Effects of ionised or chelated water-soluble mineral mixture supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood characteristics, meat quality and intestinal microbiota in broilers

Advances in enteropathogen control throughout the meat chicken production chain

Enteropathogens, namely Salmonella and Campylobacter, are a concern in global public health and have been attributed in numerous risk assessments to a poultry source. During the last decade, a large body of research addressing this problem has been published. The literature reviewed contains review articles on certain aspects of poultry production chain; however, in the past decade there has not been a review on the entire chain-farm to fork-of poultry production. For this review, a pool of 514 articles were selected for relevance via a systematic screening process (from >7500 original search articles). These studies identified a diversity of management and intervention strategies for the elimination or reduction of enteropathogens in poultry production. Many studies were laboratory or limited field trials with implementation in true commercial operations being problematic. Entities considering using commercial antienteropathogen products and interventions are advised to perform an internal validation and fit-for-purpose trial as Salmonella and Campylobacter serovars and biovars may have regional diversity. Future research should focus on nonchemical application within the processing plant and how a combination of synergisticinterventions through the production chain may contribute to reducing the overall carcass burden of enteropathogens, coupled with increased consumer education on safe handling and cooking of poultry.

Effects of water supplementation of an organic acid-trace mineral complex on production and slaughter parameters, intestinal histomorphology, and macronutrient digestibility in growing ostriches

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of water supplementation of organic acid-chelated trace minerals (OTM) on production traits, carcass characteristics, intestinal histomorphology, and nutrient digestibility in African ostrich chicks from 8 to 12 mo of age. A total of 20 growing ostriches, with almost similar body weight (73.4 to 75.8 kg), were individually distributed in outdoor paddocks of ≈ 24 m2 and were randomly allocated into 1 of the following 4 treatments: (1) control/basal diet, (2) low OTM (basal diet + 100 mg/bird/day OTM powder in water), (3) medium OTM (basal diet + 1 g/bird/day OTM powder in water), and (4) high OTM (basal diet + 2 g/bird/day OTM powder in water). The body weight gain and feed conversion efficiency were greater (P < 0.05) in ostriches receiving medium-OTM treatment compared to control during the overall phase of the experiment. Although whole carcass yield, the yield of parts, and the relative weights of internal organs were not affected by experimental treatments, supplementation of higher amounts of OTM (medium- and high-OTM) resulted in a decrease (P < 0.05) in the subcutaneous and abdominal fat contents. Medium- and high-OTM treatments increased (P < 0.05) the villus height/crypt depth ratio in the jejunum and ileum compared with control and low-OTM treatments. Moreover, ostriches receiving the medium-OTM had also higher total tract apparent digestibility of energy (P = 0.048), ether extract (P = 0.050), crude fiber (P = 0.063), and higher AMEn (P = 0.094) than the control group. Overall, supplementation of OTM at the level of 1 g/bird/day to the drinking water of growing ostriches fed diets containing the recommended levels of inorganic trace minerals could beneficially affect productive performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal morphology.

Effect of different levels of copper nanoparticles and copper sulphate on performance, metabolism and blood biochemical profiles in broiler chicken

A study was conducted to investigate the influence of copper administration in ovo to chicken embryos and/or supplied in drinking water to growing chickens in the form copper nanoparticles (Cu-NP) or copper sulphate (CuSO₄ ). The fertilised eggs were assigned to three groups (n = 50 per group): control (not injected), injected with 50 mg/kg Cu-NP or with 50 mg/kg CuSO₄ at day 1 of incubation. Thereafter, 126 one-day-old broiler chickens were randomly assigned to seven post-hatched groups: control not injected and not provided with Cu in the drinking water, injected with 50 mg/kg Cu-NP + 20 mg/kg in water, not injected + 20 mg/kg Cu-NP in water, injected with 50 mg/kg CuSO₄  + 20 mg/kg in water, not injected + 20 mg/kg CuSO₄ in water, injected with 50 mg/kg Cu-NP and injected with 50 mg/kg CuSO₄ . The experiment was carried out from day 1 to 35 post-hatching. The in ovo injection of Cu improved the final body weight, average daily gain and feed conversion ratio in relation to the control group. Conversely, the provision of Cu in the drinking water had less of an effect on growth performance in comparison with the injected groups. A significant improvement was shown in energy and nitrogen utilisation, being better for Cu-NP than CuSO₄ . The cholesterol, urea and glucose levels in the blood were reduced by Cu-NP treatment in relation to the other groups. The relative weight of the liver was decreased, while bursa of Fabricius was increased in Cu groups in relation to the control group. Cu excretion was only reduced in chickens injected with 50 mg/kg Cu-NP + 20 mg/kg in water. The immune-related genes were not affected by the treatments. The in ovo injection of Cu-NP might improve broiler performance more efficiently than the injection of CuSO₄ or the provision of Cu-NP and/or CuSO₄ in drinking water.