Objective. This study was conducted to research the effects of different levels of dried white mulberry (Morus alba) pulp supplementation in diets of laying quail on yield performances, egg quality, blood parameters, yolk fatty acid profiles and cholesterol concentrations. Materials and Methods. A completely randomized experimental design, with four treatments and four replicates, was applied. The experimental treatments were M0: control diet; M4: dietary inclusion of 4% mulberry pulp; M8: dietary inclusion of 8% mulberry pulp; M12: dietary inclusion of 12% mulberry pulp. This experiment was carried out for 4 weeks, and 128 7-week-old female quail were used. Results. Addition of dried mulberry pulp to the diet significantly affected weekly feed intake, egg yield, albumin index, yolk weight, triglyceride, LDL, serum cholesterol and yolk cholesterol levels (p<0.05, p<0.01). The feed conversion ratio, egg weight, and egg yolk fatty acid profile were not significantly affected by the dried mulberry pulp in the diet. Conclusions. As a result, it may be stated that adding dried mulberry pulp up to 8% of the diets of laying quail does not cause any adverse effects and may be used without any problems.

This study aimed to determine new polymorphisms in 15 exon regions of the discoidin domain receptor tyrosine kinase 1 (DDR1) gene. A total of 72 Simmental cattle were used in this study. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of gene regions were performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis followed by sequence analysis. The identified DDR1 gene regions include the g.28183947 G/T polymorphic region for the 1^′ exon region of the DDR1 gene, g.28183480 G/C and g.28183434 C/A-G polymorphic regions for the 3^′ exon region of the DDR1 gene, g.28181525 C/A polymorphic region for the 5^′ exon region of the DDR1 gene, g.28180846 G/C polymorphic region for the 6^′ exon region of the DDR1 gene, g.28180437 C/G polymorphic region for the 7^′ exon region of the DDR1 gene, g.28178065 G/C polymorphic region for the 10^′ exon region of the DDR1 gene, g.28175989 G/T polymorphic region for the 12^′ exon region of the DDR1 gene and g.28173956 T/G and g.28173954 T/C polymorphic regions for the 16^′ exon region of the DDR1 gene. As a result of the statistical analysis, a significant relationship was found between the g.28183947 G/T polymorphic region in the 1^′ exon region of the DDR1 gene and the 305 d milk yield (P<0.05). A significant relationship was found between the g.28181525 C/A polymorphic region in the 5^′ exon region of the DDR1 gene and daily average milk yields, lactation milk yields and the 305 d milk yield (P<0.05). No significant relationship was found between the other polymorphic regions detected and milk yields (P>0.05). Consequently, the genotype and allele gene frequencies of the detected new polymorphic regions were determined. This study suggests that DDR1 gene polymorphic regions found to affect milk yield in Simmental cattle can be used as new candidate molecular markers in animal breeding and selection.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of pomegranate syrup supplementation at levels of 0.0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3% in the diets of quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) on performance parameters, including body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), hot and cold carcass weights and carcass yields; meat quality characteristics, including L*, a*, b* color values, pH, and water-holding capacity (WHC) of breast and thigh meat; and oxidative stress parameters, including total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS), and oxidative stress index (OSI); as well as glutathione peroxidase (GPx7) gene expression. A total of 120 newly hatched quail chicks were used in the experiment. The birds were assigned according to a completely randomized design with 15 replicates per treatment group and 2 birds per replicate and were randomly distributed into 60 cage compartments. While cumulative body weight gain (CBWG) was not significantly affected during the other experimental weeks (p > 0.05), statistically significant differences among the groups were observed only in the second week (p < 0.05). Feed intake values were not significantly different among the groups throughout all weeks of the experiment (p > 0.05). However, feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly different among the groups during all weeks (p < 0.05), with the pomegranate syrup-supplemented groups generally showing improved (lower) values compared with the control group. The inclusion of pomegranate syrup in the diets did not produce significant differences among the groups in breast meat quality parameters, including color values (L*, a*, b*), pH, and water-holding capacity. The obtained L*, a*, b*, and pH values were within the reference ranges reported in the literature. Evaluation of oxidative stress parameters demonstrated that pomegranate syrup supplementation increased TAS values, while significantly reducing TOS and OSI values (p < 0.05). Furthermore, GPx7 gene expression increased in the pomegranate syrup-supplemented groups compared with the control group, with the highest expression observed at the 0.1% supplementation level. In addition, toxicological evaluations have confirmed the safety of pomegranate preparations, further supporting their potential as feed additives.

The immune system is the sum of the processes that protect a living thing against diseases, recognize viruses and destroy them. The system scans the foreign proteins that viruses come into contact with in the living body and distinguishes them from the living body’s healthy body cells and tissues. The immune system can distinguish even substances with very similar properties from each other, for example; It has the ability to distinguish even proteins that differ in one amino acid from each other. This distinction is complex enough to cause viruses to find new ways and make some adaptations to infect despite the host’s defense system. In order to survive in this struggle, some mechanisms have developed that recognize viruses and neutralize them. All living things in nature have defense systems against tissues, cells and molecules that are not their own. Many strategies are used by viruses to evade in vivo response and host immunity. It is particularly associated with the host being exposed to attacks by the inflammatory system and immune response.