Effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles on the egg quality,immune response,zinc retention,and blood parameters of laying hens in the late phase of production

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO‐NPs) on the performance, egg quality, Zn retention, immunity responses, superoxide dismutase activity (SOD), egg malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and serum parameters in laying hens in the late phase of production. A total of 288 laying hens at 64 weeks of age were randomly assigned to 4 treatments with 6 replicates, and 12 birds within each group. Experimental diets included a corn‐soybean meal‐based diet (without Zn supplementation) and a basal diet supplemented with 80 mg/kg of Zn‐oxide, ZnO‐NPs, and Zn‐methionine. The results indicated that egg production and egg mass were significantly higher in the Zn‐methionine and ZnO‐NPs groups (p < .05). Also, eggshell thickness and shell strength increased in the ZnO‐NPs group as compared with the other groups (p < .05). Moreover, Zn supplementation decreased egg loss (p < .05). There were significant differences among treatments in Zn deposition in tibiotarsus, liver, pancreas, eggs, and excreta (p < .01). Antibody titre, heterophil (%(, and phytohemagglutinin (PHA) were significantly higher in birds fed with Zn‐supplemented diets (p < .05). In treatments supplemented with ZnO‐NPs and Zn‐methionine, the SOD activity in the liver, pancreas, and plasma was greater as compared with the other treatments (p < .05). The MDA content in eggs was significantly reduced in groups supplemented with Zn (p < .01). Moreover, dietary Zn supplementation significantly affected serum total protein, albumin, glucose, alkaline phosphatase activity, carbonic anhydrase activity, and Zn level (p < .05). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that dietary supplementation with ZnO‐NPs can improve the performance of laying hens. Therefore, ZnO‐NPs can enhance zinc absorption in the intestine of aged layers and can be a more suitable source of zinc than regular Zn‐oxide in diets.     

Efficacy of essential oils combination on performance,ileal bacterial counts,intestinal histology and immunocompetence of laying hens fed alternative lipid sources

This study was carried out to assess the effects of a blend of herbal essential oils (namely Thymus vulgaris, Mentha piperita, Rosmarinus offisinalis and Anethum graveolens) and different dietary lipid sources on the performance, ileal bacterial enumeration, intestinal histological alterations and immune responses in laying hens. For this purpose, a total of 150 laying hens were randomly allocated to six experimental treatments with five replicates of five birds each. Dietary treatments consisted of three levels of a mixture of essential oils (0, 100 and 200 mg/kg) and two sources of lipid (soybean oil and fish oil containing different ratios of n‐6 to n‐3 fatty acids) fed to the animals during an 80‐days feeding trial. Findings indicated that dietary administration of fish oil not only increased significantly the spleen relative weight (p < 0.01) and the antibody titre against Newcastle virus (p < 0.05) but also led to reductions in liver relative weight (p < 0.05) and feed conversion ratio (p < 0.05). Moreover, the mixture of herbal essential oils brought about declines in hepatic relative weight, heterophile to lymphocyte ratio (p < 0.05) and intestinal pathogen populations (p < 0.01). Mention must also be made of the improvements it made in spleen weight (p < 0.01), antibody titres against SRBC (p < 0.01) and Newcastle virus (p < 0.05), villus height to crypt depth ratio (p < 0.01), goblet cell numbers (p < 0.05), lamina propria lymphatic follicle diameters (p < 0.01) and feed conversion ratio (p = 0.06). It may be claimed that the enhancements observed in the performance of laying hens fed fish oil and 200 mg/kg of the blend of essential oils could have potentially been associated with improved intestinal health indices as well as cellular and humoral immune responses.     

Effects of Medium-chain Triglyceride on Growth Performance and Serum Biochemical Indices in Broilers

The study was conducted to investigate the effects of medium-chain triglyceride replacing the soybean oil in the basal diet on growth performance and serum biochemical indices of broilers.One hundred and forty four healthy,similar body weights AA broilers at the age of 14 days were randomly assigned to four groups with six replicates ger group and six broilers per replicate.Groups A,B,C and D were respectively fed with 0,0.6%,1.2% and 2% medium-chain triglyceride substituted the equivalent amount of soybean oil (using corn flour to balance the energy levels in each group) .The test lasted for 28 days and the indexes were measured once every two weeks.The results showed that the average daily gain and average daily feed intake of groups B,C and D were higher than that of group A,and the F/G was lower than group A.The average daily gain of groups C and D at 28 to 42 days old and group D at 14 to 42 days old were significantly higher than that of group A (P < 0.05).The serum glucose,total content of amino acid,total protein and albumin of groups B,C and D at age of 28 and 42 days old were higher than that of group A,while the serum triglyceride,total cholesterol and urea nitrogen levels were lower.The total cholesterol content at 42 days old and triglyceride concentrations at 28 days old of group C were significantly lower than those of group A (P < 0.05).The results indicated that medium-chain triglyceride could raise average daily gain and reduce the total cholesterol content and triglyceride concentrations of broilers,which were useful for improving the growth performance.     

低海拔异地育肥牦牛与本地杂交肉牛(秦川×西门塔尔)在不同非蛋白氮水平饲粮条件下血液生理生化指标及生长性能的差异

为探究异地育肥牦牛模式,本试验对比了低海拔异地育肥耗牛与本地杂交肉牛(秦川×西门塔尔)在同等条件下血液生理生化指标和生长性能的差异。将体重相近的8头1岁本地杂交肉牛(秦川×西门塔尔)和8头4岁青海牦牛各分为2组,每组4头,同一品种的2组试验牛分别饲喂低非蛋白氮饲粮[LNPN,饲粮中缓释尿素添加量为1.0%(干物质基础)]和高非蛋白氮饲粮[HNPN,饲粮中缓释尿素添加量为1.5%(干物质基础)]。预试期10 d,正试期50 d。结果发现:牦牛与肉牛均在LNPN条件下表现出最高的平均日采食量和最小的料重比。饲粮非蛋白氮水平未对牦牛与肉牛的血常规指标造成显著影响(P0.05),但是牦牛在各饲粮条件下中性粒细胞数目(Gran#)、平均红细胞体积(MCV)、平均红细胞血红蛋白含量(MCH)、红细胞分布宽度标准差(RDW-SD)、平均血小板体积(MPV)和血小板分布宽度(PDW)显著高于肉牛(P0.05),而平均红细胞血红蛋白浓度(M CHC)和血小板数目(PLT)显著低于肉牛(P0.05)。饲粮非蛋白氮水平未对肉牛和牦牛各项血清生化指标产生显著影响(P0.05)。牦牛在各饲粮条件下血清总蛋白(TP)、尿素氮(UN)、肌酐(GREA)、免疫球蛋白A(Ig A)、免疫球蛋白M(Ig M)和免疫球蛋白G(Ig G)水平均显著高于肉牛(P0.05)。牦牛在HNPN条件下的血清白蛋白(ALB)水平显著低于LNPN条件下(P0.05)。本试验结果表明,在肉牛和牦牛育肥饲粮中添加1.0%的缓释尿素替代饲粮蛋白质是可行的;低海拔异地育肥牦牛不会对牦牛健康产生不利影响。     

Evaluation on Tolerance of Montmorillonite as a Mycotoxin Adsorbent

In order to study the tolerance dose of Kunming mice to montmorillonite as a mycotoxin adsorbent in diets,the experiment selected 60 healthy male Kunming mice with initial average body weight of (17±0.12)g,randomly divided them into 5 treatments with two replicates per group and 6 mice per replicate.Five experimental diets were added to 0 (control group),0.5%,1%,2% and 5% montmorillonite,respectively.After 30 days,the growth performance,nutrients apparent digestibility,serum biochemical indices and internal organization were tested to determine the tolerance dose of montmorillonite for Kunming mice.The results showed that the ADFI was significantly increased in 0.5% group (P< 0.05),while there were no significant differences in ADFI and ADG between 1% group and control group (P> 0.05),then the ADFI was significantly decreased with the increasing of montmorillonite supplemental level (P< 0.05).The ADG in 2% group had no significant difference when compared with the control group (P> 0.05),while significantly lower than that in 0.5% and 1% groups (P< 0.05).The apparent digestibility of DM,CP and EE showed no significant effect at any level of montmorillonite (P> 0.05).Serum ALT,AST activities and MDA content were gradually increased with the montmorillonite supplemental level increasing,and that in 1%,2% and 5% groups were significantly higher than that in control group (P< 0.05),but there were no significant differences between 0.5% group and control group (P> 0.05).Tissue sections showed that mice livers were damaged in varying degrees when the montmorillonite supplemental level was 5%.In conclusion,based on a comprehensive consideration of all indexes,it could be seen that the tolerance dose of the tested montmorillonite for Kunming mice was between 0.5% and 2% when mycotoxin contents in diets were in security range.     

Detecting interactive effects of N fertilization and heat stress on maize productivity by remote sensing techniques

The objective of this study was to compare the performance of two different remotely sensed techniques in detecting the effects of terminal heat stress and N fertilization on final maize aerial biomass (AB) and grain yield (GY). The study was conducted under field conditions for two consecutive growing seasons. Six N treatments combining three doses [0, 100, 200 Kg N ha⁻¹] and two timings [at V4 and at 15 days before silking] were applied. Within each N treatment three heat treatments were applied (pre-flowering, post-flowering and the control treatment at ambient air temperature). Remote sensing measurements were taken with a multispectral band camera to measure the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and a digital Red/Green/Blue (RGB) camera to measure the normalized green red difference index (NGRDI). Both indices failed to predict the GY of pre-flowering heat-treated plants due to grain set establishment problems that could not be detected by vegetation indices which are designed to capture differences in green canopy area. In contrast, both the NGRDI and the NDVI correlated positively with GY and AB in the control heat treatment and to a lesser extent in the post-flowering heat treatment. Under the control heat treatment, the NGRDI exhibited higher correlations with AB and GY than the NDVI across the N fertilization treatments. Since the NGRDI is formulated based only on the reflectance in the visible regions (VIS) of the spectrum (Green and Red) without dependence on the near infrared regions (NIR), it performs better than the NDVI. This is because it overcame the reported saturation patterns at high leaf area index and was more efficient at capturing even small differences in leaf colour (chlorophyll content) due to the different applied N treatments. Also, the NGRDI seemed to be a more seasonally independent parameter than the NDVI, which is more affected by temporal variability within the field, and thus the NGRDI predicted AB and GY better than the NDVI when combining the data of the two growing seasons.     

遮穗和去颖下燕麦穗部特征变化和穗部光合贡献率估算

随着探索提高植物整体光合能力相关研究的不断开展，麦类作物穗部器官等植物非叶绿色器官光合潜力挖掘逐渐得到关注。本研究在成都平原秋播美达、贝勒、莫尼卡、摄政王、泰克和甜燕60等6个品种燕麦，设置遮穗、去颖2个试验处理，比较分析了各品种间穗部特征、穗部光合贡献率、颖片光合贡献率和茎光合物质转移率等差异。结果表明，燕麦穗部器官光合贡献率为28.56%～49.05%，其中甜燕60最高；6个品种燕麦的颖片光合贡献率为11.03%～36.88%，茎光合物质转移率为6.65%～35.81%。燕麦穗部器官对籽实增重表现了较高的光合贡献，当燕麦穗部器官光合受到限制时，燕麦单粒种子重和单穗种子数显著降低，尤其是影响双粒小穗数。     

断奶日龄对五指山仔猪生长性能和血清生化指标的影响

本试验旨在研究断奶日龄对五指山仔猪生长性能和血清生化指标的影响。选取日龄相近(±1 d)、体重[(0.56±0.07)kg]相近的五指山仔猪96头,随机分成4组,每组设4个重复,每个重复6头猪。4组仔猪分别在21、28、35和42日龄断奶。试验从8日龄开始,至56日龄结束,试验期间定期测定体重、采食量和血清生化指标。结果表明:各组仔猪断奶后平均日增重(ADG)出现不同程度的下降,且断奶日龄越早,ADG下降幅度越大;35日龄断奶组和42日龄断奶组21~28日龄、28~35日龄、35~42日龄、49~56日龄阶段的ADG显著高于21日龄断奶组(P0.05)。各组仔猪断奶后平均日采食量(ADFI)显著增加(P0.05),42日龄以后,各组ADFI无显著差异(P0.05)。21日龄断奶组、28日龄断奶组、35日龄断奶组血清总蛋白(TP)、白蛋白(ALB)、免疫球蛋白G(IgG)、免疫球蛋白M(IgM)含量以及谷丙转氨酶(ALT)、谷草转氨酶(AST)、乳酸脱氢酶(LDH)活性在断奶后7 d均发生显著变化(P0.05),并以21日龄断奶组波动最大;与35日龄断奶组和42日龄断奶组相比,21日龄断奶组28、35日龄时血清TP、ALB、IgG、IgM含量显著降低(P0.05),ALT、AST、LDH活性显著提高(P0.05),到56日龄时,血清TP、IgG、IgM含量仍显著低于35日龄断奶组和42日龄断奶组(P0.05)。21日龄断奶组血清甘油三酯(TG)、胆固醇(CHOL)含量在28~56日龄间存在显著变化(P0.05),35日龄断奶组和42日龄断奶组血清TG、CHOL含量在整个试验期内均无显著变化(P0.05)。35日龄断奶组血清TP、ALB、IgG、IgM含量以及ALT、AST、LDH活性除在42日龄时与42日龄断奶组存在显著差异(P0.05)外,其余时间点与42日龄断奶组均无显著差异(P0.05)。由此得出,35或42日龄断奶的五指山仔猪在生长性能、血清生化指标及免疫机能方面优于21日龄断奶的五指山仔猪。     

猪β防御素研究进展

β防御素是猪体内分泌的一类抗菌肽，广泛分布于各个组织中，在抵抗病原入侵和免疫调节中发挥着重要作用。猪β防御素对细菌、真菌和病毒都有很强的杀灭作用，并且具有分子量小、热稳定性好、无残留等优点，是理想的抗生素替代品。研究表明，猪β防御素的表达与个体抗病力正相关，增加内源性防御素表达或直接摄入外源性防御素均能增强机体免疫力并促进生长。脂肪酸、氨基酸、维生素、益生菌、病原微生物等外源刺激皆可影响β防御素的表达。随着防御素相关研究的深入，将有望解决养猪生产中长期使用抗生素而导致的耐药性、药物残留及环境污染等问题。文章介绍了猪β防御素的结构特征、表达特异性及生物学功能，主要综述了外源刺激对β防御素表达的影响及其作用机制，初步说明外源β防御素作为饲料添加剂在仔猪生产中的效果，旨在为猪β防御素的深入研究及其在生猪健康养殖中的应用提供参考。