The objective of this study was to evaluate whether probiotic supplementation to laying hens can improve the quality of eggs during storage. The trial was developed in a commercial farm, in which light-weight laying hens (36 weeks old) housed in cages were randomly selected for one of two different treatments: a control group fed non-supplemented diets, or birds fed with diets supplemented with 50 g/ton of probiotics. The trial lasted for 84 days, comprising three productive phases of 28 days each. The fresh egg quality was evaluated and then the eggs were stored and randomly separated for quality assessment at each storage interval (7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 days). Means were compared using variance analysis considering differences at 5 and 10%. The probiotic was able to improve albumen weight, yolk length, yolk height, and yolk index (p < 0.05) during storage. Yolk color (fan) was also improved by 3.9% (p < 0.001), while increases of 1.35% (p < 0.001) in luminosity, 8.05% (p < 0.001) in red intensity, and 3.4% (p < 0.001) in yellow intensity were observed in comparison to the control group. Probiotic treatment was able to reduce by 2.03% (p < 0.001) yolk pH, and by 19.65% (p < 0.05) TBARS levels when compared to the control treatment. Therefore, the addition of probiotics to laying hen diets is an effective strategy to improve egg quality during storage.

The intensification of production systems has resulted in detrimental effects on sow welfare, which can have an adverse influence on their offspring. Considering the relevance of the microbiota–gut–brain axis, probiotics can mitigate such impacts. To investigate the effects of the dietary inclusion of probiotics on the welfare of sows and piglets, 147 multiparous sows were randomly assigned to two groups: a control group or a group supplemented with a multistrain probiotic from the beginning of pregnancy to the end of lactation. The human–animal relationship (HAR), stereotypic behavior, position changes, salivary cortisol, and plasma serotonin levels were assessed in the sows. The piglets’ back test behavior and organ weight were analyzed. The probiotic-supplemented sows exhibited a better HAR index (p = 0.017), which indicated reduced aversion towards humans. The frequency of stereotypies was not influenced by the treatments. However, the supplemented sows spent more time standing (p = 0.054) and less time lying down (p = 0.008). The cortisol level of the supplemented sows was 50% lower (p = 0.047) and the serotonin levels were 11% higher (p = 0.034) than control animals. The multistrain piglets were more passive and less resistant (p = 0.076) in the back test. The organ weights were not influenced by treatments. In conclusion, the sows supplemented with probiotics showed less fear and more motivation indicators, while their piglets showed less aggression behaviors.

This study was designed to simulate productive and economic losses due to the withdrawal of antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) from pig diets. Articles that compared diets with AGP (AGP+) or without AGP (AGP–) for pigs were collected from electronic databases and the performance results were entered in a database. A meta-analysis was performed following the sequence: graphical analysis, correlation, and variance-covariance. The performance results observed in the meta-analysis, feed cost, and AGP costs were used to build equations to estimate the economic effect of withdrawing AGP. The database comprised 81 scientific articles containing 103 experiments totalizing 42,923 pigs. Avilamycin (24.7 %) was the most frequent AGP in the database, followed by Colistin (15.4 %), Tiamulin (11.7 %), Tylosin (8.0 %), Lincomycin (9.4 %), and Bacitracin (5.4 %). Weight gain (p < 0.05) increased in AGP+ diets during post-weaning (6.5 %). However, there was no effect of AGP on weight gain of growing-finishing pigs. There was better (p < 0.05) feed conversion in pigs fed AGP+ diets in all rearing phases. Weight gain and feed conversion improved (p < 0.05) with the addition of Avilamycin, Bacitracin, and Tylosin. AGP withdrawal in the post-weaning phase increased feed costs by US$ 0.86 per animal and in growing-finishing phase the increase was US$ 3.11. Thus, pigs fed AGP+ diets have a better performance than pigs fed AGP- diets and the withdrawal of AGP increases feed costs.

A intensificação do sistema de produção avícola trouxe profundas mudanças no ambiente físico e social das aves domésticas. O manejo dessas aves tem recebido considerável atenção nos últimos anos devido às novas demandas por parte dos consumidores, principalmente aquelas relacionadas ao bem-estar. O comportamento é a maneira como os animais respondem aos diferentes estímulos que encontram em seu ambiente. As expressões comportamentais das aves domésticas e a aplicação desse conhecimento no cuidado dos animais desempenha um papel importante na maximização da eficiência de produção da cadeia avícola. Assim, definir limites éticos e diretrizes para a produção avícola é fundamental para fomentar o desenvolvimento de novas práticas produtivas, e assim garantir qualidade e produtividade sem colocar em risco o bem-estar dos animais. Esta revisão destacará as principais expressões comportamentais das aves domésticas, dentre elas as expressões sociais, alimentares, reprodutivas, além de estereotipias, e identificará as estratégias de adaptação social. Assim, promovera ao leitor e a comunidade científica uma melhor compreensão de assuntos pouco discutidos para assim auxiliar em análises comportamentais.

(1) Background: This study was performed to evaluate whether the addition of β-mannanase alone or combined with a multi-carbohydrase complex can improve diet digestibility, nutrient and energy metabolism, and the gut health of growing pigs. (2) Methods: Twenty-four pigs (35.56 ± 3.81 kg) were fed a control corn–soybean meal-based diet (no addition) or a control diet with β-mannanase (BM; 300 g/ton) or control diet β-mannanase plus a multi-carbohydrase complex including xylanase, β-glucanase, and arabinofuranosidases (BM + MCC; 300 + 50 g/ton) for 13 days. Total fecal and urine samples were collected from days 6 to 12. The feces samples were collected from all the pigs to determine fecal biomarkers using commercial ELISA tests. Blood samples were collected from all the pigs on day 13 to assess the serum concentrations of acute-phase proteins. All the pigs were euthanized on day 13 for intestinal tissue collection for morphometric analysis. Data were submitted to variance analysis and differences were considered significant at p ≤ 0.05 and a trend for 0.05 < p ≤ 0.10. (3) Results: The addition of BM and BM + MCC resulted in greater dry matter, protein, and energy digestibility coefficients, and protein (2.87% and 2.60%) and energy (2.61% and 1.44%) metabolizability coefficients compared to control (p < 0.05). A greater retention of nitrogen ratio and lower fecal energy were observed in BM and BM + MCC than in the control (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the addition of BM and BM + MCC resulted in lower manure production (29.78 and 49.77%, respectively) and fecal moisture (p < 0.001) compared to the control. The BM addition resulted in a greater villus area and villi height to crypt depth ratio compared to the control (p < 0.05). The addition of BM and BM + MCC diets also reduced the fecal calprotectin levels by 52 and 56% in relation to the control pigs. (4) Conclusions: The use of β-mannanase alone or associated with multi-carbohydrase complex improved nutritional digestibility, nutrient and energy metabolism, and gut health, and reduced the manure production of growing pigs.

The purpose of this study was to determine if adding β-mannanase to the diet can improve the quality of storage eggs from laying hens. Lightweight laying hens (36 weeks old), housed in cages with four birds each, were randomly assigned to one of two treatments: control group (diet without additives), or birds fed with 300 g/ton of β-mannanase. The experiment was carried out on a commercial farm (14 thousand birds). The study took 84 days to be completed, and each of its three productive phases lasted 28 days. On the final day of each phase, 125 eggs were randomly collected. The quality of the fresh eggs was assessed, and after each storage interval, the remaining eggs were kept and randomly divided to evaluate their quality (7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 days). Analysis of variance was used to compare means considering differences at 5 and 10%. When compared to the control group, β-mannanase was able to prevent the loss of egg weight and albumen weight during storage (p < 0.05). Yolk color (palette) also improved by 2.5% (p < 0.001), while lightness, red intensity, and yellow intensity all increased in comparison to the control group by 1.9% (p < 0.001), 7.7% (p < 0.001), and 4.10% (p < 0.001). Additionally, compared to the control treatment, β-mannanase was able to lower the yolk pH and TBARS levels by 2.4% (p < 0.001). As a result, adding β-mannanase to laying hen diets is a successful method for enhancing egg quality.