Diets calculated to be deficient in dietary salt were fed in a controlled experiment to individually caged chickens in egg production to evaluate the susceptibility of laying hens to less than the National Research Council's (N.R.C.) recommended level, 0.370% salt.The response of 600 laying hens was evaluated on either the control diet, which had 0.500% dietary salt added, or for one of these assumed to be deficient. These diets had either 0.250%, 0.125% or 0.000% dietary salt added to practical diets.Significant declines in egg production resulted for the 0.000% groups. These birds were then returned to the control diet and immediately recovered as measured by egg production rate. Complete recovery was achieved in four weeks. The regression analysis shows that the 0.250% and 0.125% groups also decline in egg production rates as compared to the controls. However, the decline trend in these groups became evident after a delayed period of four to five weeks following treatments.Low dietary salt significantly reduced body weight and feed consumption among layers 56 weeks of age or older. Over 60% of the hens subject to the zero (0.000%) added salt (NaCl) level were in heavy molt during the third week of treatment. The low salt treatments did not have any significant effects on egg weight, egg shell thickness, shell strength or albumen height.

Daily spermatozoal output (DSO) was estimated by determining the total number of spermatozoa in ejaculates of male line breeder turkeys ejaculated daily for 15 days. The DSO was constant at 520 million spermatozoa after the first 6 days of semen collection. Testicular spermatozoal reserves (TSR) and extragonadal sperm reserves (EGR) were measured 24 h after the last semen collection from turkeys ejaculated 1 x/day for 15 consecutive days (ejaculated) and 21 days after the last semen collection from turkeys previously ejaculated 1 x/wk for 12 wk (rested). The TSR concentrations were similar (P greater than .05) for ejaculated and rested groups, respectively: 117 x 10(6) and 119 x 10(6)/g for right testis; 127 x 10(6) and 135 x 10(6)/g for left testis. The total TSR were also similar (P greater than .05): 3,308 x 10(6) (ejaculated) and 4,343 x 10(6) (rested). However, EGR for ejaculated and rested groups were significantly different, with the following values, respectively: ductus deferens, 3,160 x 10(6) and 10,320 x 10(6) (P = .0005); epididymis, 58 x 10(6) and 204 x 10(6) (P less than .004); total EGR, 3,248 x 10(6) and 10,524 x 10(6) (P less than .005). This study shows that although TSR was not affected by daily semen collection, EGR was depleted by 70% of the rested value (P less than .005) when the turkeys were ejaculated daily for 15 days.

A study was conducted on the Teaching and Research Farm of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria to evaluate the nutritional suitability of four treatments, namely a commercial type broiler diet as compared with the commercial diet supplemented with either fresh centrosema (Centrosema molle), pueraria (Pueraria phaseoloides), or waterleaf (Talinium triangulare) leaves. These diets were fed to 120 day-old chicks (Lohmann Brown) over a 62-day period with treatments arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD). Chemical composition of broiler basal diets differed significantly from the three green foliage supplements. Dry matter (DM) of leaf meals ranged from 97.8 to 227.0 g kg -1 which was significantly (P < 0.05) lower than that of broiler basal diets which averaged 900 g kg -1 . Crude protein (CP) of leaf meals, however, ranged from 182.0 to 244.0 g kg -1 which was generally higher than basal diets (130-153 g kg -1 ). Similarly, crude fiber (CF) was highest for centrosema and pueraria leaves (330-342 g kg -1 ) and lowest in basal diets (164-222 g kg -1 ). However, ether extract (EE) and nitrogen-free extract (NFE) were significantly higher in broiler basal diets. Broiler daily and total feed intake over 62 days were similar between treatments and the control, averaging 112 g d -1 , while diets containing waterleaf were slightly (2.5%) lower. Total and daily bodyweight (BW) gains (2110 g and 34 g d -1 ) were also similar between treatments and the control, except that gains where the broiler diet was supplemented with centrosema foliage were 2.9% higher. A higher feed conversion ratio (FCR) and lower protein efficiency ratio (PER) for the diet supplemented with pueraria indicates a higher feed efficiency and better protein efficiency in the commercial control diet. Carcass characteristics with the commercial control diet included greater (P < 0.05) intestinal length and gizzard and spleen weights than with green foliage supplements. However, broiler carcass weight was generally lowest (P < 0.05) in the control group (64.3 g/100 g BW) and highest in the waterleaf group (71.3 g/100 g BW). Small differences in carcass weight among the treatments tested reduces the effectiveness of green feeds for practical and economic intensive broiler production. However, increased effectiveness of green feed supplementation for broiler production might likely be observed where broilers are managed on fenced rangelands planted to selected green feeds or in integrated systems where other livestock (rabbits, sheep, goats, etc.) are jointly reared. These results support the recommendation that leaf meals of green feeds should be incorporated into broiler diets in future studies.

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