Objective: This study aimed to assess the impact of water quality as determined by its physical, chemical, and biological composition collected from five distinct points in Maragheh, Iran, on the performance and carcass traits of Ross-308 commercial broilers (mix of male and female) during the grower (11–24 days) and finisher (25–42 days) periods. Materials and methods: A total of 240 broilers were involved in the study, divided into five treatments with four replicates and 12 birds per replicate. In this study, a randomized design was used. Water samples were collected from five different points, and broilers were provided with these water sources during the grower and finisher periods. Water samples for testing were prepared from the water wells of the meat poultry farms located in the northern, eastern, western, and southern lands, and the experimental farm, using hygienic and scientific methods. Performance parameters, including body weight, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and water intake, were measured. Results: During the grower period, no significant effects on performance and water intake were observed across the different water sources (p > 0.05). However, in the finisher period, significant differences were noted (p ≥ 0.05). The use of water from point A (control group) led to reduced water consumption, body weight, and increased FCR (p < 0.05). The northern water source exhibited the optimum FCR during the finisher period (p < 0.05). Throughout the entire experimental period, the water source significantly influenced broiler performance, with the northern water source (point B) corresponding with the highest weight gain and production index with the least feed intake (p < 0.05). Despite these variations, no significant changes were observed in the broilers’ carcass traits across different water sources (p ≥ 0.05). Conclusions: In conclusion, the study revealed that various drinking water sources, while not significantly impacting carcass quality traits, exerted notable effects on broilers’ performance. The northern water source emerged as particularly favorable, demonstrating superior weight gain and a production index with efficient feed utilization. These findings underscore the importance of water quality in poultry management, particularly during the finisher period, and highlight its potential influence on broiler performance.

The Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) is farmed for its eggs and meat across the globe. A series of experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of the permanent or intermittent use of different levels of BC (bovine colostrum) on the egg performance and traits, carcass characteristics, blood biochemical and antioxidant status of laying Japanese quails. In this study, 200 laying quails were used for a duration of six weeks (week 24 to 30) to measure the selected parameters. Treatments included: (1) control (without BC); (2) 2% continuous BC; (3) 4% BC permanently; and (4) and (5) 2% and 4% BC intermittently (every other week), respectively. According to the results, performance, egg quality, carcass traits, biochemical indices and antioxidant status of BC-fed (continuous and intermittent mode) quails were improved compared to the control-diet-fed birds (p < 0.01). Per our observations, quails fed daily with 4% BC had the highest performance, best egg and carcass quality traits, best blood composition and best antioxidant status of serum, although the same parameters were also improved in birds fed intermittently with 4% BC. The final conclusion is that, although quails fed daily with 4% BC showed the best performance, intermittent feeding exerted comparable effects. Therefore, the intermittent-feeding approach could benefit the birds when colostrum preparation is limited due to the high cost of the related process. This approach could improve the economics of poultry breeding while reducing environmental problems, such as antibiotic resistance.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different levels of colostrum powder on performance, intestinal morphology, blood biochemical parameters and antioxidant status of broilers in heat stress. In this experiment 224 Ross-308 broiler chicks were used from 1 to 42 days in 5 treatments and 4 replicates (12 birds per replicate) in a completely randomized design. Treatments included: 1) control (without using colostrum), 2) 0.5% of colostrum, 3) 1% of colostrum, 4) 1.5% of colostrum, and 5) 2% of colostrum powder. Colostrum powder was added in first 10 days of broilers breeding period in their diets. Colostrum powder had significant effects on performance, carcass traits and intestinal cells morphology of broilers in heat stress (P < 0.05). In grower period the highest amounts of final body weight and body weight gain were obtained with 2% of colostrum powder. Colostrum powder in contrast to control improved the percentages of gizzard, liver, bursa of fabricious, thighs and breast (P > 0.05). The highest villies, the lowest crypts and the highest ratio of villies/crypts were obtained with colostrum powder adding (P > 0.05). Colostrum powder had no significant effects on blood biochemical parameters and antioxidant status of broilers. The overall resulted showed that in broilers in heat stress condition using colostrum powder up to 2% in starter period has beneficial effects on performance, carcass traits and intestinal morphology of broilers.

The present paper aims to evaluate the effect of different levels of bovine colostrum and probiotic dietary supplementation on egg production performance, egg traits, carcass characteristics, blood biochemistry and antioxidant status of laying Japanese quails. For the trial, 240 laying quails, aged between 24 weeks and 30 weeks, were involved in a 3 × 2 factorial experimental design, with 3 levels of bovine fresh colostrum (0, 2, and 4 percent of the total ratio) and 2 levels of probiotics (0 and 0.01 percent of the total ratio) administration. The colostrum supplementation improved the egg production performance, egg traits, carcass characteristics, blood biochemistry, and antioxidant status (p < 0.01). Probiotics used without colostrum did not affect the investigated traits of laying Japanese quails (p > 0.05), but a synergistic effect was observed when combined with colostrum. The overall results recommended that using 4% of bovine colostrum in laying Japanese quails, with the addition of 0.01% of probiotic feed additive results in positive effects on egg production performance, egg traits, carcass characteristics, blood biochemistry, and antioxidant status of laying Japanese quails in the late laying period.

The experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of thyme, organic acid, probiotic and prebiotic on carcass characteristics and intestinal microbial microflora in broiler chicks in normal and low protein diets. A total of 388 Ross 308 broilers were equally assigned to 5 treatments with 4 replicates in a completely randomized design. The experimental treatments were; 1: control, 2: thyme extract (2 kg/ton), 3: organic acid (3 kg/ton), 4: probiotics (50 g/ton) and 5: prebiotics (2 kg/ton) with normal and reduced protein levels (10% lower than usual). At d 42, two chicks per replicate were randomly chosen, slaughtered and carcass percentage and carcass components percentage including a thigh, breast, liver, heart, gizzard, spleen, bursa of fabricius, abdominal fat, and intestine were determined for live weight. The results showed that using a diet with a normal level of crude protein compared to a diet with a level of crude protein lower than usual, increased the percentage of spleen and heart of chickens (P 0.05). Besides, the bacterial population of ileum of treated broilers had different behavior. The ileum bacteria improved with probiotic addition and it was predictable because of beneficial bacteria inclusion to diet. Comparing the means for litter traits, no significant differences were observed between the experimental treatments with each other and with the control group (P>0.05). Totally, before the common use of additives in different types of diets of poultry nutrition, thorough investigations should be carried out on mechanisms, compatibility with other components of the diet and safety evaluation.