Growth performance and immune response of two commercial broiler strains fed diets containing Lactobacillus cultures and oxytetracycline under heat stress conditions

1. Hubbard x Hubbard (HH) and Shaver x Shaver (SS) chicks given a dietary supplement of either 50 mg/kg oxytetracycline (OTC) or 1 g/kg Lactobacillus culture (LC) were exposed to 36 +/- 1 degrees C for 3 h daily from day (d) 21 to 42. 2. Prior to heat treatment, body weight (d 21) and weight gain (d 1 to d 21) of OTC and LC birds were greater than those fed the control diet. Chicks given LC had the best food efficiency followed by OTC and control birds during d 1 to d 21. Body weight (d 1 and d 21) and weight gain (d 1 to d 21) were greater for HH tlhan SS chicks. 3. After 3 weeks of heat exposure, birds receiving the LC diet had greater body weight and weight gain, higher food intake and lower food efficiency than OTC and control chicks. 4. Antibody production against Newcastle discase vaccine on d 21 was not affected by strain or diet. On d 42, while diet had negligible effect on this variable among the SS broilers, HH birds fed LC had higher antibody production than those on the control diet. 5. Neither strain nor diet had a significant effect on mortality.     

Assessment of Water Quality Status for the Selangor River in Malaysia

Water quality degradation in the Selangor River will still be present in the years to come since pollutant loads from poultry farms, municipal wastewaters, and industrial wastewaters are not envisaged to be handled effectively. This will be facing the problems of water quality status to use for multiple purposes and to provide its aquatic environment continuously. The water quality evaluation system is used to assess the water quality condition in the river. This system distinguishes two categories of water condition i.e., the water quality index and water quality aptitude. The assessment of water quality for the Selangor River from nine stations along the main stream, which concludes that water has been highly polluted (index 5) immediately downstream of station 02 Selangor River before confluence with Kubu River due to high concentration of microorganisms and immediately downstream of station 06 Selangor River before confluence with Batang Kali River due to high concentrations of microorganisms and suspended particles, was verified. Mineral micropollutants were found to gradually pollute the stream water, ranging from the unpolluted water (index 1) in the upstream to the bad quality (index 4) in the downstream area.     

Dietary supplementation of Zingiber officinale and Zingiber zerumbet to heat‐stressed broiler chickens and its effect on heat shock protein 70 expression,blood parameters and body temperature

The present study was conducted to assess the effects of dietary supplementation of Zingiber officinale and Zingiber zerumbet and to heat‐stressed broiler chickens on heat shock protein (HSP) 70 density, plasma corticosterone concentration (CORT), heterophil to lymphocyte ratio (HLR) and body temperature. Beginning from day 28, chicks were divided into five dietary groups: (i) basal diet (control), (ii) basal diet +1%Z. zerumbet powder (ZZ1%), (iii) basal diet +2%Z. zerumbet powder (ZZ2%), (iv) basal diet +1%Z. officinale powder (ZO1%) and (v) basal diet +2%Z. officinale powder (ZO2%). From day 35–42, heat stress was induced by exposing birds to 38 ± 1 °C and 80% RH for 2 h/day. Irrespective of diet, heat challenge elevated HSP70 expression, CORT and HLR on day 42. On day 42, following heat challenge, the ZZ1% birds showed lower body temperatures than those of control, ZO1% and ZO2%. Neither CORT nor HLR was significantly affected by diet. The ZO2% and ZZ2% diets enhanced HSP70 expression when compared to the control groups. We concluded that dietary supplementation of Z. officinale and Z. zerumbet powder may induce HSP70 reaction in broiler chickens exposed to heat stress.     

Review of human-animal interactions and their impact on animal productivity and welfare

Humans and animals are in regular and at times close contact in modern intensive farming systems. The quality of human-animal interactions can have a profound impact on the productivity and welfare of farm animals. Interactions by humans may be neutral, positive or negative in nature. Regular pleasant contact with humans may result in desirable alterations in the physiology, behaviour, health and productivity of farm animals. On the contrary, animals that were subjected to aversive human contact were highly fearful of humans and their growth and reproductive performance could be compromised. Farm animals are particularly sensitive to human stimulation that occurs early in life, while many systems of the animals are still developing. This may have long-lasting impact and could possibly modify their genetic potential. The question as to how human contact can have a positive impact on responses to stressors, and productivity is not well understood. Recent work in our laboratory suggested that pleasant human contact may alter ability to tolerate various stressors through enhanced heat shock protein (hsp) 70 expression. The induction of hsp is often associated with increased tolerance to environmental stressors and disease resistance in animals. The attitude and consequent behaviour of stockpeople affect the animals’ fear of human which eventually influence animals’ productivity and welfare. Other than attitude and behaviour, technical skills, knowledge, job motivation, commitment and job satisfaction are prerequisites for high job performance.     

Effects of feeding fermented fish on egg cholesterol content in hens

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding fermented fish (FF) to layers on laying performance, and polyunsaturated fatty acid and cholesterol levels in eggs and plasma. A total of 96, 13-week-old Babcock B380 pullets were used in this study. They were randomly assigned to four numerically equal groups with eight replicates per treatment, three birds per replicate. All the birds were housed in individual cages. The dietary treatments were: Control diet, without FF; FF3 diet containing 3% (w/w) FF, FF6 diet containing 6% (w/w) FF and FF9 diet containing 9% (w/w) FF. The study was carried out for 16 weeks inclusive of two weeks of adjustment. Weekly feed intake and egg production were recorded. Blood plasma cholesterol and fatty acid profiles were assayed at the end of the experiment. FF did not enhance ( P  > 0.05) egg mass but ( P  < 0.05) decreased egg weight slightly. However, egg yolk cholesterol and plasma cholesterol concentrations were reduced ( P  < 0.05) by FF. The n-6:n-3 fatty acids ratio in the egg yolk (Control = 7.9, FF9 = 6.2) and plasma (Control = 10.6, FF9 = 6.2) were decreased by feeding FF. Moreover, FF was able to increase ( P  < 0.05) the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) concentrations in egg yolk and plasma. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that FF increased DHA and reduced egg yolk cholesterol in poultry eggs.     

Response Surface Methodology for Modeling Bisphenol A Removal Using Ultrafiltration Membrane System

In this work, the effects of various operating parameters (pressure, pH, BPA concentration, and filtration time) toward bisphenol A (BPA) removal via ultrafiltration (UF) membrane system were investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). Historical data design of RSM was used to obtain the interaction between variables and response as well as optimizing the process. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the third-order polynomial model was significant in which pH and filtration time were identified as significant terms that influence BPA removal. The 3D response surface plots revealed the two-factor interaction between independent and dependent variables. The optimization process of the model predicted optimum conditions of 99.61% BPA removal at 1 bar, pH 6.7, 10 μg/L BPA concentration, and 10-min filtration time. The predicted optimum conditions for BPA removal were consistent with the obtained experimental values, indicating reliable application of historical data design RSM for modeling BPA removal in UF membrane system.     

Physico‐chemical characteristics of Longissimus lumborum muscle in goats subjected to halal slaughter and anesthesia (halothane) pre‐slaughter

This study assessed the effect of halal slaughter and anesthesia pre‐slaughter followed by bleeding on meat quality characteristics of goats. Eleven male Boer cross goats were divided into two groups and subjected to either halal slaughter (HS) or anesthesia with halothane and propofol pre‐slaughter (AS). At pre‐rigor, HS had significantly lower (P < 0.05) muscle pH and glycogen than AS. However, no significant difference was observed in the pH and glycogen content between the treatments on 1, 3 and 7 days post mortem. The drip loss of HS was significantly lower (P < 0.05) than that of AS at all aging periods. Treatment had no effect on sarcomere length, myofibrillar fragmentation index and shear force values, loss of thiol groups and degradation of major myofibrillar proteins. It can be concluded that HS did not have deleterious effect on meat quality traits of goat when compared to AS.     

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Ileal endogenous amino acid flow of broiler chickens under high ambient temperature

High environmental temperature has detrimental effects on the gastrointestinal tract of poultry. An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of acute heat stress on endogenous amino acid (EAA) flow in broiler chickens. A total of 90, day‐old broiler chicks were housed in battery cages in an environmentally controlled chamber. Chicks were fed a nitrogen‐free diet on day 42 following either no heat exposure (no‐heat) or 2 weeks exposure to 35 ± 1 °C for 3 h from days 28 to 42 (2‐week heat) or 1 week exposure to 35 ± 1 °C for 3 h from days 35 to 42 (1 week heat). The most abundant amino acid in the ileal flow was glutamic acid, followed by aspartic acid, serine and threonine in non‐heat stressed group. The EAA flow in 1‐week heat and 2‐week heat birds were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than those under no heat exposure (14682, 11161 and 9597 mg/kg of dry matter intake respectively). Moreover, the EAA flow of 2‐week heat group was less than 1‐week heat group by approximately 36%. These observations suggest that the effect of heat stress on EAA flow is mostly quantitative; however, heat stress may also alter the content of EAA flow qualitatively.     

Heterophil to lymphocyte ratios during perinatal and neonatal stages in chickens

1. Heterophils (H) and lymphocytes (L) were measured in embryos that had pipped into the air cell and through the shell, and in chicks from 0‐d‐old to 8 d of age.

2. Numbers of lymphocytes in the perinatal stages were very low with H:L ratios greater than 5.0.

3. Posthatching H:L ratios decreased in a quadratic manner from 1.76 at hatch to 0.39 on day 8.