and the amount of protein that is not degraded by ruminal microorganisms and therefore enters the small intestine (so-called UDP = undegraded protein) is crucial. In this study, Merino rams with ruminal fistulas were used (n = 4) to determine the effect of glucose treatment of soybean meal (SBM), full fat soybean (FFSB) and soybean seed (SBS) on the ruminal degradability of dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP). All these feedstuffs were grinded, diluted with water and heated (2 h; 100 degrees C) either without or with supplementation of 2 or 3% glucose (20 or 30 g glucose per kg dry feed). For the determination of the ruminal degradability nylon bag technique was used (incubation times: 2-48 h). In general ruminal degradability of protein in all three soy products was reduced by glucose treatment. In FFSB CP disappearance started to decrease after 8 h of incubation, whereas in SBM (+ 3% glucose) and SBS (+ 2 or 3% glucose) reduction of CP disappearance were time-independent. Further, effective degradability (Pe) of DM and CP of all feedstuffs were significantly reduced by glucose treatment, with the reduction being more pronounced when the glucose level was increased. When adding 3% of glucose, the Pe for CP was reduced by 6 (FFSB), 16 (SBM) and 18% (SBS), respectively. Explanation for the observed effects of a glucose supplementation (incl. water and heat treatment) is the reductive activity of glucose within these conditions.