Colostrum is a nutrient-dense fluid secreted by female mammals for the first few days following birth. Colostrum can be supplemented to poultry diets as a feed additive due to its nutritious and performance-enhancing properties. This study was conducted to determine the effect of dietary colostrum powder (CL-P, Alpha Lipid Lifeline Colostrum, New Zealand) on growing performance, carcass weight and yield, organ weights, serum vitamins and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica). A total of 90 birds, one day old, were divided into 3 groups consisting of 6 replicate cages, 5 birds per cage. Birds were randomly fed on one of three diets: basal diet and basal diet supplemented with 2.5% or 5% of CL-P. At the end of the period of 42 days, CL-P supplementation increased final body weight (P < .0001), weight gain (P < .0001), feed intake (P = .03), feed efficiency (P < .0001), carcass weight (P < .0001) and carcass yield (P < .01). Amounts of serum MDA (P < .001) levels also increased with increasing supplemental CL-P. As a result, growth performance can be improved and serum lipid peroxidation can effectively be attenuated by dietary CL-P supplementation at 5% of diets in Japanese quail.

One hundred and four rabbits, five weeks old at the beginning of the experiment, were divided into four groups according to a feed additive treatment. Rabbits of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th group were fed a basal granulated feed (control), basal feed supplemented with CuSO4.5H2O at 50 mg Cu.kg-1, basal feed supplemented with 150 mg Cu.kg-1, and the latter feed supplemented with 100 mg.kg-1 vitamin E, respectively. The duration of the experiment was 42 days. Addition of Cu at 150 mg.kg-1 increased weight gain non-significantly by 9.1%. This effect was the most pronounced in the first two weeks of fattening. The lowest mortality was observed in rabbits fed the highest amount of additives (7.7% vs. 19.2% in the control). Rabbits were slaughtered at the age of 11 weeks. Neither treatment influenced proportions of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids in lipids extracted from the loin and hindleg muscles. In rabbits fed the highest amount of copper and vitamin E, the cholesterol concentration was significantly decreased by 13.6% and 17.9% in the loin and hindleg meat, respectively. Effects of Cu added at 50 mg.kg-1 were marginal. Copper had no effect on the oxidative stability of meat, measured as thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances in meat stored at 4 degrees C for 0, 3 and 8 days. Vitamin E added in excess of nutritional requirement improved the oxidative stability of meat. In copper-fed rabbits, Cu accumulated in the liver, but not in muscles. Feeding of the basal feed for 7 days to rabbits previously fed copper sulphate decreased the hepatic Cu concentration by 14.0 to 24.4%.

There are small number of tables that show digestibility and energy contents of compound feeds produced by feed factory in different regions of Turkey. Thus, in this paper, four different compound feed types (dairy cattle, beef cattle, calf and lamb growing feeds), totalling 78 compound feeds were analysed to determine their feeding value, dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) digestibility and energy content (digestible energy (DE), metabolisable energy (ME) and net energy for lactation (NEL). As a result of this study, the crude fiber (CF) levels were higher than standard values in calf and lamb compound feeds and beef cattle compound feeds; however, in the dairy cattle and calf and lamb compound feeds, the crude protein (CP) values were lower than standard values. These findings are considered highly important for the region's animal feeding. According to our results, the compound feeds for dairy cattle and lamb being used for ruminant nutrition in Diyarbakir Province of Turkey were found to have low nutrient qualities; however, in the calf feed both the metabolisable energy level and nutrient quantities were low. Keywords IntroductionTo increase the healthful eating of animal products as an important part of our society, it is necessary to feed the animals in a rational way. In particular, the quantity and quality of proteins in animal feed are important. The feeding values and energy content of animal feeds vary according to, soil conditions, climate and processing methods etc. There are a small number tables that show digestibility and energy contents of compound feeds produced in different regions of Turkey. Low-quality feedstuffs can cause serious nutritional disorders in animals (Çelik et al., 2003;Ergün et al., 2004;Baran, 2014). In order to prevent health problems that arise from imbalanced and insufficient nutrition, it is essential to use a higher quality of animal products to manufacture feeds in animal nutrition (Akdeniz et al., 2005;Baran, 2014;Oğuz et al., 2016).The nutrient content of feed materials used in compound feed production has been shown in the tables grouped in different sources (Dale and Batal 2005;Baran et al., 2008a). Baran et al. (2008b), working in the Diyarbakir province, studied the nutritional content of compound feeds for ruminants. Excluding beef cattle feed from the other compound feeds, they found that the feeds below the declared level of crude protein, while the crude fiber content was higher than declared.There is a close relationship between the digestibility of feeds in terms of organic matter digestibility and energy (Turgut et al., 2002;Denek and Deniz 2004;Ergün et al., 2004). A fast and accurate method for determining the nutritional value of compound feed is of great importance. The determination of feed value is currently made through chemical and biological analyses. However, chemical analyses cannot adequately measure the real value of animal feeds; the actual feed quality depends on an evaluation of the nutrients in the context of the animals being fed (Kara ...

This study was conducted to compare the effects of dietary clinoptilolite on nutrient digestibility and relative organ weights in rats. In this study, 24 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 4 groups with 3 replicates, according to a randomized split plots design. In addition to a control group (0% clinoptilolit), 3 levels of clinoptilolite (2%, 4%, and 6%) were used in the diets, and the rats were fed (individually in cages) these diets for 56 days. Statistically significant differences were found among the groups for the digestibility rates of nutrients (P<0.05), except for crude fibre (CF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF). The addition of clinoptilolite in rats' feeds reduced the digestibility of crude fibre, crude ash (CA), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF), but increased the digestibility of other nutrients. Slaughter live, organs (liver, kidney, heart, and stomach) and relative organ weights were not affected significantly by the clinoptilolite contents (P>0.05). In conclusion, clinoptilolites can be used in animal feed as natural toxin binders when stored under suitable conditions.

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