Egg yolk plasma enriched with ß-carotene through the diet of laying hens and adding it to the extender improves the quality of frozen semen in Arabic stallions.

Equine semen cryopreservation is one of the major procedures for the genetic conservation of rare and endangered genotypes. The current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of egg yolk plasma (EYP) enriched with ß-carotene as an antioxidant supplement on INRA-96 extender regarding freezing Arabic stallion sperm. For this purpose, ß-carotene various concentrations were utilized as a supplementary ingredient in formulating the diets of laying hens. Birds were randomly divided into four groups, fed with 0 (control), 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg in a supplemented diet with ß-carotene. Subsequently, various variants of enriched extender (INRA-96 + 2.5% glycerol [G]) were gained by adding 2% EYP from four treatment groups. The sperm characteristics, including motility, viability, morphology, plasma membrane integrity (HOS test), lipid peroxidation (MDA) and DNA fragmentation, were evaluated after thawing. According to the results obtained in this study, the addition of EYP from T2 and T4 (500 and 2000 mg/kg of ß-carotene in hens' diet) to the extender (INRA-96 + 2.5% G) leads to an increase in total motility (50.50% and 49.49%, respectively), progressive motility (32.6% and 31.8%, respectively), viability (68.7% and 66.1%, respectively) and plasma membrane integrity (57.7% and 50.6%, respectively). Moreover, lipid peroxidation (1.3 and 1.4 nmol/mL, respectively) and DNA fragmentation (8.6% and 9.9%, respectively) were diminished using the mentioned treatments. However, sperm morphology was not affected by the treatments. In the current study, we concluded that the optimal concentration of ß-carotene in the laying hen's diet (500 mg/kg) could reveal the best results about sperm quality. So, EYP enriched with ß-carotene acts as a valuable natural and safe supplementary material that could be exploited for enhancing stallion sperm quality in cryopreservation conditions.

Supplementation of broiler chicken diets with bovine lactoferrin improves growth performance, histological parameters of jejunum and immune-related gene expression.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of dietary supplementation of bovine lactoferrin (bLF) on growth performance, carcass traits, histomorphology of jejunum, immune function and hepatic and splenic gene expression of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and interleukine-2 (IL-2) in broiler chickens. A total of 240 one-day-old Ross 308 male broiler chickens were randomly allotted into six dietary treatments with four replicate pens (10 chicks per pen) and fed experimental diet in 3 feeding phases (starter: d 0-10, grower: d 11-24 and finisher: d 25-42). The experimental treatments were (1) corn-soya bean meal-based basal diet (control), (2-5) basal diet supplemented with 200, 400, 600, 800 mg/kg bLF, respectively, and (6) basal diet supplemented with 200 mg/kg oxytetracycline (OTC). The average body weight gain (ABWG) of broilers fed 800 mg/kg bLF was 8.48% higher than those fed a corn-soybean meal-based diet during the starter period (d 0-10) (linear effect, p = 0.002; quadratic effect, p = 0.24). Average daily feed intake (ADFI) and the feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not affected (p>0.05) by bLF supplementation. At 42 days of age, the breast meat percentage and carcass yield of broilers fed 800 mg/kg bLF compared with the control group significantly increased by 9.51% and 6.03% respectively (p < 0.05). Compared with the chicks fed the control diet, the chicks fed diets supplemented with bLF had higher villus height, muscle thickness and villus surface area (p > 0.05). Dietary bLF inclusion increased the total immunoglobulin (IgT) titre against sheep red blood cells (SRBCs) antigen (linear effect, p = 0.031; quadratic effect, p = 0.035) and improved the phytohaemagglutinin-P (PHA-P)-skin test of broilers. Compared with the control, bLF enhanced the gene expression of IFN-γ in spleen (p = 0.048, linear effect, p = 0.009; quadratic effect, p = 0.093) and liver (p = 0.012, linear effect, p = 0.008; quadratic effect, p = 0.01) and IL-2 expression in spleen (p = 0.021, linear effect, p = 0.026; quadratic effect, p = 0.103). The bLF supplementation had no effect on IL-2 gene expression in liver (p > 0.05, linear effect, p = 0.213; quadratic effect, p = 0.159). In conclusion, we found that supplementation of broiler diets with 800 mg/kg bLF can improve the growth performance, carcass yield, cell-mediated and antibody-mediated immune responses and enhance the IL-2 and IFN-γ gene expression of broilers.

Laying hen performance, egg quality improved and yolk 5-methyltetrahydrofolate content increased by dietary supplementation of folic acid.

This study was performed to evaluate the effect of folic acid (FA) on performance, egg quality and yolk 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) content. A total of 384 Hy-line W36 strain hens from 52 to 58 weeks of age were randomly assigned to 4 groups, and each group received one of following dietary treatments: 0, 5, 10 and 15 mg FA/kg diet. A completely randomized design was used. Egg production percentage, egg mass and egg weight were increased significantly (P < 0.05) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) was reduced significantly (P < 0.05) by increasing FA content in diets. No significant differences were detected among treatments on egg quality except for shell thickness. The dietary supplementations of laying hens diets with FA significantly increased yolk 5-MTHF content (P = 0.02). Overall, these data demonstrate that dietary supplementation with FA raised 5-MTHF content of yolk and productivity of egg production in laying hens.

Effect of vitamin E and selenium nanoparticles on post-thaw variables and oxidative status of rooster semen.

This study was conducted to determine the combined effects of adding vitamin E (VitE) and selenium nanoparticle (Nano-Se) as antioxidant supplements to rooster semen extender for freezing. Semen samples were collected from 12 White Leghorn roosters and pooled. Subsequently, the samples were divided into nine equal groups using modified Beltsville extender. Extenders were supplemented with either two amounts of VitE (5 and 10µg/mL) or two amounts of Nano-Se (1% and 2%) or a combination of both VitE and Nano-Se, and no antioxidants extender (control group). Using 5µg/mL VitE and 1% of Nano-Se improved (P<0.05) total sperm motility (79.28±3.86%), progressive sperm motility (18.03±1.02%), sperm viability (81.46±2.16%) and integrity of the sperm membrane (77.21±2.12%) after the freeze-thawing process compared with control group (54.08±3.86%, 10.96±1.02%, 60.53±2.16%, and 54.47±2.12%; respectively). Also, extenders supplemented with 5µg/mL Vit E or 5µg/mL VitE and 1% Nano-Se had a lesser malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration compared to control extender (1.15±0.32, and 1.29±0.32, respectively). Total abnormal morphology of sperm was decreased (P<0.05) by adding 5 or 10µg/mL VitE alone or in combined with 1% or 2% Nano-Se. Moreover, extenders containing Nano-Se demonstrated greater glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity compared to other extenders. Catalase (CAT) activity was greater in extender supplemented with 10µg/mL VitE and 2% Nano-Se. Moreover, higher TAC was observed in extenders supplemented with VitE and Nano-Se. It can be concluded that addition of 5µg/mL vitamin E in combined with 1% Nano-Se improved the post-thawing quality and oxidative variables of rooster semen.