mohammad houshmand; Mokhtar Khajavi; siamak parsaei
Volume 19, Issue 4 , March 2018, , Pages 891-904
Abstract
This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary inclusion of different levels of oak acorn(OA) with and without choline addition in broilers diet. A total of 528 one-day-old chicks were used in a factorial arrangement based on completely randomized design, with six treatments, four ...
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This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary inclusion of different levels of oak acorn(OA) with and without choline addition in broilers diet. A total of 528 one-day-old chicks were used in a factorial arrangement based on completely randomized design, with six treatments, four replicates and 22 chicks per each. Two studied factors were choline (0 and 0.3 % diet) and OA(0, 15 and 20% diet). In starter (d 1-21) and finisher (d 22-42) diets, corn was replaced with 15 and 20 % OA, without any change in percentage of other dietary feed ingredients. The findings indicated that feeding birds with diets containing 20 % OA reduced body weight gain during starter, finisher and entire period (d 1-42) of the study when compared to the diet without OA (P<0.05). Dietary inclusion of 15 and 20 % OA increased feed conversion ratio (except for 15 % OA in finisher phase) compared to the level of 0 %, throughout the study (P<0.05). Dietary supplementation with 0.3 % choline improved starter and overall feed conversion ratio(P<0.05).There was no significant interaction between OA level and choline for body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Replacing corn with OA resulted in a significant reduction in tibia bone ash weight/length index, at 42-day of age (P<0.05). In conclusion, substitution of corn with 15 and 20 % OA reduced the performance of broilers. Addition of choline did not prevent reduction in performance of OA-fed birds.
Sahere Gharibi; Mohammad Houshmand; Reza Naghiha
Volume 17, Issue 2 , October 2015, , Pages 403-413
Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the influences of raw or acetic acid-treated oak acornon the performance and cecal flora of broiler chickens. A total of 340 one-day-old male and female Cobb 500 broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized design consisting of five treatments with four ...
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This study was conducted to investigate the influences of raw or acetic acid-treated oak acornon the performance and cecal flora of broiler chickens. A total of 340 one-day-old male and female Cobb 500 broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized design consisting of five treatments with four replicates and 17 chicks each. First group was fed with a corn-based diet (without oak acorn) as control, while the chicks of groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 were fed with diets containing 20 or 25 percent raw or treated oak acorn, respectively. The results indicated that treatment with acetic acid significantly reduced content of the all phenol components (total phenol, total tannin and condensed tannins). Dietary inclusion of raw oak acorn at the levels of 20 and 25 percent, significantly reduced broilers body weight gain (P<0.05). However, this reduction was not observed for treated groups. Feeding with raw or treated oak acorn resulted in higher feed conversion ratio compared with the control group (P<0.05). E. coli and lactic acid bacteria counts were not affected by dietary treatments at 21 or 42 day of the study. In conclusion, dietary inclusion of 20 and 25 percent raw or treated oak acorn resulted in a significant reduction in broilers performance and hence, it is not recommended.