f. fatahnia

 Suboptimal levels of kid survival are the largest contributor to reproductive wastage in goat flocks. This results in substantial loss of production, producer, and industry income, and is increasingly being perceived as poor animal welfare. Improving kid survival is therefore a priority for the industry. Nutrient provision during gestation not only affects maternal status and reproductive performance but also affects prenatal and postnatal offspring growth and health. Although trace minerals (TM) are needed by the body in small amounts, they are essential nutrients for several metabolic functions such as growth, development, reproduction, and immunity. Furthermore, newborn animals are dependent upon their dams for the transfer of these nutrients via the placenta and the mammary gland. The antibodies obtained from colostrum are the only defense mechanism against environmental factors in neonatal ruminants. Inadequate nutrition of the dam, immune system suppression, and stress factors may lead to the production of low-quality colostrum. Management and feeding of high-quality colostrum can reduce kid mortality, strengthen immunity, and increase animal life span. Nutrition affects the development of the mammary gland, the onset of lactogenesis, and colostrum production, either by affecting some of the hormones that control these processes or by contributing nutrients that are in demand at this stage of pregnancy. Selenium plays an important role in preventing impaired function of the immune response. Copper deficiency has been shown to result in lowered bactericidal activities of blood leukocytes in ruminant animals. Zinc sufficiency has also been linked to proper immune functions. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of TM injection in late pregnancy on colostrum quality and plasma metabolites of Lori does and their kids.
Thirty Lori mature does with an average body weight of 40 kg and an age of 2-3 years were used. One month before the expected kidding, animals were divided into two groups (n=15 does/group) and randomly assigned to experimental treatments. Experimental treatments were no injection of trace minerals (Control; C) and injection of 1 mL of TM at four and two weeks before expected kidding. Blood samples were taken through the jugular vein. Each mL of TM solution contained 2.5 mg of Cu, 1.25 mg of Se, 5 mg of Mn, and 5 mg of Zn. All does were kept in similar nutritional and managerial conditions from mating to one month before kidding.
Results showed that plasma concentrations of glucose and total cholesterol (TC) tended to be higher and lower in the TM group at day 7 before kidding, respectively (P=0.06). Experimental treatments did not affect plasma triglyceride (TG), Ca, and Mg concentrations, and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activity of does at day 7 before kidding (P>0.05). Whereas, TM injection before mating decreased plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) and increased total protein (TP), BRIX index (BI), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and total antioxidant activity at day 7 before kidding (P<0.05). Colostrum of does received TM had a higher fat, protein, and BI content and a lower lactose content than the colostrum of the C group (P<0.05). Plasma concentrations of glucose and MDA were lower in kids born from does received TM than those born from the C group (P<0.05). Experimental treatments did not affect plasma concentrations of TC, Ca, and Mg concentrations in kids (P>0.05). Kids born from does received TM had higher plasma concentrations of TG, TP, BI and SOD, GPX, and total antioxidant activity than those of the C group (P<0.05).
According to the results of the present experiment, injection of a TM solution containing Cu, Zn, Se, and Mn four and two weeks before birth increased the concentrations of TP and BI as well as the activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GPX) and antioxidant capacity and reduced MDA concentration in Lori goat plasma. This improved the quality of colostrum produced by these does. Kids born from does receiving trace minerals had higher plasma concentrations of TP, BI, and activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GPX), higher total antioxidant capacity, and lower concentrations of MDA compared to the C group. Therefore, this strategy may have beneficial effects on the health, viability, and performance of kids before weaning.

Birth weight is the most important factor affecting lamb survival, but even when birth weight is appropriate, some lambs are lost to weaning. Infectious diseases are the most important factors affecting the mortality of lambs before weaning. Therefore, any factor that reduces the prevalence of these infections has a positive effect on the survival of lambs and improves the reproductive performance of the flock. The structure of the placenta in ruminant animals prevents the transfer of immunoglobulins from maternal circulation to the fetus. Therefore, newborn ruminants are completely dependent on the absorption of immunoglobulins from the mother's colostrum after birth. Consuming a sufficient amount of high-quality colostrum at the right time is the most important management factor affecting the survival and health of newborn ruminants. Colostrum also affects the survival of lambs by providing nutrients necessary for metabolism and heat production. Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D3, and E) are among the important components of colostrum and their concentrations are higher in colostrum compared to milk. These vitamins play an important role in improving the immune system of ruminant animals. Many genetic and non-genetic factors such as animal breed, mother's age, nutrition of dam in late pregnancy, herd vaccination program, colostrum volume, and colostrum collection time after parturition affect the quantity and quality of colostrum in ruminant animals. Nutrition status in late pregnancy is the most important factor affecting the quantity and quality of colostrum produced in these animals. Therefore, an insufficient supply of vitamins in pregnant ewes is one of the reasons for reducing the survival and mortality of newborn lambs. Much research has been conducted regarding the effect of dietary or injectable vitamin A, D3, and E supplements in late pregnancy on the maternal immune system and the survival of newborn ruminants, although, they have mainly focused on vitamin E and selenium supplements. To our knowledge, there is no information on how the timing of the use of these vitamins in late pregnancy affects the metabolic responses of ruminants. Therefore, this experiment aimed to investigate the effect of time and amount of vitamin AD3E injection in late pregnancy on colostrum quality and plasma metabolites of Afshari ewes and their lambs. Forty Afshari mature ewes with an average of 45 kg and 2-3 years of age were used. One month before the expected lambing, animals were divided into four groups and randomly assigned to experimental treatments. Experimental treatments were: 1. No injection of vitamin AD3E (Control; C), 2. Injection of 10 mL of vitamin AD3E four weeks before the expected lambing, 3. Injection of 10 mL of vitamin AD3E two weeks before the expected lambing, and 4. Injection of five mL of vitamin AD3E four weeks and five mL two weeks before the expected lambing. Blood samples of ewes and lambs were collected four and one week before the expected lambing and three days after colostrum consumption, respectively. Plasma was separated and stored at -20 ◦C for metabolites’ measurement. Samples of colostrum from all animals were collected and stored at 3-5 ◦C for determining chemical composition and BRIX index. Results showed that the greatest plasma concentrations of glucose and malondialdehyde (MDA) on day 7 before lambing were observed in ewes of the C groups (P<0.05). Experimental treatments did not affect plasma total cholesterol (TCh), triglyceride (TG), and magnesium (Mg) concentrations of ewes on day 7 before lambing (P>0.05). Plasma concentration of total protein (TP), calcium (Ca), and BRIX index on day 7 before lambing were higher in ewes who received vitamin AD3E compared to the C group (P<0.05). Ewes received 10 mL of vitamin AD3E two weeks before the expected lambing had the highest plasma glutathione peroxidase (GPX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and total antioxidant activities on day 7 before lambing (P<0.05). Colostrum fat and lactose percentage were not influenced by experimental treatments (P>0.05). Whereas, colostrum protein percentage tended to be lower for ewes in the C group (P=0.08). The lowest colostrum BRIX index was observed in the ewes of the C group (P<0.05). The lowest plasma glucose concentration was observed in lambs born from ewes of the C group (P<0.05). Experimental treatments did not affect plasma TCh, TG, Ca, and Mg concentrations of lambs (P>0.05). Lambs born from ewes received 10 mL of vitamin AD3E two weeks before lambing had the highest plasma GPX, SOD, and total antioxidant activities compared to other groups (P<0.05). Vitamin AD3E injection increased the plasma BRIX index of lambs compared to the group without injection (P<0.05). The results showed that injection of vitamin AD3E two weeks before lambing increased plasma TP concentration and antioxidant activity of ewes, as well as colostrum TP content, and consequently increased plasma TP concentration and antioxidant activity of lambs. Therefore, this can be an effective strategy to improve lamb survival and performance.

This experiment was aimed to study the effect of Ferula assa foetida essential oil or Artemisia aucheri essential oil in diets containing different concentrate ratios (40 and 60% of DM) on in vitro fermentation kinetic and acidosis induction. Essential oils were added at 0.05% of diet DM. Gas production parameters, pH, N-ammonia and volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations and total protozoa population were measured and organic matter digestibility (OMD) was estimated. The effect of Ferula assa foetida and Artemisia aucheriessential oils on prevention of in vitro acidosis induction was measured. The results showed that the interaction of diets and essential oils had no significant effect on in vitro gas production parameters, N-ammonia concentration, pH, total VFA, acetate, propionate and valerate concentrations, total protozoa population, Entodinium, Diplodinium,and Ophryoscolex population. The interaction of diets and essential oils on estimated OMD was significant (92.64 vs. 83.1 %, p < /em><0.05), and diet containing low concentrate level without essential oils had the lowest estimated OMD. Essential oils reduced gas production, total protozoa population and N-ammonia concentration (p < /em><0.05). Results of Ferula and Artemisia essential oils on prevention of in vitro acidosis induction showed that both essential oils prevent acidosis induction. It was concluded that Ferula and Artemisia essential oils improved rumen fermentation.

 Production of animal’s food is constrained by the climate changes.  Severe drought periods cause low availability of feed from natural pastures. Consequently, sheep and goats fed low quality forages. The unavailability of feed was worsened by the continuously increase of imported feed prices. The scarce availability of forage and fluctuant of concentrate prices encouraged the researchers to find new alternatives that have high energy and low cost (Yagoubi et al 2018). During the last decades, to overcome this problem in many countries, many nonconventional feeds such as shrubs and agro-industrial by-products were used. However, the distillation by-products of medicinal plants are used in animal nutrition. Optimum use of agro-industrial co-products in animal nutrition needs some special processing. Silage is an important way for preserving the nutrient of forage, which is a lactic fermentation process driven by epiphytic lactic acid bacteria. Once lactic acid bacteria ferments water-soluble carbohydrates into sufficient lactic acid in an anaerobic silo, low pH is achieved, the activity of undesired microbes is restrained, and the nutrients are well preserved (McDonald et al 1991). Cichorium intybus</em> commonly known as chicory, is fairly woody perennial herb, around 1 m in height with a fleshy taproot of up to 75 cm in length and large basal leaves. Chicory is cultivated for numerous applications such as “forage” chicory, to intensify herbage obtainability in perennial pastures for livestock (Street et al 2013). Mint, (genus Mentha</em>), genus of 25 species of fragrant herbs of the mint family (Lamiaceae) and are widely distributed throughout the temperate areas of the world and have naturalized in many places. Some species are commonly used in herbal medicine. Both of chicory and mint are used for distillation and their residues (pulp) could be used as animal feed. Mint pulp and chicory pulp have high moisture and low non fibrous carbohydrates contents, hence they are not suitable for ensiling. Therefore, it is better to use appropriate additives for ensiling these agro-industrial co-products. This experiment was aimed to study the effect of adding different levels of barley powder to mint pulp silage and chicory pulp silage on chemical compositions, silage quality traits, in vitro</em> gas production parameters, N-ammonia concentration, and protozoa population.

 Fresh mint pulp and chicory pulp were collected from an agro industry processing factory. Chemical compositions of mint pulp and chicory pulp were measured. Before ensiling, each pulp was chopped to particles with 3-4 cm length. Powdered barley grain was added to chicory pulp at three levels (10, 20, and 30 % (w/w)) and it was added to mint pulp at two levels (10 and 20 % (w/w)) and ensiled for 30 days. Chemical compositions (dry matter, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, crude protein, and ash), gas production parameters, total protozoa population and N-ammonia concentration of experimental silages were measured. Silage quality traits including pH and buffering capacity (Jasaitis et al, 1987) were measured and fleig point of each silage was calculated (Kilic 1986). For in vitro</em> gas production tests, the rumen fluid was taken from two rumen fistulated Kordish rams. For measuring kinetic parameters of gas production, 200 mg of samples were incubated with 40 ml buffered-rumen fluid for 120 hours. The cumulative produced gas was recorded at different times of incubation and gas production parameters were fitted to an exponential equation (France et al 1993). For estimating metabolizable energy, organic matter digestibility and total volatile fatty acids, 40 ml buffered rumen fluid was added to 200 mg of silage samples and incubated at 39 °C for 24 hours. After 24 hours of incubation, gas production recorded and metabolizable energy, organic matter digestibility (Menke and Steingass 1988) and total volatile fatty acids (Makkar 2010) were estimated. N-ammonia concentration was measured based on Broderick and Kang (1980). Rumen protozoa were identified according to the method of Dehority (2003).  After 24 h incubation, 5 ml of buffered rumen fluid was pipetted into a screw-capped test tube containing 5 ml of formalin. Thereafter, two drops of brilliant green dye (2 g brilliant green and 2 ml glacial acetic diluted to 100 ml with distilled water) were added to the test tube, mixed thoroughly, and allowed to stand overnight at room temperature. Total and differential counts of protozoa were made with five replications.  All in vitro</em> gas production trials were carried out in three runs. Data were analyzed based on a completely randomized design using Proc GLM of SAS software. The differences among treatments were evaluated using Tukey adjustment, when the overall F-test was ≤ 0.05. Trends were declared when 0.05 < P≤ 0.10. In addition, independent comparisons were done for mint pulp silage vs. chicory pulp silages.

 The results showed that with increasing the barely level, dry matter increased and acid detergent fiber decreased in experimental silages and chicory pulp containing 10% of barley grain had the lowest acid detergent fiber content. Similar to the current results, adding different levels of wasted date to Mentha pulegium</em> pulp silage increased dry matter and decreased neutral detergent fiber (Eshaghi Maskoni and Dayani 2016). Average pH, buffering capacity, and fleig point of mint pulp silages and chicory pulp silages were 4.15, 41.62 Meq.1-1</sup>, 87.5 and 5.26, 46.52 Meq.1-1</sup> and 59, respectively. Gas production, constant rate of gas production when half the potential of gas is produced, lag time, and N-ammonia concentration did not differ among all experimental silages. Mint pulp silage with 20% of barley grain had the greatest gas production rate, estimated metabolizable energy content, total volatile fatty acids concentrations, and organic matter digestibility (P < 0.05) and total protozoa population (P = 0.06). Similar to the present experiment, adding wheat bran to citrus pulp silage increased gas production rate and organic matter digestibility (Kordi et al 2014).

 Considering the obtained data regarding the chemical compositions and in vitro</em> gas production parameters, it is concluded that among all experimental silages, mint pulp silage containing 20% of barley grain could be used as a good silage in ruminant nutrition. Furthermore, these co-product silages could be used as a part of forage portion in ruminant diets. More experiments are needed to study the inclusion of mint pulp silage and chicory pulp silage in diets of productive ruminants.

Use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) in broiler diets has been banned in the European Union and in many countries. Therefore, researches have focused on the development of alternative strategies. Various products and natural materials such as probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids, and plant extracts have been tested as effective alternatives to AGPs. L-Carnitine (β-hydroxy-γ-trimethyl amino butyrate) is a water soluble quaternary amine and exists naturally in microorganisms, plants, and animals (Dikel et al., 2010). L-Carnitine is synthesized exclusively in the liver of animals and plays a key role in energy metabolism of cells, mainly by transferring long-chain acyl groups from cytoplasm to mitochondrial matrix for β- oxidation (Dikel et al., 2010). It has been reported that the addition of L-carnitine to broiler breeder diet in early stages of growth improved their performance (Golzar-adabi et al. 2005). Inclusion of L-Carnitine to young animal diet improves use of fatty acids and their energy efficiency; therefore, it improves growth and feed conversion ratio (Zhang et al. 2010). In the folklore of many cultures, garlic (Allium sativum L.) has been widely used as a therapeutic agent. Garlic has rich organosulfur compounds and metabolites (allicin, diallyl sulfide, and diallyl trisulfide) (Kim et al., 2009). Allicin and its related compounds in garlic inhibit the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme, which plays a key role in the formation of liver cholesterol; then, allicin decreases cholesterol levels (Anthony et al. 2005). Duration of L-Carnitine and garlic supplementation in broiler chicken diet may have different effects on broiler chicken performance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the duration of supplementation of L-Carnitine and garlic powder on broiler chicken performance, serum biochemistry, carcass parameters, and meat quality. In order to consider the effects of L-carnitine and garlic powder on broiler chicken performance, blood metabolites and carcass characteristics, a total of 480 Arian one-day-old broiler chicks were allocated to 2×5 factorial arrangements in a completely randomized design with 5 dietary treatments, 4 replicates, and 12 birds in each replicate. Dietary treatments were 1) basal diet with no additive (BD), 2) BD plus 0.02% flavomycin antibiotic (positive control), 3) diet containing 1.5% garlic powder, 4) BD plus 0.025% L-Carnitine, and 5) diet containing 0.025% L-Carnitine plus 1.5% garlic powder in two periods (short term: first 3 weeks and long term: 6 weeks period). The birds were kept under conventional conditions for vaccination, temperature, ventilation, and lighting based on Arian catalogue recommendations. The birds fed experimental diets from 1 to 42 days of age and standard management practices of commercial broiler production were applied. The broiler diets were formulated based on standardized ileal digestible amino acids and other requirements were obtained from Arian catalogue recommendations. During the experiment, body weight and feed intake were recorded and finally feed conversion ratio and European production efficiency factor were calculated. From 2 birds of each pen, blood samples were collected at the end of experiment, then cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol were detected. At 42 d, 2 broiler chickens per replicate were selected and sacrificed. Carcass, spleen, bursa of Fabricius, abdominal fat, thigh, and breast percentages were expressed as their percentages to live body weight. Thigh and breast meat pH and color were measured by pH meter (330i/SET WTW model) and electric colorimeter (1002 model- RGB Lutron), respectively. The lactate concentration of the breast meat was estimated by a spectrophotometer and calculated using the following formula (Zhang et al., 2009): Lactate concentration = 𝑂𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑂𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑 ×22 Results showed that supplementation length and dietary treatments did not affect broiler chickens body weight, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, meat pH, serum triglyceride, cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol, and breast meat lactate concentrations (P>0.05). Dietary treatments and supplementation period significantly influenced breast, bursa, and abdominal fat percentage (P<0.05). L-Carnitine positively facilitates consumption of short and medium chain fatty acids by the mitochondria (Tan et al. 2008). Therefore, the diet containing L-Carnitine stimulates the oxidation of fatty acids to produce adenosine triphosphate and use of energy. In addition, positive effect of garlic powder on performance of broiler chicks can be attributed to the antioxidant and some growth-promoting effects of this herbal plant (Anthony 2005). Conclusion It was concluded that application of the dietary supplements (0.025% L-Carnitine plus 1.5% garlic powder) in a short or long period, are not advisable for broiler chicken diets, since they make the rations more expensive.