Effects of cultivar,pelleting and enzyme addition on nutritive value of barley in poultry diets

1. The effect of pelleting process and Trichoderma viride enzymes (TVE) addition on apparent metabolisable energy, corrected for nitrogen balance (AMEn) and on productive value of practical diets containing 40 and 45% of three different barley cultivars and one wheat were studied in poultry.

2. The effect of the pelleting process on AMEn was inconsistent and was dependent on the cereal included and the addition of enzyme.

3. The growth trial showed a significant effect of enzyme addition to pelleted diets over the whole growth period (0 to 42 d). Addition of TVE improved weight gain and food efficiency by 1.3% and 2.9%, respectively and decreased food intake by 1.6% between 0 and 22 d. In the finisher period (23 to 42 d) TVE improved efficiency by 2.8% and reduced food intake by 2.9%.

4. The incidence of sticky droppings was related to the viscosity of barley used, and enzyme supplementation reduced it. Both pelleting and enzyme addition increased dry matter content of excreta.

5. At the end of the experiment, 14 animals per treatment were slaughtered and carcass yield, viscera weight and abdominal fat were determined.     

Rapeseed meal and egg taint: Treatment of rapeseed meal to reduce tainting potential

1. Treatment of rapeseed meal with calcium hydroxide suspension decreased the sinapine content by up to 90%. Smaller decreases were obtained by autolysis, steaming and treatment with ammonia.

2. When this treated meal was fed to susceptible ("tainting") hens the concentration of trimethylamine in the eggs was decreased to much less than that required to cause taint.     

Effect of injecting amino acids into the egg on embryonic and subsequent growth in the domestic fowl

1. The growing embryo uses about 1% of the total protein available in the egg during the first week of incubation.

2. Injecting the growing embryo with amino acids equivalent to the amount of protein used resulted in higher weight of chicks at all stages up to 56 d.     

Studies on bovine demodecosis in northern Nigeria

Summary The study reported in the present paper discusses the clinical and histological picture of bovine demodecosis and the morphology of Demodex mites as seen in four cows suffering from generalized demodecosis. There were no clinical signs of other skin affections. Changes in both the number and the appearance of visible skin lesions were seen and related to the level of nutrition and the exposure to sunshine of the cattle. Histological sections of some skin nodules showed the presence of mite colonies in the hair follicles. Only adults were seen in the sebaceous glands. Microscopical study of the morphology of the mites revealed the presence of two types of demodicids in the skin lesions and three types from epilated eyelashes. Morphological criteria are presented to aid in identification of species and of life stages.     

The use of air‐coolers in broiler houses under subtropical conditions in Iraq

1. Under summer conditions in north Iraq, 2 000 chicks were reared for 56 d in two broiler houses. One house was provided with two air‐coolers. The birds were housed at densities of eight to 16 birds/m².

2. Differences in weight gain between birds in cooled and uncooled houses ranged from 101.5 g at eight birds/m² to 385 g at 16 birds/m². Food consumption increased gradually with increasing bird density. Food conversion efficiency, meat yield and carcass conformation were much better in the cooled house than under conventional conditions.

3. The financial return/m² ranged from 2.30 to 4.51 ID¹ in the cooled house, compared with 2.01 to 2.77 ID in the uncooled house at different floor densities.     

Storage time‐temperature effects on the odour preferences for uncooked chicken parts

1. Whole broilers and separated legs were stored at ‐12 ± 1 °C, —18 ± 1 °C and — 75 ±2 °C (reference group, whole carcasses only), for up to nine months.

2. Legs cut from the whole birds after removal from store, unpacking and thawing, and legs from the portions were compared in odour preference at four times of examination.

3. After only 1 d the odour of the legs stored as parts at —12 °C was less preferred than that of the reference group; this was also true for legs cut from whole birds after 3 months at the same temperature.

4. After 3 months at — 12 °C the odour of the legs stored as parts was less preferred than the odour of legs obtained from whole birds.

5. Storage of legs as parts at —18 °C resulted in a comparatively less preferred odour after 3 months, while the same was true after 9 months for legs cut from the carcasses.     

Rapeseed Meal and egg taint

1. Certain rapeseed meals in the diet of hens laying brown eggs result in the production, from some birds, of eggs which have a “ fishy ” or “ crabby ” odour because of the presence of trimethylamine.

2. Such susceptible birds have been used to demonstrate that the activity can be extracted from rapeseed meal with appropriate solvents.     

The role of histamine and fish meal in the incidence of gizzard erosion and pro‐ventricular abnormalities in the fowl

1. The role of certain fish meals in the production of localised gizzard erosion is confirmed.

2. Lesions typical of gizzard erosion could be produced by the addition of histamine to the diet.

3. The amount of histamine occurring naturally in fish meal depends on the species of fish and the extent and nature of bacterial spoilage.

4. These variables may explain why histamine has not been implicated previously and also why there have not been consistent associations between the condition and geographical source or common factors in bulk consignments of the meal.     

Culture of Differentiated Adult Rabbit Auricular Chondrocytes

Chondrocytes dedifferentiate to a fibroblast‐like phenotype on plastic surfaces. Dedifferentiation is reversible if these cells are then cultured embedded in gels as alginate, agarose or collagen. Chondrocytes cultured in suspension on a non‐adherent surface are also known to form aggregates of differentiated cells. The knowledge of chondrocyte behavior in culture is relevant for tissue engineering purposes. In this report we describe a simple method to culture differentiated or redifferentiated rabbit auricular chondrocytes on plastic surfaces with a stable phenotype. When chondrocyte aggregates formed in suspension are next seeded on plastic surfaces, most of them attach to the plastic as round or polygonal cells, and this morphological differentiation, confirmed by the presence of type II collagen, is stable for long culture periods. We also report that the addition of aggregates to monolayer cultures of dedifferentiated chondrocytes results in their redifferentiation, as is shown by their morphological changes and the synthesis of type II collagen. Therefore, this simple method can be useful for the study of chondrocyte behavior on plastic surfaces and for redifferentiating previously proliferated chondrocytes in tissue engineering techniques. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that, in addition to culture conditions such as cell isolation method or cell‐density, chondrocyte behavior on plastic depends on the presence or absence of aggregates resulting from the dissociation process.