Effect of dietary mannan oligosaccharide on broiler breeder production traits and immunity.

The effects of mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) supplementation in broiler breeder diets on egg production, hatchability, fertility, and immunity were examined by randomly allocating 60-wk-old breeders to eight replicates (four replicates of two diet treatments) in a cage trial, and 42-wk-old broiler breeders to 12 replicates (six replicates of two dietary treatments) in a deep litter trial. Breeders were fed corn-soybean meal based diets with (MOS group) or without MOS or antibiotics (control group). Egg production, hatchability, and related parameters were measured for 8 and 12 wk in the cage trial and deep litter trial, respectively. In the cage trial, semen quality traits and antibody responses were recorded after 6 wk of supplementation. Antibody responses in the parents and progeny were measured after 4 wk of supplementation in the deep litter trial. Dietary MOS had no consistent influence on egg production in either trial. In the cage trial, higher (P < or = 0.05) hatchability, concomitant with consistently lower infertile and dead-in-shells (DIS), was evident in the MOS group. Furthermore, sperm density increased in the MOS group. Conversely, no difference was observed in terms of proportion of live sperm. In the deep litter trial hatchability on total eggs set and DIS were not affected by MOS inclusion in the diet, but hatchability on fertile eggs set and fertility was higher (P < or = 0.05) in the MOS group during the second, third, and fourth periods. Antibody responses against infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) were higher (P < or = 0.05) in the MOS group in both trials. Maternal antibody titers in progeny were also influenced (P < or = 0.05) by MOS supplementation. These data show that supplemental MOS improved sperm density, antibody titers, and all the production traits excluding egg production in the broiler breeders.

Efficacy of esterified glucomannan to counteract mycotoxicosis in naturally contaminated feed on performance and serum biochemical and hematological parameters in broilers.

A study was conducted to determine the efficacy of esterified glucomannan in counteracting the toxic effects of mycotoxins in naturally contaminated diet (aflatoxin 168 ppb, ochratoxin 8.4 ppb, zearalenone 54 ppb, and T-2 toxin 32 ppb) fed to commercial broilers. One-day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to one of the four dietary treatments with five replicates of 14 chicks each. Four dietary treatments were 1) control; 2) esterified glucomannan, an adsorbent, tested at 0.05% of diet; 3) naturally contaminated diet; and 4) esterified glucomannan (0.05%) plus naturally contaminated diet. Body weight, feed consumption, feed efficiency, hematology, and serum biochemical and enzyme activities were evaluated. Compared with the control, the naturally contaminated diet significantly decreased body weight and feed consumption and resulted in poor feed efficiency. Esterified glucomannan effectively alleviated the growth depression caused by the naturally contaminated diet. Increased relative weights of liver and gizzard were observed in chicks fed the naturally contaminated diet. Further, feeding a naturally contaminated diet was associated with significant decreases in urea nitrogen and hematocrit values along with altered gamma-glutamyl transferase activity; however, urea nitrogen concentration was improved with addition of esterified glucomannan. These findings suggest that addition of dietary esterified glucomannan is effective in counteracting the toxic effects of naturally contaminated feed with mycotoxins.

Evaluation of glucomannan for its adsorbing ability of Aflatoxin B1 and T-2 Toxin in the Gastrointestinal Tract of Broiler Chickens.

A biological experiment was conducted to evaluate the ability of glucomannan to adsorb aflatoxin B1(AFB1 and T-2 toxin in gut conditions of broiler chickens. Glucomannan (GM) was tested at 0.1 percent (1kg / ton) on a total of two hundred uniformly weighing five-week-old commercial broiler birds, which were randomly assigned to one of the ten dietary treatments with four replicates each. Four birds were sacrificed at 30 minutes intervals i.e., 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes from each treatment, and the gut contents were collected. The toxin concentrations in the dried gut samples were estimated and percent of AFB1 and T-2 toxin recovered was measured. Thein vivo results revealed that glucomannan had the ability to adsorb Aflatoxin upto 75-90% and T-2 toxin upto 30-35% in gastrointestinal tract of broilers.

In vitro evaluation of nonstarch polysaccharide digestibility of feed ingredients by enzymes.

Some of the commonly used feed ingredients for poultry (corn, sorghum, finger millet, deoiled ricebran, soybean meal, peanut meal, sunflower meal, and rapeseed meal) were screened for pentosans, cellulose, pectin, and total nonstarch polysaccharides. The ingredient in vitro digestibilities by enzymes were evaluated. Cereal samples screened contained mainly pentosans. Pectin content was rich in oilseed meals. Sunflower meal, soybean meal, deoiled rice bran, and a broiler starter diet were subjected to a two-stage in vitro digestion assay with three different enzyme mixtures viz., Enzyme-I (xylanase + cellulase from Trichoderma viridae), Enzyme-II (xylanase + cellulase + beta-glucanase from Huminicola insolens), and Enzyme-III (xylanase + cellulase + pectinase + beta-glucanase from Aspergillus aculeatus) by incubating 0.1 g of the sample with 3 mL of a pepsin-HCl mixture (2,000 U pepsin/mL of 0.1N HCl) for 45 min to simulate the peptic phase of bird digestion. A pancreatin-NaHCO3 mixture (2 mg pancreatin/mL of 1 M NaHCO3) was used for 2 h at 40 C to simulate the pancreatic phase. Digestibility was assessed by measuring the relative viscosity of the digesta supernatent and the total sugars released. Enzyme-I produced the least relative viscosity and highest total sugars in sunflower meal, deoiled rice bran, and broiler starter diet, whereas Enzyme-III was very effective in soybean meal subjected to in vitro digestion. The assay was a convenient and rapid method of screening for effective and stable enzymes.

Influence of esterified-glucomannan on performance and organ morphology, serum biochemistry and haematology in broilers exposed to individual and combined mycotoxicosis (aflatoxin, ochratoxin and T-2 toxin).

1. A study was conducted to evaluate the individual and combined effects of aflatoxin B1 (AF), ochratoxin A (OA) and T-2 toxin (T-2) on performance, organ morphology serum biochemistry and haematology of broiler chickens and the efficacy of esterified-glucomannan (E-GM), a cell wall derivative of Saccharomyces cerevisiae1026 in their counteraction. 2. Two dietary inclusion rates of AF (0 and 0.3 mg/kg), OA (0 and 2 mg/kg), T-2 (0 and 3 mg/kg) and E-GM (0 and 1 g/kg) were tested in a 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 factorial manner on a total of 960 broiler chickens from 1 to 35 d of age in an open sided deep litter pen house. 3. Body weight and food intake were depressed by all the mycotoxins, OA being the most toxic during early life. 4. Weights of kidney and adrenals were increased by AF and OA. Liver weight was increased by AF (17.8%), while OA increased gizzard weight (14.6%) and reduced bone ash content (8.1%). T-2 toxin showed no effect on these variables. 5. Serum cholesterol content was decreased and activity of serum gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) was increased by AF and OA while serum protein content was decreased by AF. These effects were more pronounced at 21 d than at 35 d of age. Inconsistent responses were seen in the other variables: blood urea nitrogen (BUN) content, activities of serum alanine amino transferase and aspertate amino transferase. Blood haemoglobin content was depressed by AF and T-2, whereas blood coagulation time was prolonged by OA. 6. Significant interactions were observed between any 2 toxins for their additive effects on body weight, food intake, bone ash content and serum GGT activity at 21 d. Conversely, antagonistic interactions were observed among any 2 of the toxins for their effects on variables such as serum protein and serum cholesterol content. Simultaneous feeding of all 3 mycotoxins did not show increased toxicity above that seen with any 2. 7. Esterified-glucomannan increased body weight (2.26%) and food intake (1.6%), decreased weights of liver (32.5%) and adrenals (18.9%) and activity of serum GGT (8.7%), and increased serum protein (14.7%), cholesterol (21.9%), BUN (20.8%) and blood haemoglobin (3.1%) content, indicating its possible beneficial effect on mycotoxicosis in broiler chickens.