• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.89-95
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• 2008

Flounder were fed a reference diet and test diets containing various feed ingredients: mackerel fish meal, meat meal, soybean meal, wheat flour, wheat gluten, corn gluten meal and brewer's yeast. Apparent digestibility was determined using a reference diet with 0.5% chromic oxide indicator and test diets contained 70% reference diet and 30% of the feed ingredient being evaluated. Apparent digestibility coefficients for amino acid and energy in the reference and test diets were determined, and digestibility coefficients for the test ingredients were calculated based on differences in the digestibility of test diets relative to the reference diet. The fish averaging 300 g were held in 2000 L tanks at a density of 20 fish per tank. Feces were collected from three replicate groups of fish using a fecal collection column attached to fish rearing tank. Apparent total amino acids digestibilities(90-95%) of mackerel fish meal, soybean meal, wheat gluten, corn gluten meal and brewer's yeast were higher than those of meat meal and wheat flour(P<0.05). Apparent energy digestibilities(86-98%) of mackerel fish meal, meat meal, soybean meal, wheat gluten and corn gluten meal were significantly higher(P<0.05) than those of wheat flour and brewer's yeast. These results provide useful information about nutrient and energy utilization for flounder.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.981-986
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• 2013

The nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance and in vivo metabolizable energy supply of Mucuna pruriens whole pods fed to growing Pelibuey lambs was investigated. Eight Pelibuey sheep housed in metabolic crates were fed increasing levels of Mucuna pruriens pods: 0 (control), 100 (Mucuna100), 200 (Mucuna200) and 300 (Mucuna300) g/kg dry matter. A quadratic (p<0.002) effect was observed for dry matter (DM), neutral detergent fibre (aNDF), nitrogen (N) and gross energy (GE) intakes with higher intakes in the Mucuna100 and Mucuna200 treatments. Increasing M. pruriens in the diets had no effect (p>0.05) on DM and GE apparent digestibility (p<0.05). A linear reduction in N digestibility and N retention was observed with increasing mucuna pod level. This effect was accompanied by a quadratic effect (p<0.05) on fecal-N and N-balance which were higher in the Mucuna100 and Mucuna200 treatments. Urine-N excretion, GE retention and dietary estimated nutrient supply (metabolizable protein and metabolizable energy) were not affected (p>0.05). DM, N and GE apparent digestibility coefficient of M. pruriens whole pods obtained through multiple regression equations were 0.692, 0.457, 0.654 respectively. In vivo DE and ME content of mucuna whole pod were estimated in 11.0 and 9.7 MJ/kg DM. It was concluded that whole pods from M. pruriens did not affect nutrient utilization when included in an mixed diet up to 200 g/kg DM. This is the first in vivo estimation of mucuna whole pod ME value for ruminants.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.577-586
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• 2022

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplementing quercetin extracted from Sophora japonica flower (QS) to the diet of broiler chicks on their growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility, cecal microbiota, serum lipid profiles, relative organ weight, and breast muscle quality. Methods: A total of 1,088 1-day-old broiler chicks (mixed sex) were randomly assigned to four groups based on the initial body weight (43.00±0.29 g). The experimental period was 35 days (starter, days 0 to 7; grower, days 7 to 21; finisher, days 21 to 35). There were 17 replicate cages per treatment and 16 birds per cage. Dietary treatments consisted of birds receiving basal diet without quercetin as the control group and treatment groups consisted of birds fed basal diet supplemented with 0.2, 0.4, or 0.6 g/kg QS. Results: With the increase of the QS dosage, body weight gain during days 0 to 7 (p = 0.021), 7 to 21 (p = 0.010), and 1 to 35 (p = 0.045), feed intake during days 0 to 7 (p = 0.037) and 1 to 35 (p = 0.025), apparent dry matter digestibility (p = 0.008), apparent energy retention (p = 0.004), cecal lactic acid bacteria counts (p = 0.023), the relative weight of breast muscle (p = 0.014), pH value from breast muscle (p<0.001), and the water holding capacity of breast muscle (p = 0.012) increased linearly, whereas the drip loss from breast muscle (p = 0.001) decreased linearly. Conclusion: The addition of QS in the diet of broiler chicks had positive effects on the breast muscle yield and breast muscle quality, and improved the dry matter digestibility and energy retention by increasing cecal beneficial bacteria counts, thus improving growth performance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.218-226
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• 2013

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the intake, nutrient apparent digestibility and the effect of total collection days (two and four days) on apparent digestibility estimates for lambs fed diets containing sugar cane treated with calcium oxide (CaO). Eight Santa In$\hat{e}$s castrated male lambs with a $16.6{\pm}1.8$ kg body weight were used. The lambs were distributed in two $4{\times}4$ Latin squares, with four experimental periods of 14 d each. The animals were kept in 1.2 $m^2$ individual pens, and the intake and digestibility evaluations were performed during the last four days of each period. The diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous, containing 14% crude protein (CP), and presenting 70% sugar cane treated with 0, 0.75, 1.5 or 2.25% of CaO (as-fed basis), corrected with 1% urea, and 30% concentrate. The sugar cane with added CaO was chopped, treated, and offered to the animals after 24 h of storage. The sugar cane with CaO increased the DM, OM, CP, NDF, NDFap, TC, NFCap and TDN intake (kg/d), when compared to natural sugar cane, and produced the same intake expressed as a percentage of body weight (% BW). The NFCap digestibility of the CaO-treated sugar cane was inferior to the NFCap digestibility in natural sugar cane. There was a linear increase in the DM intake with the CaO-added sugar cane, but the DM and NDF digestibility and the TDN content decreased linearly. The chemical treatment of sugar cane with CaO increases the intake but does not improve the nutrient digestibility. Two days of total fecal collection were found to be sufficient to estimate the total apparent digestibility in lambs.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.15.1-15.5
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• 2016

Apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) of dry matter, crude protein, crude lipid, nitrogen-free extract, and energy in selected carbohydrate sources including wheat flour (WF), ${\alpha}-potato$ starch (PS), ${\alpha}-corn$ starch (CS), Na alginate (AL), dextrin (DEX), and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) were determined for olive flounder. The olive flounder averaging $150{\pm}8.0g$ were held in 300-L tanks at a density of 30 fish per tank. Chromic oxide was used as the inert marker. Feces were collected from the flounder by a fecal collector attached to a fish rearing tank. Apparent dry matter and energy digestibilities of flounder fed WF, PS, CS, and DEX diets were significantly higher than those of fish fed AL and CMC diets. Apparent crude protein digestibility coefficients of flounder fed PS and CS diets were significantly higher than those of fish fed AL, DEX, and CMC diets. Apparent crude lipid and nitrogen-free extract digestibility coefficients of flounder fed PS and DEX diets were significantly higher than those of fish fed WF, CS, AL, and CMC diets. The present findings indicate that PS and DEX could be effectively used as dietary carbohydrate energy compared to WF, CS, AL, and CMC for olive flounder.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1447-1451
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• 2004

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of different dietary crude protein (CP) levels on growth performance, nutrient utilization, small intestine protease activity and immunity index of weaner to 2 month-old New Zealand rabbits. Eighty weaner rabbits were allocated in individual cages to five treatments in which they were fed diets with CP at 14%, 16%, 18%, 20% and 22%, respectively. The growth performance and nutrient digestibility of rabbits increased firstly when dietary CP increased, then decreased. The average daily gain was the highest and feed conversion rate was the lowest when dietary CP reached 20%, namely 34.9 g/d and 2.74:1, respectively. Maximum CP digestibility was 72.1% in the 18% CP group, maximum crude fiber digestibility of 28.4% occurred in the 16% CP group and was significantly different from other treatments (p<0.01), apparent digestibility of Lys and Val followed the same trend as CP digestibility, and reached their maximum when dietary CP was 18%. Apparent digestibility of Cys, Tyr, Leu and Thr also had a similar trend to CP digestibility. Nitrogen retention (RN) increased with CP level (p>0.05), and was highest for 20% CP treatment (1.5 g/d). The effect of CP level on the rate of digestible nitrogen (DN) converted RN was small. The spleen index, thymus index, chymotrypsin and trypsin activities in small intestine were highest when dietary CP was 16%, which were 1.0, 2.8, 15.7 U/g and 125.7 U/g, respectively. There was no significant difference among treatments (p>0.05). According to the above results, the appropriate dietary CP level from weaner to 2 month-old meat rabbits was 18-20%.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.948-956
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• 2000

The effect of high and low level of feed intakes on nutrient digestibility, nutrient losses through methane, energy and protein utilization by goats fed on alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) pellets based diets was investigated in this study. Twelve castrated Japanese goats were employed in two subsequent digestion and metabolism trials. The goats were divided into three groups, offered three diets. Diet 1 consisted of 100% alfalfa pellet, Diet 2 was 70% alfalfa pellet and 30% corn, and Diet 3 was 40% alfalfa pellet and 60% corn. The two intake levels were high (1.6 times) and low (0.9 times) the maintenance requirement of total digestible nutrients (TON). Rumen ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3$-N) level of Diet 1 was lower (p<0.001) compared to Diets 2 and 3, but the values were always above the critical level (I50 mg/liter), The pH values of rumen liquor ranged from 6.02 to 7.30. Apparent digestibility of nutrient components did not show differences (p>0.05) between the two intake levels but inclusion of corn significantly altered the nutrient digestibility. Diet 3 had highest (p<0.001) dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), ether extract (EE) and nitrogen fee extract (NFE) digestibility followed by the Diet 2 and Diet 1. The crude protein (CP) digestibility values among the three diets were in a narrow range (70.1 to 70.8%). Crude fiber (CF) digestibility for Diet 3 was slight higher (p>0.05) than that for other two diets. When alfalfa was replaced by corn, there were highly significant (p<0.001) increases in DM, OM, EE and NFE apparent digestibility and a slight increase in the CF digestibility (p>0.05). There were no differences (p>0.05) in energy losses as methane ($CH_4$) and heat production among the diets but energy loss through urine was higher for the Diet 1. The total energy loss as $CH_4$ and heat production were higher for the high intake level but the energy loss as $CH_4$ per gram DM intake were same (0.305 kcal/g) between the high and low intake level. Retained energy (RE) was higher for Diet 3 and Diet 2. Nitrogen (N) losses through feces and urine were higher (p<0.001) for Diet 1. Consequently, N retention was lower (p>0.05) for Diet 1 and higher in Diets 3 and 2. It is concluded that inclusion of corn with alfalfa increased the metabolizable energy (ME) and RE, and retained N through reducing the energy and N losses. The high level of intake reduced the rate of nutrient losses through feces and urine.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.389-393
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• 2003

Present study investigate the effect of enzyme supplementation, methods (applied to rumen or enzyme treated diet) compared with no enzyme diet, on rumen fermentation and apparent nutrient digestibility in a $3{\times}3$ Latin square design with three rumen cannulated Korean Native goats. In situ rumen degradation kinetics was studied in three rumen cannulated Holstein steers. Three diets were, no enzyme, 1% enzyme in rumen and 1% enzyme in diet. The enzyme was sprayed onto forage, and the forage: concentrate ratio was 30:70. Degradation kinetics was studied with three enzyme levels (0, 1 and 2%, w/w) and four pre-treatment times (0, 1, 12 and 24 h). Results suggested that enzyme application method did not affect rumen fermentation, ruminal enzyme activity and total tract apparent digestibility. Nutrient degradation rate and effective degradability of DM, NDF and ADF increased with increasing enzyme level and pre-treatment times. Degradation of nutrients was affected by enzymes levels or pre-treatment times. Therefore, it is probable that the improved degradation may be due to the supplemented exogenous hydrolytic enzymes under a certain condition.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.289-293
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• 2013

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of dietary carbohydrases on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and blood characteristics in finishing pigs. A total of 90 pigs [(Landrace ${\times}$ Yorkshire) ${\times}$ Duroc] (initial BW = $56.15{\pm}1.26kg$) were used for a 35 d feeding trial. The dietary treatments included: 1) CON (control diet), 2) MIX (CON + mixture with ${\alpha}$-galactosidase and ${\beta}$-mannanase 0.05%) and 3) MAN (CON + ${\beta}$-mannanase 0.05%). There were six replications per treatment with five pigs per pen. The average daily gain (ADG) in MIX was higher than in CON (p<0.05). No significant differences were noted in the average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed efficiency (G:F) among dietary treatments (p>0.05). Apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM) and energy (E) in MIX increased (p<0.05) relative to CON and MAN. The ATTD of nitrogen (N) in MIX was higher (p<0.05) than in CON. No differences in red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), lymphocytes and IgG concentrations were observed among dietary treatments (p>0.05). In conclusion, the addition of the mixture of carbohydrases (${\alpha}$-galactosidase and ${\beta}$-mannanase 0.05%) increased ADG and nutrient digestibility in finishing pigs.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.295-301
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• 2013

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of chelated Cu and Zn on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood profiles, and fecal noxious gas emission in weanling pigs. A total of 90 weanling pigs with an initial body weight (BW) of $5.27{\pm}0.04kg$ were randomly allotted to two dietary treatments for 42 d. Pigs were then fed a control diet (CON) or a Zinpro diet (CON + 0.1% chelate copper and zinc). There were nine replicate-pens with five pigs in each pen. During d 0 to 14 and d 14 to 28, the ADFI decreased (p<0.05) and the G/F increased (p<0.05) in pigs fed the Zinpro diet compared with those that received the CON diet. During d 28 to 42, the ADFI increased (p<0.05) in pigs fed the Zinpro diet relative to those fed the CON diet. Additionally, the apparent total tract digestibility of DM, N, and energy increased (p<0.05) in the Zinpro group when compared to the CON group on d 14 and 28. The lymphocyte percentage was also greater (p<0.05) in the Zinpro group than in the CON group. Overall, dietary supplementation with 0.1% chelate copper and zinc improved the growth performance and nutrient digestibility in weanling pigs.