Drinking water supplementation ofPediococcus acidilactici improves breeder performance and immunity

The aim of the study was to compare three moulting procedures and their effect on productive performance, egg quality, and antibody response of leghorn hens. For this, a total of 324 laying hens were distributed into three treatment groups having 12 replicates of 9 birds each according to completely randomized design. Treatments consisted of three moulting procedures based on feed and light restriction. The targeted weight at the end of moulting was 1450-1470 g. As soon as the moulting procedure is complete, the comparative analysis of post-moult productive performance (feed intake, egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed per dozen eggs, feed per kg egg mass, livability), egg quality characteristics (egg weight, egg length and width, shape index, surface area, volume, albumen height, weight, Haugh unit score, yolk width, height, index, egg shell pore number, shell weight, thickness, breaking strength), and antibody response against Newcastle disease and avian influenza (H-9) were evaluated. Birds subjected to moulting procedure 3 (8 days fasting and gradual decrease in light) showed improvement in productive performance, egg geometry and quality traits, and antibody response against Newcastle disease virus. Birds experienced moulting procedure 1 (11 days fasting) had improved feed intake, egg production, and livability. However, birds moulted with procedure 2 (6 days fasting) revealed intermediate result in all the studied parameters. In conclusion, moulting through feed and light restriction with 8 days fasting and gradual reduction in light has potential to improve performance of leghorn hens.

Simultaneous and visual detection of infectious bronchitis virus and Newcastle disease virus by multiple LAMP and lateral flow dipstick

Vaccination with a recombinant Newcastle disease virus (NDV) LaSota (LS) strain expressing Arkansas (Ark) -type infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) spike ectodomain (Se) protein and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GMCSF) (rLS/ArkSe.GMCSF, where rLS stands for recombinant LS) was evaluated in chickens of commercial origin with NDV and IBV maternally derived antibodies (MDAs). Chickens were vaccinated ocularly with rLS/ArkSe.GMCSF at either 2, 8, 15, or 30 days of age (DOA). Control chickens were vaccinated with the rLS virus (not expressing IBV SE or GMCSF) on the same days. Specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens also were vaccinated with either virus at 2 days old. The results showed detection of NDV RNA in lacrimal fluids of vaccinated chickens, indicating successful replication of the recombinant virus at periocular mucosal sites. IBV IgA in lacrimal fluids and serum IBV antibodies were determined by ELISA using recombinant IBV Ark S1-protein-coated plates. Vaccination at 2 DOA with rLS/ArkSe.GMCSF in chickens with MDAs elicited an IBV IgA response in lacrimal fluids. Chickens with MDAs vaccinated with rLS/ArkSe.GMCSF at 8 days old showed IgA levels in lacrimal fluids not differing significantly from levels achieved upon vaccination at 2 DOA. Vaccination at 30 days old did not result in increased IBV IgA levels in tear fluids of birds with MDAs compared to unvaccinated birds with MDAs. Vaccination with rLS/ArkSe.GMCSF of chickens with MDAs resulted in limited IBV and NDV serum antibody responses. We conclude that vaccination with rLS/ArkSe.GMCSF induces IBV IgA at periocular mucosae but limited serum antibody responses in chickens with NDV MDAs.

An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of organic and nano trace minerals (copper, zinc, manganese and iron) at reduced levels in layer diets on various egg quality characteristics and its trace mineral content. 240 Hy- Line W80 layer birds of 29 weeks old were randomly distributed to five treatment groups with four replicates having twelve birds each. Basal diet was supplemented with inorganic trace minerals to meet 100 per cent requirement to form control diet or with organic trace minerals at 75 and 50% of requirement or with nano trace minerals at 50 and 25% of requirement to form four test diets. Each diet was offered to four replicate groups for 84 days which was conveniently divided into three phases of 28 days each. Egg quality parameters, viz. egg weight, egg shape index, albumen index, yolk index, yolk color score, Haugh unit score, egg shell weight, albumen weight and yolk weight among the treatment groups were not affected by source and level of trace minerals. However, egg shell thickness was significantly higher in 25% nano trace mineral group on 28th day. The trace minerals (Zn and Fe) in the yolk were significantly lower at reduced trace mineral levels (50% organic or nano and 25% nano form) when compared to 100% (inorganic) and 75% levels (organic form). It was concluded that the substitution of inorganic trace minerals with organic or nano trace minerals at reduced levels (50 or 25%, respectively) in layer diets does not affect the egg quality parameters, but reduces Zn and Fe content in egg yolk.

l. The growth of avian infectious bronchitis (IB) virus (IBV) in chicken kidneycell cultures was studied by the direct fluorescent antibody technique. The earliest visiblefluorescence was detected in a granularform in th cytoplasm 3 -4 hours after viral in-oculation. The fluorescence became diffuse gradually all over the cytoplasm, reaching amaximum at 12 hours.2. The occurrence of IBV antigen was studied on stamp-specimens prepared fromthe trachea of chickens inoculated with IBV. A detectable amount of fluorescence ap-peared 24 hours after virus inoculation. An almost constant level of fluorescence wasmaintained over an observation period of seven days. Fluorescence appeared in agranularform or diffusely in the cytoplasm.3. When a tracheal specimen from the normal chicken was stained with anti-IBfluorescent antibody, or when one from the IB-infected chicken was allowed to reactwith FITC-conjugated rnormal 7-globulin, no fluorescence was observed on the specimen.No fluorescence was detected from a tracheal specimen from the Newcastle-disease (ND)-infected chicken stained with anti-IB fluorescent antibody, though ND virus antigen wasobviously demonstrated with anti-ND virus fluorescent antibody. These findings indicatethat the fluorescence detected frorn the tracheal specimen from the IB-infected chickenstained with anti-[B fluorescent antibody reflects IBV-specific antigen.

A survey of antibodies against infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), Newcastle disease virus (NDV), and reovirus (RV) was conducted in broiler-breeder flocks and selected progeny broiler flocks utilizing the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Marked differences in antibody titers between different breeder flocks were related to differences in vaccination programs. Poor performance in some progeny broiler flocks was related to low antibody titers against IBDV in the source breeder flocks. Progeny broiler flocks in which there was a high incidence of condemnations for airsacculitis had elevated antibody titers against IBV. A few progeny broiler flocks that experienced high mortality due to gangrenous dermatitis had no antibody titers against IBDV at processing. Antibody titers against RV were very variable and could not be related to any production problems.

Comparative efficacy of a field-strain matched bivalent inactivated vaccine against contemporary newcastle disease and infectious bronchitis viruses in Egypt.

SUMMARY At 35 days of age, chickens which as 1-day-old chicks were inoculated with the infectious bursal disease virus (ibdv) had significantly lower antibody titers against Mycoplasma synoviae, Newcastle disease virus, and infectious bronchitis virus than did those never inoculated with ibdv. The ibdv also had a marked effect on the development of air-sac lesions. Birds infected with ibdv that were later inoculated with M synoviae (day 14), Newcastle disease virus (days 14 and 28), and infectious bronchitis virus (days 14 and 28) experienced an increased incidence and greater seversity of airsacculitis than did chicks which were not exposed to ibdv.

Vitamins are essential micronutrients the body requires in small quantities for various roles. When included in poultry feed, vitamins play significant roles in the physiological and metabolic processes of poultry. Different vitamins perform different functions in the animal’s body. For instance, vitamin A is necessary for good feathering, egg production and good growth. A severe deficiency of vitamin A in poultry gives the birds an appearance that resembles suffering from chronic respiratory disease, a cold, or other kinds of diagnostics. Other symptoms such as nasal discharge, edema of the face, and so on, may be visible in vitamin A deficient chickens. Accumulated lines of evidence indicated that nanotechnology, a new technique that involves the manipulation of particles into tiny bits of between 1-100 nanometer (nm), is able to increase the efficiency of nanominerals such as chromium and selenium on poultry performance. However, the effects of nanoparticle vitamins on poultry production have not been elucidated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of nanoparticle vitamins and commercial vitamin on broiler chickens performance. Two vitamin products, nanoparticle vitamin (containing vitamin A, D3, E, K3, B1, B2, B12 and C) and commercial vitamin (content unknown) were evaluated on a total of 330 one-day-old male broiler chickens (Arbor Acres). Birds were randomly assigned to 0 (control, 1000ml drinking water), 1000x (1ml vitamin+1000ml drinking water) and 2000x (0.5ml vitamin+1000ml drinking water) groups of commercial vitamin and nanoparticle vitamin with three replicates per treatment (18 chickens per cage) for 35 day. All chickens were fed a basal diet formulated according to the National Research Council (NRC 1994) standard. On day 7 and 14, all the chickens were vaccinated against Newcastle disease and infectious bronchitis (IB). Body weight of individual chickens in every group (18 birds/group) and average feed intake per group was measured and recorded. In addition, the metabolism and absorption of vitamin A was examined during the experiment. A total of 72 one-day-old male broilers (Arbor Acres) were randomly assigned to 4 cages and fed a basal diet for 28 days. On the 28th day, 60 chickens were randomly selected and force fed with nanoparticle vitamins and commercial vitamins; after which the birds were sacrificed and blood and livers samples were collected for analysis. At the end of the experiment (35 days), 5 chickens per group were randomly selected and sacrificed and their organs were collected and weighed immediately and the breast and thigh meat was analyzed after sacrifice. Blood and liver samples were collected and stored at -20°C until processed. The parameters measured included: growth rate, feed intake, feed conversion, immune response, organ weights, blood vitamin A, liver vitamin A, blood biochemistry, and breast and thigh searing force. The results showed that the body weight gain of 2000x, 1000x and 2000x commercial vitamin groups were significantly higher than that of the control. In addition, feed conversion ratio results showed that 2000x commercial vitamin and 2000x nanoparticle vitamins were significantly higher than the control. In addition, all treatments except for 1000x commercial vitamin had a significantly higher liver weight than the control. Apart from the body weight, feed conversion ratio, and liver weight, no other significant differences were obtained from other parameters that were measured. Therefore, this study was able to demonstrate that using 2000x of both the nanoparticle vitamin and the commercial vitamin can enhance the growth performance of broilers. When considering feed efficiency as a factor for production, this study showed that using 2000x nanoparticle vitamin and 1000x and 2000x commercial vitamin is sufficient to enhance a good feed utilization of broilers.

Effects of dietary iron on reproductive performance of Chinese Yellow broiler breeder hens during the egg-laying period

The study was conducted to know the rate of maternally derived antibodies (MDAs) transfer from parents to their offspring and declining the MDAs in their chicks at 0, 7, 14, and 21 days of age against four major poultry viruses like Newcastle disease virus (NDV), Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), Infectious bursal diseases virus (IBDV), and Avian Reo virus (ARV). The MDAs was studied on Grandparent (GP) to Parent stock (PS), and Parent stock (PS) to broiler at 30 weeks and 50 weeks of age in Cobb-500 broiler strain chicken. The MDAs was measured from serum antibody titer by indirect ELISA test. The MDAs transfer rate against NDV from GP to PS at 50 weeks of age was higher (68.82%) than at 30 weeks of age but in case of PS to broiler it was higher (66.01%) at 30 weeks of age and its persistent rate also higher (7.96%) up to 21th days of age. Against IBV, MDAs transfer rates were higher in PS to broiler than GP to PS of both ages and highest rates were revealed in PS to broiler at 30 weeks of age as 70.72%. On the other hand, among all lines MDAs transfer rates against IBDV was higher (86.94%) in GP to PS at 30 weeks of age. For ARV, the MDAs transfer rates were highest in GP to PS in both ages than PS to broiler and within GP to PS at 50 weeks of age, it was highest (94.87%) than 30 weeks of age. Accordingly, the poultry producer may help to develop an effective vaccination schedule by considering the MDAs from above experiment.

Recombinant Newcastle disease virus (NDV) LaSota (LS) expressing secreted trimeric spike (S)-ectodomain (Se) of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) (rLS/IBV.Se) was developed and evaluated for protection conferred against IBV challenge. The IBV S-ectodomain protein, which is S excluding the transmembrane anchor and short cytoplasmic domain of S2, expressed from recombinant LS corresponds to an Arkansas (Ark)-type IBV. In a first experiment, chickens were primed at 1 day of age or primed at 1 day of age and boosted at 14 days of age with 104 50% embryo infectious doses (EID50)/bird of rLS/IBV.Se and challenged with a virulent Ark strain. A single vaccination proved completely ineffective at protecting chickens against challenge, whereas priming and boosting reduced clinical signs and tracheal lesions but did not reduce viral load in lachrymal fluids. In experiment 2, the vaccine dose was increased to 107 EID50/bird and a different virulent Ark strain was used for challenge. In addition, chickens were singly immunized on either day 1 or day 10 after hatch. NDV antibody levels detected in vaccinated chickens were moderate, with hemagglutination inhibition titers varying between 4 and 5 log2. Slightly higher antibody levels to NDV were observed in chickens vaccinated on day 10 versus day 1 but without the difference achieving statistical significance. In contrast, antibody responses measured using recombinant IBV S1 protein-coated ELISA plates were significantly greater in chickens vaccinated on day 10 than on day 1. The use of a higher rLS/IBV.Se dose substantially enhanced the success of a single vaccination compared to experiment 1. Signs and tracheal lesions were reduced more effectively in chickens vaccinated at day 10 after hatch. However, as in experiment 1, vaccination did not reduce the viral loads in tear fluids of challenged chickens. Similar results, in which no reduction in viral load in the trachea was apparent from rLS/IBV.S vaccination, have been obtained by others. Further work is needed to understand the immune responses induced by this recombinant virus that seems to provide some protection against the disease but does not reduce viral loads in the upper respiratory tract.

Egg quality could influence the price of the table and hatching eggs. However, the effects of hen’s live body weight on egg characteristics are poorly understood. The present study evaluated the influence of body weight (BW) on egg characteristics, such as egg width (EWD), shell weight (SW), egg length (EL), albumen weight (AW), yolk weight (YW), shell surface index (SI), albumen ratio (AR), shell ratio (SR), and yolk ratio (YR) of White Leghorn chicken. A total of 100 White Leghorn chickens at 30 weeks of age were used in the current study of which 300 eggs were collected. Live body weight was classified into three groups namely, small (≤ 195g), medium (196-220g), and large (≥ 221g). The results revealed that the White Leghorn layer’s live body weight was positively influenced by the eggshell index and egg length. Additionally, the results indicated that body weight did not affect EW, SW, EWD, SR, YW, AW, AR, and YR. In conclusion, the live body weight influences egg length and shell index in the White Leghorn chicken breed.

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a highly contagious viral disease of the chicken. It is possibly the most economically important viral respiratory disease of chicken after Avian Influenza and Newcastle disease. The virus also affects the female reproductive tract, causing poor quality of egg and loss of egg production. The study was conducted in four types of chicken (broiler, layer, sonali and Deshi) from 7 sub-districts under 4 districts of Bangladesh. Total 833 blood samples from 103 farms were collected and subjected to indirect ELISA test by commercially available IBV ELISA kits to detect specific antibodies against IBV. In overall 59.30% seroprevalence observed, 23.82% was found in broiler, 97.87% in layer, 71.83% in sonali and 83.46% in Deshi types of chickens. Broiler samples showed lowest seroprevalence with high CV (CV%=171.38), among them 76.18% were not seroconvert because of high maternal antibody or poor vaccine response. Layers showed highest seroprevalence with CV% 58.86 that is 18.00% chickens shows titer above 14000 which indicated field infection. Deshi chickens were not commercially vaccinated even though they had high seroprevalence rates 83.46% with mean titer 5333 and CV% 79.88, indicating that IBV is circulating as endemic diseases in the selected areas. Sonali chickens now reared as commercial chicken, have lower seroprevalence rates with mean titer 3160, CV% 128.39 indicating that these birds were not properly vaccinated as they required. To prevent the flocks from IBV, live and attenuated vaccination is required according to circulating strains.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. March 2018, 4(1): 132-136

BACKGROUND: Numerous feed additives, such as probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids, and enzymes, have the potential to optimize weight gain, feed efficiency and maintain the acid-base balance which eventually contributes to improve production performance. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the possible advantages of lemon juice (LJ) on laying performance, egg quality, serum biochemical properties, and layers' ability to recover from heat stress. METHODOLOGY: Ninety-six Hy-Line Brown layers all 29 weeks were randomly assigned to four treatments, each with six replications, and were given a six-hour daily drinking experiment. The birds were provided with 0% (control), 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% LJ respectively for 6 weeks. The temperature, humidity, hen day egg production (HDEP) and egg weight (EW) were recorded. Egg quality indices were measured bi-weekly. An analysis of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), blood glucose, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), packed cell volume (PCV), heterophil (H), lymphocyte (L) count, and heterophil-lymphocyte (H/L) ratio was performed on the blood sample collected at the end of the experiment. KEY FINDINGS: The studied parameters among the various treated groups showed that the egg weight, feed conversion ratio (FCR), egg quality parameters, HDL, TG, AST, heterophil count, lymphocyte count and H/L ratio did not differ significantly (P > 0.05). HDEP, egg mass output (EMO) and FI differed significantly (P < 0.01) compared to the control group. The significant reduction in TC, LDL, glucose, ALT, increase in feed intake, HDEP and PCV showed that LJ had a positive effect in reducing the adverse effects of heat stress in laying pullets. CONCLUSION: Taken together, it may be concluded that LJ can be used to improve the laying performance and reduce the heat stress in layers.