Ascorbic acid, widely known as vtamin C, is an essential nutrient for animals such as poultry. Ascorbic acid in poultry feed improves animal health and thus increases the growth performance of birds. Ascorbic acid can be used in the form of synthetic products or can be naturally obtained from fruits and plants. It is soluble in water and can be easily administered in drinking water and the diet. Poultry can synthesize ascorbic acid in the body. However, the performance of the animals can be improved by adding ascorbic acid to their diet. In addition, ascorbic acid is called an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory. This increases their resistance to disease during the transition season. Ascorbic acid supplementation positively affects the stress response, especially during the dry season in tropical countries. Furthermore, supplementing ascorbic acid in the poultry's diet improves resistance to diseases, regulates stress, and helps in the body's oxidation process. Ultimately, this enhances the laying rate, egg hatch performance, and higher poultry productivity. For layers at the end of the laying period, it helps increase the quality of the eggshell and reduces the proportion of broken eggs. Ascorbic acid has a strong relationship with other vitamins such as vitamin E and other substances such as zinc, safflower oil, folic acid, and a fibrous diet. This review aims to synthesize all the information of ascorbic acid in the poultry's diet, thereby providing the general role of ascorbic acid for the poultry industry.

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid for all animals that was discovered through casein hydrolysis. The use of tryptophan as feed additives has been attracting the attention of many nutritionists because it cannot be synthesized enough in an animal's body. Tryptophan or precursor to the vitamin niacin in the diet is important, and its supplementation for poultry is determined to improve the amino acid balance and promote the poultry's growth performance through enhancing appetite, feed efficiency, and protein synthesis. Moreover, poultry in different growth phases, breeding, and conditions require various amounts of tryptophan. In addition, supplemented tryptophan also improves the immune response or the immunomodulatory activity of poultry to various diseases through the kynurenine pathway, especially diseases in the bursa. Furthermore, tryptophan also has a strong relationship with lysine (the ideal tryptophan/lysine ratio) in improving growth performance. However, tryptophan deficiency could affect the behavioral responses (e.g. pecking behavior and poultry stress) because tryptophan serves as a precursor for the neurotransmitter serotonin and the pineal hormone melatonin in the diet. This paper tried to summarize all information about applying tryptophan in the diets and illustrate the roles of tryptophan in the poultry industry.

The study was conducted to estimate factors affecting the information sources and communication channels that were used by pig farmers to access information about African Swine Fever (ASF) in Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam, and to determine the perception of pig farmers about ASF epidemic. The survey used the questionnaires to gather data from 150 pig farmers which was conducted in a purposive method and was analyzed by multiple logistic regression model. The respondents were pig farmers who had experienced at least one year and have been affected by ASF epidemic in raising or trading pigs and other activities of the value chain. The result showed that the decision to choose information from government extension worker as the main information resource was affected by gender, pig herd size, informal education, and formal education (p<0.01) while only gender and education affecting the choice of farming visit as their communication channel (p<0.01). When farmers can access to ASF information, they know how to anticipate the disease and deal with the outbreak. It was concluded that socio- demographic have affected the choice of information sources while only gender and formal education affected communication channels. Furthermore, when accessing information sources and communication channels, pig farmers had an awareness of basic information about ASF.

This research aims to determine Bali cows’ reproductive management and performances, kept by smallholder farmers with intensive and semi-intensive production systems in South Konawe Regency. A total of 55 farmers and 110 Bali cows was interviewed and observed. The data was captured consists of farmers’ characteristics, reproductive management, and reproductive performances. An independent sample t-test analyzed the data. The farmers with intensive and semi-intensive production systems could detect the estrus well (69.57 and 59.09%) and mated by artificial insemination (AI) (70.83 and 86.11%). There was a significant difference (P <0.05) related to the first estrus age (1.98±0.82 vs. 1.92±0.18 years), the first mating age (2.84±0.23 vs. 2.77±0.34 years), service per conception with natural mating and AI (1.00±0.00 vs. 1.20±0.42 and 1.70±0.76 vs. 1.44±0.57 times). There were no significant differences in the first calving age, gestation length, postpartum estrus, postpartum mating, weaning age, calving interval, and cow reproduction index. The pre-weaning mortality and calf crops were 6.25 and 9.68%; 76.79 and 71,70%. To conclude our findings, the farmers in South Konawe Regency carry out reproductive management well. Bali cows’ reproductive performance with an intensive system is better than the semi-intensive system based on the calf crop.

Nowadays, livestock has made clear changes in industrial and semi-industrial production organizations or smart farming. The adoption of livestock technology is extremely important to enhance the quality and quantity of livestock products. Besides, technology may help farmers to increase their profit and protect the health of costumer and environment. Advanced technologies in smart farming were widely applied by livestock farmers such as data management, Internet of Things technology, precision farming, agriculture drones, and so forth. Those technologies may make a great livestock system like closed livestock production from breeding to processing and consumption. Moreover, when using smart farming techniques, farmers can better monitor or observe the need for individual animals and adjust their nutrition correspondingly, thereby preventing diseases and improving herb health. There are many benefits from adopting smart farming and also have some obstacles that farmers have to face when they would like to access to smart farming. This paper also gives extensions and innovations for small farmers that can be utilized to facilitate the processing of smart farming implementation.