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The objective of this experiment was to study the effect of dietary supplementation of Coenzyme Q10 on broiler growth rate, carcass characteristics and cost of production. A biological trial was carried out with 270 broiler chicks fed with coenzyme Q10 at 0, 20 and 40 mg/kg of diet at each of the three energy levels. At the end of 42 days growth period the birds were sacrificed and the samples were analysed. Feed intake was comparable in all the energy and CoQ10 combinations, but higher body weight gain and better feed efficiency with less feed cost per kilogram weight gain was observed in high energy group supplemented with 20 mg of CoQ10/kg diet. The dressing percentages, weight of giblet, liver, spleen, abdominal fat, intestinal length were not significantly altered by CoQ10 supplementation. The heart weight, gizzard weight and ascites heart weight (AHI) were significantly decreased due to CoQ10 supplementation. Hence, birds fed with high energy diet supplemented with 20 mg CoQ10 per kg of diet had higher production performance.

SummaryThis study was carried out on 2 309 households in 60 villages with the objective of documenting the performance of Mecheri sheep in their native environment. The study revealed that Mecheri sheep were distributed in Salem, Erode, Karur, Namakkal and parts of Dharmapuri districts of Tamil Nadu. This tract lies in the north-western agro-climatic zone of Tamil Nadu and the climate is generally hot, semi-arid and tropical in nature.The average flock size of Mecheri sheep was 24, of which, there were 1 ram, 17 ewes and 6 lambs. Mecheri sheep of medium size with a compact body and covered with short hairs, which are not shorn. They are light brown in colour. Their profile reveals a slightly Roman nose. Both males and females are polled. The pooled means for height at withers, chest girth and body length at above 24 months of age were 67±0.4, 74±0.4 and 66±0.4 cm, respectively. The body weight of the animals at birth 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age was 2.82±0.01, 10.9±0.1, 15.6±0.1, 17.6±0.2 and 21.1±0.1, kg respectively. The dressing percentage of males and females was 54.4±0.4 and 51.8±0.5, respectively. Average ages at first oestrus, mating and lambing were 12.1±0.1, 12.4±0.1 and 17.4±0.1 months, respectively. The average lambing interval was 226±0.7 days and the average litter size was one.

Aim:An in vivo experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of supplementation of cinnamon oil (CO) and sodium butyrate on carcass characteristics and meat quality of broiler chicken compared with the antibiotic supplementation.Materials and Methods:A biological experiment was carried out with 216-day-old Vencobb-400 broiler chicks randomly distributed to six experimental treatments with six replicates, each replicate containing six chicks with equal numbers of male and female chicks. The experimental diets were prepared with isocaloric and isonitrogenous basis. The experimental groups, namely control (T1), control with antibiotic (T2), control with CO at 250 mg/kg and coated sodium butyrate (CSB) either at 0.09 (T3) or 0.18% (T4), and control with CO at 500 mg/kg and CSB either at 0.09 (T5) or 0.18% (T6). The trial was carried out in deep litter pen for 35 days. The carcass characteristics such as ready to cooked yield, eviscerated weight, heart, liver, gizzard, giblet, and abdominal fat percent in slaughtered birds and meat quality properties such as pH, water-holding capacity (WHC), tyrosine, shear force, cooking loss, thiobarbituric acid, sensory characteristics, and muscle cholesterol in breast muscle samples were evaluated.Results:The carcass characteristics such as ready-to-cook yield, eviscerated weight, and weight of heart, liver, gizzard, giblet, and abdominal fat as a percent of live body weight were not influenced by supplementation of CO and CSB at the levels attempted or by antibiotic supplementation in broilers. The pH, cooking loss, shear force and WHC of meat, appearance, flavor, texture, mouth coating, juiciness and overall acceptability of meat were not influenced by the supplementation of different levels of CO and CSB or by antibiotic supplementation but decreased meat cholesterol level in broilers.Conclusion:The results indicated that the supplementation of CO and CSB in broiler diet did not alter the carcass characteristics and meat quality parameters except meat cholesterol content in broilers.

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