Effects of vitamin and mineral premix withdrawal from diets on carcass and meat quality of feedlot steers

Tropical Animal Health and Production - The primary objective of the present study was to assess the effects of vitamin and mineral premix (VMP) withdrawal from the diets 30 and 60 days...     

Effect of hempseed (Cannabis sativa L.) on performance,egg traits and blood biochemical parameters and antioxidant activity in laying Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

1. This study was conducted to determine the effects of hempseed (HS) on performance, egg traits, serum lipid profile and antioxidant activity in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica).

2. A total of 120 eight-week-old laying quail were divided into 4 experimental groups with 10 replicates. The treatments were as follows: (1) control diet (C, no HS in the diet); (2) 5% HS in the diet (HS5); (3) 10% HS in the diet (HS10); and (4) 20% HS in the diet (HS20). The quail were fed the experimental diets from 8 to 14 weeks of age.

3. There was no significant difference in body weight, feed intake and feed conversion ratio of the birds overall in the experiment. The egg production was not influenced by the HS contents in the diet; however the HS10 diet increased egg weight and egg-specific gravity. The carcass traits were not affected by the HS contents.

4. The serum triglyceride, cholesterol and the high density lipoprotein were not significantly altered; however, low density lipoprotein (LDL) concentration in HS-supplemented groups were lower than that of the C group.

5. The malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, catalase and nitrogen oxide concentrations were not significantly affected, but in the HS10 and HS20, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) concentration was higher than in the C and HS5 groups.

6. The omega-3 fatty acid content of eggs increased linearly with increasing dietary HS content in the diet.

7. In conclusion, HS could be a potential feed and health benefit as a natural antioxidant in relation to decreasing serum LDL and increasing GSH-Px concentration in the liver of laying quail.     

Effect of dietary supplementation of hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.) on meat quality and egg fatty acid composition of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

This study was conducted in two separate experiments. Experiment I was conducted to investigate the effects of hemp seed (HS) on meat quality traits, and experiment II was designed to determine egg fatty acid (FA) composition in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). In experiment I and experiment II treatments, groups were as follows: (i) control (not included HS0), (ii) 5% HS inclusion to diets, (iii) 10% HS inclusion to diets and (iv) 20% HS inclusion to diets. In experiment I, a total of 192 7‐day‐old‐quail were fed with HS diets for 5 weeks, and end of the experiment I, a total of 64 quail (16 each) slaughtered and meat samples were analysed for meat colour, pH, cooking and thawing loss and FA composition. In experiment II, a total of 120 8‐week‐old laying quail were fed with experimental diets for 6 weeks and egg FA composition were determined. Breast meat cooking loss was significantly lower in 20% supplemented group (p < 0.01). Hemp seed inclusion to diets caused a linear and cubic increase in redness (a*) of hip meat (p < 0.01). Palmitoleic and oleic FAs were decreased with HS addition in breast meat (p < 0.05); however, linoleic and linolenic acid contents of meat were linearly increased (p < 0.01). In experiment II, the linoleic and linolenic FA contents of egg samples were linearly increased with increasing the dietary HS ratio (p < 0.01). Hemp seed addition was provided lower palmitoleic and oleic FAs in quail eggs (p < 0.05). In conclusion, HS supplementation to quail diets may increase quail meat redness and meat and egg yolk omega‐3 FA content and decrease cooking loss of quail meats.     

Effects of heat-treated hempseed supplementation on performance,egg quality,sensory evaluation and antioxidant activity of laying hens

1. This study was conducted to determine the effects of raw and heat-treated hempseed (HHS, Cannabis sativa L.) on performance, egg quality and antioxidant activity in laying hens.

2. A total of 108 laying hens, aged 36 weeks, were divided into three treatment groups with 12 replicates and each replicate contained three laying hens. The treatments were as follows: (1) Control (no hempseed), (2) 15% raw hempseed (RHS) in diet and (3) 15% HHS in the diet. Experiments lasted for 12 weeks.

3. Feed intake of the RHS group was lower than those of the control and HHS groups. Egg weight, egg mass, shell weight, shell surface area and shell thickness of the HHS group were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of the RHS group. Roche (DSM) colour fan values of the RHS group were higher than that of the HHS group (P < 0.01).

4. Palmitic, palmitoleic and oleic acids of egg yolk were significantly (P < 0.05) decreased in the RHS and HHS groups; however, linoleic, α-linolenic and docosahexaenoic acids (DHA) of egg yolk increased (P < 0.05) for both treatment diets compared to the control group.

5. Both RHS and HHS supplementation to layer diets did not influence malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and blood lipid profile.

6. It was concluded that HHS was superior in improving the egg quality of laying hens as compared to the RHS.