This research was executed to study the impacts of adding betaine (BT) to broiler diets on intestinal inflammatory response and barrier integrity under heat stress (HS). At 21 d of age, 150 male broilers (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups: control (CON) group, in which broilers were provided standard finisher feed under thermoneutral condition (22 ± 1°C); HS group and HS + BT group, in which broilers were given the standard feed supplied with 0 and 1,000 mg/kg BT, respectively, under cyclic HS condition (33 ± 1°C for 8 h from 08:00 to 16:00 h and the thermoneutral temperature for the residual hours). Each treatment was replicated ten times with 5 broilers per replicate. The HS group showed an elevation (P < 0.05) in serum corticosterone (CORT) concentration, D-lactate acid (D-LA) content, and diamine oxidase (DAO) activity, mucosal interleukin-1β (IL-1β) level, and expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene, and a reduction (P < 0.05) in mucosal interleukin-10 (IL-10) level and secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) content and relative abundance of mRNA for occludin (OCLN), zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), claudin-1 (CLDN1), and claudin-4 (CLDN4). In contrast, broilers in the HS + BT group exhibited a raise (P < 0.05) in mucosal IL-10 level and SIgA content and relative expression of OCLN and ZO-1 genes, and a decline (P < 0.05) in serum CORT concentration and DAO activity, mucosal IL-1β level, and expression of HSP70 mRNA. These results indicate that supplemental BT can ameliorate intestinal injury in heat-challenged broilers by suppressing inflammatory responses and enhancing mucosal barrier function.

Background: To our knowledge, most research demonstrating a link between maternal nutrition and both fetal growth and offspring development after bir

Continuous genetic improvements of commercial broiler strains has led to the necessity of using fats in their rations to fulfill a large portion of the energetic requirements. Several fat sources have been introduced in poultry nutrition, such as rendering poultry fat (PF) an available and cheap lipid source compared to conventional sources such as soybean oil (SO). The present study investigated the effect of partial or full replacement of SO by PF on performance, nutrient digestibility, blood lipids, and fatty acids (FAs) content of pectoral muscle. Four hundred and eighty one-day-old male Ross-308 chicks were distributed into four experimental groups (12 replicates each): the first group (control) was fed a diet formulated with soybean oil as a fat source while the second to fourth groups (PF25, PF50, and PF100) were fed diets formulated with 25, 50 and 100% of PF as a fat source instead of SO. Results revealed no synergistic effect between SO and PF in any of the studied parameters. Replacing SO by PF did not alter birds’ growth, carcass characteristics, and plasma indices of birds. Abdominal fat% was increased (p < 0.01) in PF50 and PF100. Dry matter digestibility was improved (p < 0.05) in PF50 and PF100, while crude fat and protein digestibility was not affected. Contents of palmitic and docosahexaenoic acids in the pectoral muscle of PF50 and PF100 were reduced (p < 0.01) while concentrations of oleic and linolenic acids, total unsaturated FAs, and polyunsaturated FAs/Saturated FAs ratio were elevated (p < 0.05) in the same groups. Liver thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and muscle vitamin E contents were not altered. The dietary addition of PF greatly improved economic parameters. In conclusion, PF can be used as a lipid source in broiler diets to produce inexpensive meat while maintaining its growth performance.

Ross 308 broilers in a randomized complete block design with a 2 × 2 factorial treatment arrangement (four treatments with 12 replications of six chicks each) were fed corn and SBMbased diets with two concentrations of metabolizable energy (ME) (normal (positive control, PC) and low (negative control, NC)) and two amounts of enzyme cocktail (EC) (0% and 0.005%) for 35 days. Performance, carcass traits, serum metabolites, ileal histology, and apparent nutrient digestibility were evaluated. Compared with the non-supplemented diet, the use of EC improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) over 26–35 and 0–35 days (p < 0.01), European performance efficiency factor (EPEF) over 26–35 days (p < 0.05), dressing yield (p < 0.01), villus height (p < 0.05), nitrogen-corrected apparent ME (AMEn) (p < 0.01), and serum glucose (p < 0.05). Compared with the NC diet, feeding the PC diet improved FCR over all experimental periods (p < 0.01, p < 0.05, p < 0.05, and p < 0.01, respectively), EPEF over 0–10 days (p < 0.05), and AMEn retention (p < 0.01). To conclude, the AMEn of broilers fed corn and SBM diets could be improved by adequately adjusting dietary ME and using a cocktail of non-starch polysaccharide-degrading enzymes, improving commercial benefits to producers.

The effects of nano-emulsified vegetable oil (NEVO) and betaine (BET) supplements on growth performance and meat qualities of broilers reared under cyclic heat stress (HS) were investigated. Two hundred and eighty-eight mixed-sex broilers at 21 d were randomly distributed to a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments formed by two environmental temperatures (thermoneutral (TN; 24 ± 1 °C) and cyclic high-temperature (HT; 35 ± 1 °C)) and three dietary treatments (control (CON), NEVO, and BET). The cumulative performance (21–35 d) revealed a reduction in average daily gain (ADG) (p < 0.05) in the CON compared to NEVO. NEVO and BET groups had a better feed conversion ratio (FCR) and performance efficiency factor (PEF) compared with the CON (p < 0.001, p < 0.01, respectively). The environmental temperature affected daily feed intake (DFI), ADG, FCR, and PEF. The addition of BET improved breast fillets yield, temperature, pH_15min, and pH_24hr (p < 0.05) in comparison with the CON. Moreover, the TN group had lower fillet temperature and higher pH_15min compared to the HT. Moreover, HT increased shear force (SF), hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, and chewiness of the fillets compared to TN. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with BET and NEVO could effectively improve performance parameters and meat characteristics under HS conditions.

This research aimed to assess the influence of date pits (DP) on reducing toxic influences of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in broilers by examining the growth performance, carcass characteristics, serum indices, ileum morphology, apparent nutrient digestibility, and liver AFB1 residues. In total, 360 11-day-old straight-run broilers (Ross 308) were randomly allocated into 6 dietary treatments, with 10 replications of 6 birds each, in a 20-day experiment. The treatments were as follows: standard basal diet (negative control, NC); NC + 0.25 mg/kg AFB1 (positive control, PC); NC + 2% DP; NC + 4% DP; PC + 2% DP; PC + 4% DP. Compared to the NC diet, feeding the PC diet decreased the daily feed intake (DFI) during the grower and overall periods (p < 0.01); reduced the daily weight gain (DWG) and production efficiency factor (PEF); increased the feed conversion ratio (FCR) during all experimental periods (p < 0.001); diminished the dressing percentage, breast meat yield, serum concentrations of total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), glucose (GLU), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), villus height (VH), villus surface area (VSA), apparent digestibility of crude protein (CP) and ether extract (EE), apparent metabolizable energy (AME), and nitrogen-corrected AME (AMEn) (p < 0.001); and raised the proportional liver weight, serum activities of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT), and residues of AFB1 in the liver (p < 0.001). Compared to the PC diet, feeding the PC + 2% DP or PC + 4% DP diets increased the DWG during finisher and overall periods, PEF during the finisher period, serum levels of TP, GLU, T-AOC, and T-SOD, VH, and apparent digestibility of CP and EE, AME, and AMEn, and decreased FCR during all experimental periods and AFB1 residues in the liver (p < 0.001). Moreover, feeding the PC + 4% DP diet increased the DWG during the grower period, PEF during the overall period, dressing percentage, serum ALB level, and VSA, and decreased the proportional liver weight and serum GOT and GPT activities when compared to the PC diet (p < 0.001). To conclude, our findings demonstrate that a dietary addition of 4% DP can deliver a better safeguard against the adverse influences of AFB1 in broiler chickens.