In an experiment, the efficacy of Tragopogon graminifolius (TG) plant powder as a medicinal supplement for laying hens was investigated. A total of 192 Hy-line (W36) hens that had been laying for 52 to 63 weeks, were used. They were allocated to four replicates of four treatments (12 birds per in each replicate) in a completely randomized design. Diets were formulated to contain 0%, 2%, 4% and 6% TG powder. Dietary augmentation with TG powder affected the production and blood indexes of laying hens significantly. Egg weight, egg production percentage, egg mass and feed intake were greatest and feed conversion ratio, high yolk colour index, and Haugh unit were best when the hens were supplemented with 6% TG powder. Eggshell thickness decreased when this high level of TG powder was used. The lowest blood white cell count was observed with 2% TG in the diet. The TG levels did not change the blood indexes meaningfully. Based on these results, the provision of TG to laying hens at up to 6% of their diet improved the production traits.

ABSTRACT The poultry nutritionists constantly attempt to identify and alleviate the factors responsible for adverse effects on nutrient utilization and production performance in avian species, which are necessary for successful productivity of poultry. Enhanced feed utilization can reduce levels of some nutrients in the diet with concomitant mitigation in nutrient excretion into the environment, reduction of eutrophication and acidification potentials of excreta. Commercial enzymes have been used to improve feed efficiency and utilization in poultry. Among many anti-nutritional factors, the existence of ß-mannans in poultry feed ingredients including soybean and other leguminous seeds has been associated with negative effects on nutrient digestibility and high intestinal viscosity that adversely affects innate immunity and microbial proliferation in poultry gut. The ß-mannanase (a commercial product named as Hemicell) can hydrolyze ß-mannan, an anti-nutritional fiber present in many poultry feed ingredients. Supplement of ß-mannanase to ß-mannan-rich diets may boost the population of intestinal beneficial bacteria, increase the digestibility of mannans, enhance the immunity, suppresses the growth of harmful intestinal bacteria, enhance the digestion and absorption of nutrients in intestinal tracts and reduce the environmental pollution due to poultry excreta. Supplementation of β-mannanase at the level of 200 and 400 mg/kg in poultry diets has positively improved blood glucose and anabolic hormone homeostasis, FCR, digestible energy, and digestible amino acids. This review describes the promising beneficial effects of β-mannanase, which may be used in the poultry feed industry for economic benefits. Another objective of this review is to explore the underlying mechanisms of ß-mannanase that can influence growth, digestion coefficients of nutrients, health and metabolism of nutrients in poultry birds and also the knowledge regarding the useful application of this feed enzyme in the commercial poultry feed industry.

ABSTRACT The subject of this study was to evaluate the effects of lentil byproduct (LP) on growth performance, carcass traits and egg yield of quail (Coturnix coturnix Japonica). To achieve this goal, a total of 600 0-day-old quail chicks were used. The birds were divided into 5 groups with 3 replicates. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th groups received 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% lentil byproduct, respectively. All the diets were prepared as isonitrogenous and isocaloric. As a result of this study, the highest live body weights of quails as Laudadio mixed gender were observed in the 3rd (195.5 g) and 5th (195.3 g) groups at the end of the study, however the differences between the control and treatment groups were not significant (p>0.05). Similar results were observed in the carcass traits, as well. The best feed conversion ratio (FCR) was noted in both the 2nd and 3rd groups as 3.04 and it was significantly (p<0.05) different than in the control and other treatment groups. The least feed intake (FI) was observed in the 2nd group. The highest and the lowest egg yield percentages were in the 3rd (90.78 %) and 5th (66.57 %) groups, and differences were significant (p<0.01). Linear increments were observed in the yolk color when LP increased in the diet. As a result, it could be concluded that lentil by product could be added into quail diets up to 15% with no negative effect on live body weight (BW) and carcass traits and to get better yolk color.

ABSTRACT In this study, the influence of carcass parts weights (thigh, breast, wing, back weight, gizzard, heart, and feet) on whole carcass weight of white turkeys (Big-6) was analyzed by regression analysis based on ridge regression and factor analysis scores. For this purpose, a total of 30 turkey carcasses of 15 males and 15 females with 17 weeks of age, were used. To determine the carcass weight (CW), thigh weight (TW), breast weight (BRW), wing weight (WW), back weight (BW), gizzard weight (GW), heart weight (HW), and feet weight (FW) were used. In the ridge regression model, since the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) values of the variables were less than 10, the multicollinearity problem was eliminated. Furthermore, R2=0.988 was obtained in the ridge regression model. Since the eigenvalues of the two variables predicted by factor analysis scores were greater than 1, the model can be explained by two factors. The variance explained by two factors constitutes 88.80% of the total variance. The regression equation was statistically significant (p<0.01). In the regression equation, two factors obtained by using factor analysis scores were independent variables and standardized carcass weight was considered as dependent variable. In the regression model created by factor analysis scores, the Variance Inflation Factor values were 1 and R2=0.966. Both regression models were found to be suitable for predicting carcass weight of turkeys. However, the ridge regression method, which presented higher R2 value, has been shown to better explain the carcass weight.

ABSTRACT The subject of this study was to figure out the effects of lentil by product (LP) on growth performance and carcass traits of the white heavy turkeys. To accomplish this goal, a total of 210 day old big-6 turkey chicks were used. The birds were divided into 7 seven groups with 3 replicates. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th groups received 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 % lentil by product, respectively. All the diets were made as izonitrojenic and izocaloric. The highest live body weights of males and females were observed in the control group at the end of the 15th week, which was the time of slaughtering of females, however the differences between the control and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th groups were not significant (p>0.05). The same differences continued for males at the end of the 17th wk of age, which was the time of slaughtering of males. Similar results were observed in carcass traits, as well. The best FCR was noted in the control group and it was significantly (p<0.05) different than in the treatment groups. The lowest and highest feed intake was observed in the 7th and 3rd groups. No significant differences were observed between control and all treatment groups. As a result, it could be said that lentil by product could be added into turkey diets up to 15% with no negative effect on live body weight and carcass traits because there was no significant differences between control and treatment groups (5, 10,15 % LP).

This study was designed to evaluate the effects of different sunflower meal (Helianthus annus; SFM) levels and a multi-enzyme complex (Natuzyme P50) on performance, biochemical parameters and antioxidant status of laying hens. A total of 288 Hy-Line W-36 laying hens (39-wk-old) were divided into six groups with six replicates per group (eight birds per replicate) and fed one of the six experimental diets. A corn-soybean meal-based diet was formulated and used as control diet. The experimental treatments consisted of three levels of SFM (0, 10, and 20%) and two levels of multi-enzyme complex (0 and 250g/ton). The feeding trial lasted 10 weeks. The results showed that the egg production, egg weight and mass, egg specific gravity, shell strength and thickness, Haugh unit, shape index, triglyceride content, plasma glutathione peroxidase (GSH) activity, and malondialdehyde (MDA) were not influenced by dietary treatments; however, the feed consumption, yolk cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were significantly affected by feeding SFM compared to the control. In conclusion, the supplementation of SFM up to 20% in diet with multi-enzyme complex in laying hens did not appear to cause any adverse effects on egg production and quality as well on antioxidant status in laying hens.

The objective of this research was to investigate and compare the quality of apple pomace silage ensiled with corn plant, sugar beet pulp, and pumpkin pulp for nutrient compositions. Fresh samples of apple pomace, corn plant, sugar beet pulp, pumpkin pulp, and their combinations were fermented in glass jars. The treatment groups included i) 100% apple pomace as control, ii) 100% corn plants, iii) 100% sugar beet pulp, iv) 100% pumpkin pulp, v) 50% apple pomace and 50% sugar beet pulp, vi) 50% apple pomace and 50% pumpkin pulp, and vii) 50% apple pomace and 50% whole corn plant. The silage pH was different among treatment groups, ranging from 3.60 to 4.15, being lowest with a combination of apple pomace and pumpkin pulp, and highest with sugar beet pulp. Dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) contents of the silages were also different among groups, with corn silage being the highest for both values, namely 29.17% for DM and 9.92% of DM for CP. Although acid detergent fibre (ADF) and crude cellulose (CC) values differed among silages (ADF and CC contents varied between 24.47 and 38.55% of DM and 21.58-28.98% of DM among silages, respectively), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) contents remained similar. In vitro organic matter digestibility of sugar beet pulp silage (74.41% of DM) was highest among all silages, whilst corn silage (55.35% of DM) had the lowest digestibility. Sugar beet pulp silage had the highest metabolizable energy (ME) (2.67 Mcal/kg DM) and net energy lactation (NEL) (1.61 Mcal/kg DM) values among all silages. The results of the current study suggested that nutritive values of the apple pomace silage were comparable with the silages from the other plant sources. In summary, apple pomace silage is a promising feed.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary silymarin on milk yield, milk fat, and certain blood parameters of dairy cattle. Silymarin is a naturally accepted hepatoprotectant that is used in the treatment of liver diseases in human beings, and has been tested in dairy cows during peripartum. Animals are subject to subclinical fatty liver. In the first part of the study, the silymarin (20 g/head/day) was supplemented to dairy cattle rations in the last 21 days (peripartum) of pregnancy. In the second part of study, silymarin was added to the rations of Holstein dairy cows for three weeks postpartum. A total of 40 Holstein dairy cows at 2nd lactation with 550-600 kg live weight and average body condition score of 3.5 were used. Dairy cows were randomly separated into two treatment groups (20 cows in each). The first group was control (no addition) and the second group was treatment (silymarin supplemented) group. Treatments significantly increased milk yield, but decreased milk protein. Postpartum bodyweight loss was significantly less in the silymarin group than in the control group. Differences in postprandial plasma triglyceride (TRG) and total cholesterol (TC) levels were found to be significant. Plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and total protein (TP) values of the groups were also significantly different. As a result, it was observed that silymarin supplementation of the ration did not have side effects, and peak milk yields could be achieved earlier with silymarin treatment. Application of silymarin is believed to be useful. It was also observed that silymarin treatments speeded up the metabolic adaptation process of the dairy cows at the beginning of lactation. It was suggested that silymarin should be used in transition periods of dairy cattle.