• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제15권9호
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• pp.1326-1333
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• 2002

Studies were conducted with nine barrows, average initial body weight $44.5{\pm}2.1kg$, fitted with a T-cannula at the distal ileum, to determine the apparent ileal (and true) digestibility (AID and TID) of CP and AA in different cultivars of rapeseed meals and soybean meal. The barrows were fed either a casein diet or one of eight corn starch-based semipurified diets, formulated to contain 17.0% CP (DM basis) with one of seven different cultivars of rapeseed meal or soybean meal as the sole source of dietary protein, according to a six-period, nine-treatment, incomplete Latin Square. Chromic oxide (0.5%) was used as a digestibility marker. The pigs were fed of 4% of body weight twice daily, at 08:00 and 20:00 h. Ileal digesta were collected at 2 h intervals daily from 5 d to 7 d. The AID or TID values of CP and most AA (Cysteine excluded) were significantly lower in the rapeseed meals than in soybean meal (p<0.05). There were significant differences in the AID or TID values of CP and AA among the seven different cultivars rapeseed meals (p<0.05); the seven rapeseed meals were arranged according to the size of the AA digestibility values of the rapeseed meals from the greatest to the least, as Zayou 59, Youyan 7, Ganyou 16, Qingyou 2, Huaza 3, Ningza 1 and Lianglou 586; differences in CP, AA, NDF and ADF contents in the rapeseed meals were mainly responsible for the variation in the AID or TID values of AA among rapeseed meals. The AID value of CP can be used as an index of the AID or TID values of most AA in rapeseed meals. However, the AID value of CP was less appropriate as a direct indicator of the AID or TID values for cysteine, methionine, tryptophan, phenylalanine and proline.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.541-551
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• 2012

The effects of dietary additives and holding time on resistance and resilience of broiler chickens to Clostridium perfringens challenge were investigated by offering four dietary treatments. These were a negative control (basal), a positive control (Zn-bacitracin) and two dietary additives, mannanoligosaccharides (MOS), and acidifier. Two holding times included (a) immediate access to feed and water post hatch (FED) and (b) access to both feed and water 48 h post hatch (HELD). Chicks fed Zn-bacitracin had no intestinal lesions attributed to necrotic enteritis (NE), whereas chicks fed both MOS or acidifier showed signs of NE related lesions. All dietary treatments were effective in reducing the numbers of C. perfringens in the ileum post challenge. The FED chicks had heavier body weight and numerically lower mortality. The FED chicks also showed stronger immune responses to NE challenge, showing enhanced (p<0.05) proliferation of T-cells. Early feeding of the MOS supplemented diet increased (p<0.05) IL-6 production. The relative bursa weight of the FED chicks was heavier at d 21 (p<0.05). All the additives increased the relative spleen weight of the HELD chicks at d 14 (p<0.05). The FED chicks had increased villus height and reduced crypt depth, and hence an increased villus/crypt ratio, especially in the jejunum at d 14 (p<0.05). The same was true for the HELD chicks given dietary additives (p<0.05). It may be concluded that the chicks with early access to dietary additives showed enhanced immune response and gut development, under C. perfringens challenge. The findings of this study shed light on managerial and nutritional strategies that could be used to prevent NE in the broiler industry without the use of in-feed antibiotics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.197-202
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• 1999

Three barrows weighing 45.0 kg, fitted with simple T-cannulas in both the duodenum and terminal ileum, were assigned to diets in a $3{\times}3$ Latin Square design experiment to determine the effect of two calcium levels (0.8% vs 0.4%) on phytase activity and nutrient balance in growing pigs. The control diet contained 0.8% calcium, with no added inorganic phosphorus (0.45% total phosphorus) and no added phytase. The two additional experimental diets contained microbial phytase (750 phytase units/kg) and supplied either 0.8% or 0.4% calcium. With added microbial phytase, ileal and total tract digestibility of rotal phosphorus were improved by 20.9 and 13.8 percentage units, respectively (p=0.01). The apparent duodenal and ileal digestibility of phytate phosphorus were increased by 51.8 and 49.7 percentage units (p=0.01). Lowering dietary calcium in the presence of microbial phytase increased the digestibility of phytate phosphorus by an additional 10.9 (p=0.001) and 5.7 percentage units for duodenal and ileal digestibility, respectively. Supplementation with microbial phytase significantly reduced fecal excretion of nitrogen and phosphorus and increased the percentage of these nutrients retained by the pig. Lowering dietary calcium further increased the percentage of dietary phosphorus retained. Overall, reducing dietary calcium appeared to increase the effectiveness of added microbial phytase in degrading phytate phosphorus. As a result, care should be taken to avoid high levels of dietary calcium when supplementing swine diets with microbial phytase.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.246-253
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• 2009

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Chinese medicine granule (CMG, including Cortex Phellodendron, Atractylodes Rhizome, Agastache Rugosa and Gypsum Fibrosum) on absorption and transport of glucose in porcine small intestinal brush border membrane vesicles (BBMVs) under heat stress. Forty-eight 2-month-old Chinese experimental barrows were screened according to weight and litter origin, and then allotted to three groups and treated as follows: Normal temperature control group (NTCG; $23^{\circ}C$), high temperature control group (HTCG; $26^{\circ}C$ for 19 h, $40^{\circ}C$ for 5 h); Chinese medicine granule anti-stress group (CMGG; $26^{\circ}C$ for 19 h, $40^{\circ}C$ for 5 h) (n = 16 per group). The results showed that high temperature treatment decreased (p<0.05) the growth performance and intestinal glucose absorption but there was no change (p>0.05) in the expression of SGLT1 and GLUT2 genes in the small intestine of pigs compared with the NTCG. Dietary supplementation with CMG improved the growth performance, and increased the activity of disaccharidases in duodenum and jejunum of heat stressed pigs (p<0.05). CMG treatment increased (p<0.05) the protein levels of SGLT1 and GLUT2 in the small intestine, and up-regulated (p<0.05) the expression of SGLT1 and GLUT2 genes in the duodenum and jejunum but without changing (p>0.05) them in the ileum compared with the HTCG. These results indicated that CMG treatment significantly improved porcine growth performance, and increased intestinal glucose absorption and transport by BBMVs under heat stress, in addition to up-regulating the expression of SGLT1 and GLUT2 genes in porcine duodenum and jejunum.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제26권3호
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• pp.378-385
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• 2013

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of variety and growing conditions of wheat on broiler performance and nutrient digestibility. One hundred and sixty-four wheat samples, collected from a wide range of different sources, locations, varieties and years, were analyzed for a range of chemical and physical parameters. Chemical and physical parameters measured included specific weight, thousand grain weight (TG), in vitro viscosity, gross energy, N, NDF, starch, total and soluble non-starch polysaccharides (NSP), lysine, threonine, amylose, hardness, rate of starch digestion and protein profiles. Ninety-four of the wheat samples were selected for inclusion in four bird trials. Birds were housed in individual wire metabolizm cages from 7 to 28 d and offered water and feed ad libitum. Dry matter intake (DMI), live weight gain (LWG) and gain:feed were determined weekly. A balance collection was carried out from 14 to 21 d for determination of apparent metabolizable energy (AME), ME:gain, DM retention, oil and NDF digestibility. At 28 d the birds were sacrificed, the contents of the jejunum removed for determination of in vivo viscosity and the contents of the ileum removed for determination of ileal DM, starch and protein digestibility. The wheat samples used in the study had wide-ranging chemical and physical parameters, leading to bird DMI, LWG, gain:feed, ME:GE, AME content and ileal starch and protein digestibility being significantly (p<0.05) affected by wheat sample. A high level of N fertilizer application to the English and NI wheat samples tended to benefit bird performance, with increases of up to 3.4, 7.2 and 3.8% in DMI, LWG and gain:feed, respectively. Fungicide application also appeared to have a positive effect on bird performance, with fungicide treated (+F) wheat increasing bird DMI, LWG and gain:feed by 6.6, 9.3 and 2.7%, over the non-fungicide treated (-F) wheats. An increase (p<0.1) of 9.3% in gain:feed was also observed at the low seed rate of 40 compared to 640 seeds/$m^2$. It was concluded that the type of wheat sample and environmental growing conditions significantly affects bird performance when fed wheat-based diets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.63-67
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• 1992

This paper reports the effects of rare earth nitrate (REN) on the growth of internal organs and mineral elements in serums of broiler chickens. The REN used is mixture of light RE containing mainly La, Ce, Pr and Nd 4 elements. 40 eight-week old AA broiler chickens were divided randomly into four groups that their treatments were respectively 0, 20, 200 and 2000 mg REN/kg feed and the duration of the experiment was 60 days. Responses were measured in terms of internal organic weight and tissue, contents of mineral elements in serums. There were no significant differences between the organ ratios and tissue changes of the 20, 200 mg REN/kg groups and the control group. The organs included the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, testicles, thyroids, adrenal glands, pancreas, tonsies of caecum, stomachus glandularis, duodenum, ileum and bursa of Fabricius. The liver and thyroid indices of 2000 mg REN/kg group were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.01, p < 0.05) and the adrenal gland index lower (p < 0.05). The pathlolgic changes in the heart, kidney and thyroid were more serious than that of the control group. No significant differences occurred between the contents of K, Na, Mg elements in the serum of all groups, with the exception of the content of Ca, which was higher in the 2000 mg/kg group (p < 0.05). The contents of all trace elements including Mn, Zn and Cu, but except Fe, in the serums of all the treated groups were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.01).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제21권11호
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• pp.1659-1664
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• 2008

To study the working mechanisms for non-starch polysaccharidases to improve the growth performance of broiler chickens, a 21-day feeding trial was conducted. Two dietary treatments were included: 1) wheat diet (the control); 2) wheat+xylanase diet (xylanase, Allzyme PT, Alltech, Kentucky, USA). There were 8 replicates with 8 birds each for each treatment and the experimental diets were given to birds from hatch. Feed intake and body weight were measured on days 7 and 21. At the same ages, samples were taken for the determination of selected groups of luminal and mucosa-associated bacteria, mucosal morphology, brush-border membrane (BBM) bound enzyme activity and ileal nutrient digestibility. The xylanase supplement increased (p<0.05) body weight gain (BWG) and improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) at the end of the experiment but protein and starch digestibilities were not affected (p>0.05) by xylanase. Up to day 7, xylanase increased the counts of C. perfringens in the ileum and total anaerobic bacteria (TAB) in the caeca (p<0.05, p=0.07, respectively). By day 21, the counts of ileal lactobacilli (p<0.05) and TAB (p=0.07) were lower in birds given the xylanase-supplemented diet than in those on the control diet. No significant differences were observed in the counts of mucosa-associated lactobacilli and coliforms between xylanase treatment and the control at both ages. Villus height at the jejunum was not affected (p>0.05) by the supplement but crypt depth at the same site was reduced at day 7. Also, xylanase tended to increase the concentration of BBM protein (p = 0.09) and the specific activity of sucrase (p = 0.07) at day 21.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.777-785
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• 2010

The effect of two doses of different sources of zinc, inorganic (zinc oxide) or chelated (zinc glutamate chelate), on morphology and turn-over of the small intestine was assessed in early-weaned pigs orally challenged with enterotoxigenic E. coli K88 (ETEC). Sixty pigs weaned at 21 days were assigned to one of the following 5 diets: control (C); C+Zinc oxide (ZnO), either a 200 or a 2,500 mg Zn/kg dose; or C+zinc chelate with glutamic acid (Glu-Zn), either a 200 or a 2,500 mg Zn/kg dose. On d 2, the pigs were orally inoculated with 1.5 ml of a $10^{10}$ CFU/ml E. coli K88ac O148 suspension. Zinc supplements did not improve the performance of the pigs, but on d 5 faecal excretion of ETEC was reduced, and this was mainly due to high zinc doses (p<0.05). The villous height in the duodenum was improved by the zinc supplements (p<0.01) whatever the source and the level, whereas no effect was seen in the other two tracts of small intestine. The diet did not affect apoptosis and mitosis counts, while ETEC-susceptible pigs had more mitotic cells in the villi than non-susceptible pigs, particularly in the jejunum (p<0.01). The duodenum had fewer mitotic cells in the villi (p<0.05) and in the crypts (p<0.01) and more apoptotic cells in the villi. High dietary doses of ZnO or Zn-Glutamate improve villous height of the duodenum, but not of the jejunum and the ileum, and do not affect the epithelial proliferative activity and apoptotic index of intestinal mucosa of early-weaned pigs orally challenged with ETEC.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제22권7호
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• pp.1026-1031
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• 2009

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of graded levels of butyric acid (butyrate) on performance, gastrointestinal tract health and carcass characteristics in young broiler chickens. Control starter (0-3 wk) and finisher (4-5 wk) diets were formulated to contain 2,900 kcal ME/kg and 22% CP, and 3,000 kcal ME/kg and 20% CP, respectively. Subsequently, four other experimental diets were formulated to contain 0.05% antibiotic (furazolidone) or 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6% butyric acid. Each diet was fed at random to 8 replicates of 6 chicks each throughout the experimental period (0-5 wk). The results showed that 0.4% butyrate in the diet was similar to antibiotic in maintaining body weight gain and reducing E. coli numbers but superior for feed conversion ratio. No added advantage on these parameters was obtained by enhancing the concentration of butyrate from 0.4 to 0.6% in the diet. Feed intake and mortality were not influenced by the dietary treatments. A reduction in pH of the upper GI tract (crop, proventiculus and gizzard) was observed by inclusion of butyrate in the diets of broilers compared to either control or antibiotic-fed group. Butyrate at 0.4% was more effective in reducing the pH than 0.2% butyrate. Within the lower GI tract, 0.4 and 0.6% butyrate was effective in lowering pH in the duodenum, but no effect was found in either the jejunum or ileum. The villus length and crypt depth in the duodenum increased significantly in all the butyrate treated diets irrespective of the level tested. Carcass yield was higher and abdominal fat content was lower significantly in all the butyrate treatment groups compared to the control or antibiotic group. From these findings, it is concluded that 0.4% butyric acid supplementation maintained performance, intestinal tract health, and villi development and carcass quality in broiler chickens.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.410-416
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• 2017

Objective: This study was to evaluate the sunflower cake and enzymatic complex fed to broilers from 22 to 42 d of age. Methods: In a completely randomized design, a total of 850 birds were allotted in a $2{\times}5$ factorial scheme (with and without enzymatic complex) and five inclusion levels (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%) of sunflower cake. There were 5 replications and 17 birds in each experimental unit. Data from performance, carcass yield and intestinal morphology were evaluated. Results: Feed intake, weight gain, final weight and feed:gain ratio linearly worsened as sunflower cake increased. For weight gain, final weight and feed:gain ratio, the birds whose diets contained levels of 15% and 20% of sunflower cake showed worse values (p<0.05) than the birds fed the control diet. When fed the enzymatic complex, birds improved (p<0.05) crypt depth and villus:crypt ratio in the jejunum. As inclusion levels of sunflower cake increased, villus depth and villus:crypt ratio in duodenum, jejunum and ileum linearly reduced and the crypt depth linearly increased. Carcass yield linearly reduced as sunflower cake increased. Conclusion: Based on performance, sunflower cake can be used up to 10% in broilers feeding from 21 to 42 days of age.