Influence of whole wheat inclusion and a blend of essential oils on the performance, nutrient utilisation, digestive tract development and ileal microbiota profile of broiler chickens

1. The aim of the present experiment was to examine the influence of whole wheat inclusion and a blend of essential oils (EO; cinnamaldehyde and thymol) supplementation on the performance, nutrient utilisation, digestive tract development and ileal microbiota profile of broiler chickens. 2. The experimental design was a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments evaluating two wheat forms (ground wheat [GW] and whole wheat [WW]; 100 and 200 g/kg WW replacing GW during starter [1 to 21 d] and finisher [22 to 35 d] diets respectively) and two levels of EO inclusion (0 or 100 g/tonne diet). All dietary treatments were supplemented with 2000 xylanase units/kg feed. Broiler starter and finisher diets based on wheat and soybean meal were formulated and each diet fed ad libitum to 6 pens of 8 male broilers. 3. During the trial period (1-35 d), wheat form had no significant effect on weight gain or feed intake. However, WW inclusion tended (P = 0.06) to improve feed per gain. Essential oil supplementation significantly improved weight gain in both diets, but the improvements were greater in the GW diet as indicated by a significant wheat form × EO interaction. 4. Main effects of wheat form and EO on the relative weight, length and digesta content of various segments of the digestive tract were not significant. Significant interactions, however, were found for relative gizzard and caecal weights. Essential oil supplementation significantly increased the relative gizzard weight and lowered relative caecal weight in birds fed on the GW based diet, but had no effect in those fed on the WW based diet. 5. Whole wheat inclusion and EO supplementation significantly improved apparent ileal nitrogen digestibility. Apparent ileal digestible energy was not significantly influenced by the dietary treatments. 6. Ileal microbiota profiling, using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, showed that the ileal microbiota composition was influenced by feed form. The mean numbers of bacterial species in the ileal contents of birds fed on the GW diet supplemented with EO tended (P = 0.07) to be higher than those of the ileal contents of birds fed on unsupplemented GW based diet. 7. The present data suggested that dietary addition of EO improves broiler weight gain and ileal nitrogen digestibility both in GW and WW based diets, but that the magnitude of the response to EO for weight gain was greater in GW based diet. Whole wheat feeding was found to be beneficial in terms of feed efficiency.     

Effects of some chemical factors,prechilling treatments and interactions on the seed dormancy‐breaking of two Papaver species

Seed dormancy is a common strategy of many plants to survive in natural and agricultural ecosystems. This study examined the effects of some chemical factors, including gibberellic acid and potassium nitrate, the prechilling temperature, duration and conditions and the light regimes on the seed dormancy‐breaking of Papaver rhoeas L. and Papaver dubium L. The results showed that all the tested seed dormancy‐breaking treatments significantly stimulated the germination of the two Papaver species. The seed germination was significantly influenced in relation to the seeds that were treated with 0–1250 p.p.m. of gibberellic acid. The maximum germination was observed in P. rhoeas L. at 750 p.p.m. and in Pa. dubium L. at 500 p.p.m. in the light/dark regime. There was a significant increase in the germination with an increase in the potassium nitrate concentration. The greatest germination was achieved at the lowest potassium nitrate concentration (0.5 g L^?1) in the light/dark regime. The wet prechilling was more effective than the dry prechilling in the dormancy‐breaking of both P. rhoeas L. and Pa. dubium L. The highest germination percentage was found in the wet prechilling condition after 45 days' prechilling duration. The combination of gibberellic acid and potassium nitrate was more successful than their separate application in the stimulation of germination in both Papaver species. Among the combined treatments of prechilling and gibberellic acid, the highest germination of P. rhoeas L. was recorded in the seeds that were treated with wet prechilling for 45 days with 750 p.p.m. gibberellic acid, while in Pa. dubium L., the maximum germination was recorded with wet prechilling for 45 days with 500 p.p.m. of gibberellic acid.