Colony development in honey bees depends on both the environmental conditions and their genetic structure. Nutrition is the one of the most important factors in the honey bee's health. This study was carried out in 48 colonies and included six groups (a control and five feeding groups). In the experiment, the effect of different feeding strategies on intestinal flora and the presence of Nosema was investigated. Pantoea agglomerans, Pseudomonas luteola, Burkholderia cepacia, Brevibacillus nitrificans, Sphingomonas paucimobilis, Aeromonas hydrophila, and P. alcalidimonas were detected in the intestinal microflora of the bee samples by morphological and phenotypic identification. The results of phenotypic identification were confirmed using 16S rRNA sequence analysis for P. agglomerans and B. nitrificans strains. The presence of Nosema was simultaneously investigated in all groups. Only Nosema cerenae was detected using DNA analysis in the positive Nosema spore samples.

The purpose of this study was to determine the chemical and physical properties of samples of propolis collected from apiaries in Genç, Karliova and Solhan districts of Bingöl Province, which is important in the beekeeping sector in Turkey. In the experiment, fatty acids and derivatives of the propolis samples were analysed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis techniques. As a result, 10 fatty acids and 49 volatile components were detected in these samples. These results will contribute to the standardization of propolis produced in Bingöl, Turkey, and to future studies on determining the chemical composition of propolis.

In this study, the effects of different methods of feeding turkeys on the neuropeptide nesfatin-1 and the hormone irisin were evaluated. A total of 90 turkeys were distributed to three treatment groups, namely T1: conventional system, T2: 50% feed and pasture, and T3: pasture. There were 30 birds in each group with three random replications. The birds were fed for 18 weeks. At the end of the study, blood was collected from 10 birds of each group. Plasma nesfatin-1 and irisin levels were measured with an enzyme-linked immunoassay. The nesfatin-1 levels of male turkeys in T1, T2, and T3 were 0.76 ± 0.1 ng/m, 0.41 ± 0.1 ng/ml, and 1.24 ± 0.2 ng/ml, respectively. Nesfatin-1 levels in the female turkeys in T1, T2 and T3 were 0.53 ± 0.07 ng/ml, 1.18 ± 0.3 ng/ml, 1.32 ± 0.1 ng/ml, respectively. The irisin levels in the male turkeys in T1, T2, and T3 were 575.93 ± 42.5 pg/ml, 188.39 ± 1.8 pg/ml, and 607.54 ± 24.1 pg/ml, respectively. Irisin levels of the female turkeys in T1, T2 and T3 were 603.20 ± 42.2 pg/ml, 241.42 ± 18.4 pg/ml, and 399.29 ± 21.5 pg/ml, respectively. Because nesfatin-1 is involved in regulating food intake, food intake by turkeys might differ, depending on the management system. Different management systems might also alter irisin secreation because it can be induced by exercise.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of three production systems on live weight gain (LWG) of white turkeys by repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and profile analysis. A total of 81 turkey poults were assigned to intensive (7 male and 19 female), semi-intensive (9 male and 19 female) and extensive groups (11 male and 16 female) at one day old. The poults were wing-banded at day 1 after hatching and weighed individually each week through 16 weeks old. The birds were managed similarly through eight weeks old. After that time, the intensive group was fed concentrated feed indoors. The birds of the semi-intensive group had access to pasture for eight hours a day, and received 50% of the concentrated feed that was consumed by the intensive group. The birds in the extensive group were kept outdoors with shade and grazed on pasture, but did not receive concentrated feed. The bi-weekly LWG of the extensive, intensive and semi-intensive groups were 1191.4 g, 990.6 g and 872.1 g, respectively. Through the 16 weeks of the trial, the effects on LWG of production system, age, and interaction of age and production system were highly significant (P <0.01) in the repeated measures ANOVA. The profile analysis also showed highly significant (P <0.01) production system effects and interaction of production system and age on LWG. Scheffe's test indicated that the intensive, semi-intensive, and extensive treatments differed (P <0.05).

ABSTRACT Thioredoxin reductases (TrxRs) are selenocysteine-containing flavoenzymes that reduce Trxin NADPH-dependent manner. In the view of the direct vital role of TrxR in a wide range of biochemical and physiological processes, methods to inhibit this enzyme are clinically important. TrxR has recently emerged as a new candidate in anticancer drug investigations because of overexpression in tumorous cells. In this study, TrxR from chick liver was purified 94.6-fold with a yield of 4.86% and a specific activity of 0.19 EU/mg. KM and Vmax values of TrxR for DTNB were calculated as 0.9 mM and 0,03 EU/mL, respectively. Then, the effects of the flavonoids hesperidin, naringenin, chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, naringin, 3,4-dihydoxybenzoic acid, and ellagic acid on the enzyme activity were evaluated under in-vitro conditions. Ellagic acid showed the strongest inhibitory activity on TrxR with a IC50 value of 18 µM, followed by naringenin and chlorogenic acid with IC50 values of 46.7 µM and 75.8 µM, respectively. Our results showed that flavonoids as natural products are potential inhibitors of TrxRs and the flavonoid content in animal diets may alter metabolic pathways by influencing TrxR activity.

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).

ABSTRACT This study was conducted to investigate the effects of transient treatment with propylthiouracil (PTU) on some reproduction traits and live weight of quails. The trial lasted 8 weeks. To accomplish this goal, 700 1-day-old quail chicks were used, randomly divided into 8 groups. PTU was added to feed by 0.1% and 0.5% /wt. The first 4 groups had 0.5% PTU at the age of 2-4, 4-6, 6-8 and 2-8 wk., respectively. The 5 th, 6 th and 7 th groups had 0.1% PTU at the age of 2-4, 4-6 and 6-8 wk., respectively, and the 8 th group was the control with no PTU. Quails were bled at 60 days of age. Then right and left testes were taken out and weighed. At the end of the trail, least square means of the live weight of the treatment groups were higher than the control (p<0.05). Similar results (p<0.05) were observed for testis weight, testis diameter and fertility rate. As a result, it can be said that the inclusion of PTU in quail rations positively affects the live weight and reproduction traits of quails.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to identify the growth curve of live weight of turkeys reared in different systems (intensive and free- range) with the best mathematical model. To achieve this goal, the live weight of male and female turkeys (Large White) reared for 0-18 weeks were used. Logistic, Gompertz, Von Bertalanffy, and Gauss were used to determine the best model for the turkeys. In comparison of the models, values of Coefficient of Determination (R2), Mean Squares of Error (MSE) and Model Efficiency (ME) were used. In Von Bertalanffy model, the coefficient of determinations for males and females were found as 0.9974 and 0.99915 in intensive system and 0.9794 and 0.9804 in Free-Range system, respectively. As a result of this study, because the highest R2 and the lowest MSE were observed in Von Bertalanffy model, it was the best among the models to identify growth curve of the turkeys.