An experiment was designed to assess the effects of graded levels of beta-mannanase on performance and body weight uniformity of male broilers provided with diets based on corn and soybean meal and devoid of antibiotic growth promoters or coccidiostats. Four dietary treatments contained 0, 50, 80, and 110 MU of Hemicell/ ton (where 1 MU = 10(6) enzyme activity units, 100 MU/ton is manufacturer's recommendation). Each treatment contained 15 pens with 40 birds/pen. Individual bird weights were determined on d 0, 21, and 42. From 21 to 42 d of age, feed intake for the 80 MU/ton treatment was significantly greater than the 50 MU/ton treatment. beta-Mannanase inclusion at 80 or 110 MU/ton induced improvements (P < 0.05) in weight gain (3.9 to 4.8%) and feed efficiency (3.5 to 3.8%) over the control, whereas inclusion of 50 MU/ton resulted in no significant benefit. There were no significant differences between 80 or 110 MU/ton. The experiment demonstrated that dietary inclusion of beta-mannanase at approximately 50 MU/ton is not sufficient for maximum response. Inclusion at 80 MU/ ton improved broiler gains and feed conversion and increasing to 110 MU/ton resulted in no significant additional response.

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of a probiotic strain Clostridium butyricumMIYAIRI 588 (CBM588) on broiler and weaned piglet health and zootechnical performance. Five field studies were carried out in broilers and five in weaned piglets under European feed additive guidelines. Each study followed a randomized blocked design with two treatments: Control (basal diet) and CBM588 supplemented groups. The zootechnical performance parameters selected were body weight, daily gain, feed intake and feed efficiency (feed:gain). Broilers fed diets with CBM588 gained significantly more weight (+2%, p < .001) and exhibited significantly better feed efficiency (-1.6%, p < .001) in comparison with Controls. Similarly, analysis of pooled data of weaned piglet trials showed that CBM588-fed piglets were significantly heavier than Controls (+2.6%, p = .014), exhibited significantly higher mean daily gain (+4.7%; p = .004), and significantly improved feed efficiency (-4.2%, p = .001). In addition to the zootechnical efficacy studies, the preventive effect of CBM588 on necrotic enteritis (NE) was assessed in a natural challenge model in broilers where CBM588 reduced the incidence and severity of NE lesions. These data indicate the potential of CBM588 to improve broiler and weaned piglet zootechnical performance, and to make a positive contribution to animal health.

Simple SummaryDocosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an omega-3 fatty acid that is considered an essential part of the human diet. Increasing the amount of DHA in commonly consumed foodstuffs can benefit people predisposed to heart problems, depression, and even some forms of cancer. One of the best sources of DHA is oily fish, but the majority of people do not eat fish regularly. By formulating diets for livestock or poultry to include ingredients rich in omega-3 fatty acids, we can increase the omega-3 content of their respective meat and tissues. In this study we fed broilers diets supplemented with increasing amounts of a DHA-rich microalgae to investigate whether it was safe for the birds, in terms of their health and productivity and effective in terms of DHA transfer from feed to meat. The results of the present study showed that feeding the microalgae to chickens had no negative effects on their health in terms of their level of survival or growth. Moreover, we found that supplementing the microalgae resulted in a large increase in the DHA content of meat. This study demonstrated that feeding algae is a safe and effective way to improve the nutritional value of chicken meat.AbstractIt is well established that the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content of commonly consumed meats, such as chicken, can be increased through dietary supplementation with DHA-rich ingredients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the tolerance of broilers to dietary supplementation with the unextracted biomass of a DHA-rich microalgae Aurantiochytrium limacinum, so as to ensure its safety, since it is accumulated in broiler meat. Healthy day-old male Ross 308 chicks (n = 1120) were evenly distributed to 32 pens (35 chicks per pen), with pens randomly allocated to one of four dietary treatments, each having eight replicates. The dietary groups included one untreated control and three treatments corresponding to three inclusion levels (0.5, 2.5, and 5.0%) of All-G-Rich®, with the birds receiving the experimental diets ad libitum during the study (day 0–42). Bird survival, blood parameters, productivity, and breast and thigh DHA content were determined after 42 days of feeding. Supplementation at up to 10 times the intended use level had no negative effects on the mortality, blood parameters or productivity of the birds, while significant increases in the meat DHA content were observed. These results indicate that supplementation with Aurantiochytrium limacinum is a safe and effective way to increase broiler tissue DHA content.

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1. In the first experiment D-xylose, L-arabinose, D-galacturonic and D-glucuronic acids were fed ad libitum to young chicks for 2 weeks at 200 g/kg of diet and weight gains and food consumption were recorded. 2. L-arabinose and D-xylose did not depress food consumption in the first week but prolonged feeding caused food consumption to decrease and weight gain to be adversely affected. 3. D-galacturonic acid and D-glucuronic acid caused severe growth retardation as early as the first week of feeding, primarily because of voluntary starvation. 4. Apparent metabolisable energy values for the diets were obtained when chicks were 19 to 21 d of age and were 14.04 +/- 0.52, 12.03 +/- 0.61, 11.77 +/- 1.21, 11.68 +/- 0.34 and 11.66 +/- 0.45 KJ/g for the basal diet with glucose, xylose, arabinose, galacturonic and glucuronic acids respectively. 5. True metabolisable energy values for the diets were obtained from adult cockerels and were 15.07 +/- 0.16, 13.45 +/- 0.16, 13.12 +/- 0.37, 12.29 +/- 0.26 and 12.69 +/- 0.23 KJ/g for basal diet with glucose, xylose, arabinose, galacturonic and glucuronic acids respectively. 6. In the second experiment D-galactose, D-xylose, L-arabinose, D-galacturonic and D-glucuronic acid were fed ad libitum to young chicks for 3 weeks at 50 g/kg of diet and weight gains and food consumption were recorded. 7. Chicks grew and ate well on all diets. 8. The digestibilities of sugars and uronic acids were obtained by measurement of these constituents in diets and digesta using titanium dioxide as a marker. The digestibilities were 1.000 +/- 0.0, 0.997 +/- 0.002, 0.936 +/- 0.041, 0.628 +/- 0.103, 0.588 +/- 0.059, and 0.645 +/- 0.089 for D-glucose, D-galactose, D-xylose, L-arabinose, D-galacturonic and D-glucuronic acids respectively. 9. Both at 200 and 50 g/kg dietary inclusion there was noticeable caecal fermentation from L-arabinose, D-galacturonic and D-glucuronic acid. Only at 200 g/kg dietary inclusion did D-xylose produce significant evidence of caecal fermentation.