This study was conducted to examine the effect of two humic substances (HS) supplemented in broilers’ diet on the breast meat quality of broiler chickens. In this experiment, 120 pieces of one-day-old COBB500 broiler chickens were used. Broilers were divided into three groups, each containing 40 birds with three replications (13, 13, and 14 per one pen). Fattening lasted 38 days. The first experimental diet was supplemented with 0.7% of HS (HS0.7) and the second was enriched with 0.7% of acidified HS (HSA0.7). The control group of broilers (C) was fed a basal diet without the addition of any supplements. HS0.7 samples had the highest total protein content and the lowest content of fat (p < 0.01). The effects of broiler diet and storage had a significant impact on the pH of breast samples, p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively. Supplementation of HS in broiler diet positively affected the lipid oxidation of breast meat samples, as indicated by the lower malondialdehyde content (p < 0.05). HSA0.7 samples had significantly better juiciness after the storage period (p < 0.001). The quality of meat produced with supplementation of HS in broilers’ feed can be considered as valuable in human nutrition due to improved protein and fat content with decreased lipid oxidation.

Despite the fact that humic substances (HS) have been frequently studied in relation to their effects on livestock health, studies on their influence on egg production and quality, immunity, and intestinal microbiota of laying hens are limited. In this study, the influence of 0.5% HS supplementation on the specific production parameters of eggshell mineral quality, immune parameters (relative expression of IgA, IGF-2, MUC-2 gene in cecum; activity of phagocytes, percentage of selected lymphocyte subpopulations in the peripheral blood), and number of lactic acid bacteria and enterobacteria in the intestinal contents in laying hens was tested. The addition of 0.5% HS to the laying hen feed had a positive effect on egg laying rate, daily egg mass, egg weight, feed conversion and eggshell quality and also had an immunostimulatory effect manifested by increased phagocyte activity and B cell response. Concurrently, an increase in the number of enterobacteria in the intestinal contents and a decrease in the proportion of T lymphocytes (p < 0.05) was observed, which can be considered as a negative effect of HS. The results confirmed that HS can be used for the improvement of egg production and targeted immunostimulation, but their effect on the intestinal microbiota and T lymphocytes should be studied in more detail.

This study’s objective was to determine the impact of dietary humic substances on immune response and blood profiles in piglets. A total of 24 crossbred piglets (Slovakian White × Landrace; 35 days old; average body weight of 11.67 kg) were allotted to two dietary groups with (experimental; 5 g·kg⁻¹) or without (control; 0 g·kg⁻¹) natural humic substances supplementation. In this study, we observed a significant increase of the proportion of CD4+CD8- lymphocytes (p < 0.001) in the experimental group. The results also showed a tendency for an increase of the phagocytic activity and the engulfing capacity of phagocytes and the numbers of the other monitored lymphocyte subpopulations (CD3+, CD21+, CD4-D8+, CD4+CD8+, CD4+CD25+) in piglets in the experimental group compared to the control group. Supplementation of humic substances increased serum alkaline phosphatase compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Other monitored blood parameters were not significantly affected by dietary treatment. It concluded that inclusion of humic substances in the diet of piglets could have a stimulating effect on cellular immunity, without a negative effect on haematological and biochemical parameters.

Received: 2015-07-15 | Accepted: 2015-11-03 | Available online: 2016-04-23 dx.doi.org/10.15414/afz.2016.19.01.11-14 There were observed the effects ofadministrationof humicsubstances on health, feed conversion, productionparameters, egg qualityandhatchabilityofpheasants. The supplement of humicsubstances at the concentration 0.5% in the feed mixture significantly influenced the hatchability percentage of pheasant chicks.The hatchability 72.9% was achieved in the group without addition of humic substances.On the contrary, the hatchability 83.4% was achieved in the experimental group in the case of addition of humic substances.The pheasants of the experimental grouphadahigher consumption of feed by 0.27 kgper 1 kg ofproduced eggs, lower production of eggsper one henand the weight of eggs was lower by 1.15 g. Keywords: pheasant, humic substances production, eggs, hatchability References ABDEL-MAGEED, M.A.A. (2012) Effect of dietary humic substances supplementation on performance and immunity of Japanese quail. Egyptian Poultry Science, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 645-660. ARAFAT, R.Y. et al. (2015) Effect of dietary humic acid via drinking water onthe performance and egg quality of commercial layers. American Journal of Biology and Life Sciences, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 26-30. EL-HUSSEINY, O.M., ABDALLAH, A.G. and ABDEL-LATIF, K.O. (2008) The influence of biological feed additives on broiler performance. International Journal of Poultry Science, vol. 7, no. 9, pp. 862-871. EMEA (1999) Committee for veterinary medicinal products. Humic acids and their sodium salts. [Online] Last modified April 21, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2015 from http://www.emea.eu.int/pdfs/vet/mrls/055499en.pdf EREN, M. et al. (2000) Broyler yemlerine katilan humatlarin besi performansi, serum mineral konsantrasyonu ve kemik külü üzerine etkileri. Ankara Üniversitesi Veteriner Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 255-263. ESENBUĞA, N. et al. (2008) Effects of dietary humate supplementation to broilers on performance, slaughter, carcass and meat colour. In Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, vol. 88, no. 7, pp. 1201-1207. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.3199 HAYIRLI, A. et al. (2005) Nutrition Practice to Alleviate the Adverse Effects of Stress on Laying Performance, Metabolic Profile, and Egg Quality in Peak Producing Hens: I. The Humate Supplementation. Asian-Australian Journal of Animal Science, vol. 18, no. 9, pp. 1310-1319. KARAOGLU, M. et al. (2004) Effect of supplemental humate at different levels on the growth performance, slaughter and carcass traits of broilers. International Journal of Poultry Science, vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 406-410. KOCABAĞLI, N. et al. (2002) The effects of dietary humate supplementation on broiler growth and carcass yield. Poultry Science, vol. 81, no. 2, pp. 227-230. KUCUKERSAN, S. et al. (2005) The effects of humic acid on egg production and egg traits of laying hen.Veterinary Medicine (in Czech), vol. 50, no. 9, pp. 406-410. MIRNAWATI, Y.R. and MARLIDA, Y. (2013) Effects of humic acid addition via drinking water on the performance of broilers fed diets containing fermented and non-fermented palm kernel cake. Archiva Zootechnica, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 41-53. OZTURK, E. et al. (2009) Effects of dietary humic substances on egg production and egg shell quality of hens after peak laying period. African Journal of Biotechnology, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 1155-1159. OZTURK, E. et al. (2012) Performance, carcass, gastrointestinal tract and meat quality traits, and selected blood parameters of broilers fed diets supplemented with humic substances. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, vol. 92, no. 1, pp. 59-65. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.4541 SKOKANOVÁ, M. and DERCOVÁ, K. (2008) Humic acids. The origin and structure. Chemické Listy, vol. 102, no. 4, pp. 262-268 (in Slovak). STEVENSON, F.J. (1994) Humus Chemistry: Genesis, composition, reactions. 2. ed. New York: Wiley. VESELÁ, L. et al. (2005) Structure and properties of natural humic substances type oxihumolit. Chemické Listy, vol. 99, no. 10, pp. 711-717 (in Czech). YÖRÜK, M.A. et al. (2004) The effects of supplementation of humate and probiotic on egg production and quality parameters during the late laying period in hens. Poultry Science, vol. 83, no. 1, pp. 84-88.

In this study, we assessed the effect of humic substances on the changes of some mineral (Ca, Mg, Cu and Zn) content in the thigh and breast muscle of broilers. Group 1 (G1) was supplemented with 0.7 % Humac Natur Mycosorb (HNMy), and G2 with 0.3 % HNMy. The control group (GC) received a basal diet without any supplements. In the breast muscle of broilers from the group G1 we found a statistically significantly higher (P < 0.05) Ca content and significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in the thigh muscle Ca content from the group G2 compared to the control group (GC). A statistically significant increase in Mg content (P < 0.05) was analyzed in breast muscles in the group G1 and also significant reduction (P ≤ 0.01) in Cu in the breast and thigh muscles was found in the group G1 and in the breast muscle from the group G2 compared to the GC. Significantly lower content of Zn (P ≤ 0.05) was found in the breast and thigh muscles of broilers in the group G2 and strong positive correlation (r = 0.9093) were observed between Ca in breast muscle from the group G2 and Ca in thigh muscle from the control group. A negative correlation (r = –0.7656) was shown for Mg between thigh muscle from the group G2 and Ca in thigh muscle from the GC. A strong negative correlation was confirmed (r = –0.9221) for Zn content in breast muscles between groups G2 and G1. The high positive correlation for Zn was occurred between breast muscle from the control group and thigh muscle from the group G1 (r = 0.9786).

This study was conducted to determine the concentrations of mineral substances, such as: calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn); in the blood serum of broiler chicks after supplementation of humic substances. Group 1 (G1) was supplemented with 0.7 % Humac Natur Mycosorb (HNMy); G2 with 0.7 % Humac Natur Monogastric (HNM); G3 with 0.3 % HNMy; and the control group (GC) received a basal diet without any supplements. In the G2 group, the serum Ca level increased slightly compared to the other experimental groups. A statistically significant decrease (P < 0.001) in the blood serum of Mg was detected in the broilers from group G2 (0.60 mmol.l⁻¹) and G1 (P < 0.05; 0.68 mmol.l⁻¹) in comparison to the GC. The Zn in the blood serum of broilers from group G2 (22.05 µmol.l⁻¹) was significantly increased (P < 0.05) in broilers from group G2 in comparison to the control group (19.47 µmol.l⁻¹) and G1 group (19.61 µmol.l⁻¹). The serum Cu (12.72 µmol.l⁻¹) was significantly increased (P < 0.001) in broilers from group G2 in comparison to the GC (10.28 µmol.l⁻¹). In the group G1 there was a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in the level of the Cu in the blood serum (8.69 µmol.l⁻¹) in comparison to the serum Cu in broilers from groups G3 (10.45 µmol.l⁻¹) and G2 (12.72 µmol.l⁻¹). The addition of Humac Natur Mycosorb (0.3 % and 0.7 %) in the feed caused a strong correlation in the blood serum between the Ca and Mg (r = 0.7494; r = 0.7648). The addition of 0.3 % Humac Natur Mycosorb in the feed caused a high negative correlation (r = –0.7078) in the blood serum between the Mg and Zn.