مجله تحقیقات دام و طیور
سال ششم شماره 1 (1396)

Recently, plants and their bioactive derivatives such as extracts, essential oils, and secondary metabolites have recently attracted a lot of research attention for the development of novel additives for animal nutrition. This field of research is driven by both the consumers’ demand for safer foods from healthier animals and the industry’s need to identify novel growth promoters to replace the use of banned antibiotics. Among the more than 300 species of Hibiscus plant are Hibiscus sabdariffa L., (sour tea) which has many medicinal uses. In view of these properties, sour tea calyces anthocyanin extract can act as a prophylactic by intervening as a free radical scavenger as well as inducing the phase II drug detoxifcation enzymes. In addition to antioxidant activity that has been reported in most published researches, extracts of its calyces have demonstrated antibacterial and hypocholesterolemic properties. Except calyx, seeds and leaves of this plant are used for both medicinal and non-medicinal purpose, but is usually ignored in the world. Apart from mice, few studies have been done on the effects of Hibiscus in monogastric animals. Therefore, more researches is needed to examine other possible effects of different parts of Hibiscus tea especially in poultry.

Small honey bee population is one of the two Iranian species living in the south areas of Iran, and plays important role in pollination of plants in these areas. The present study was aimed to study genetic diversity in populations of Iranian small honey bees. For this purpose, 300 worker bees were selected from 29 colonies that belong to seven districts in southern Iran, and morphological traits were measured. Colony grouping was studied based on morphological traits using cluster analysis (PCA) and the least variance method. The result indicated that there was a correlation between the length of trunk with front wing length and posterior wing length, and between Cubital index with front wing length (P

The presence of antibiotic residues in protein product is one of the most important problems in the poultry industry. Therefore, the researchers tried to find out different natural and non-harmful compounds as alternatives to antibiotics and chemical additives in the poultry diets that are being used in human food. For this purpose, the present experiment was designed to investigate the effects of three medicinal plants on the quantity, quality and biochemical properties of Japanese quails’ eggs. Total of 525 one-day-old Japanese quail were randomly distributed into 7 groups with three replicates and 25 samples in each replicate. The groups were assigned to receive treatment diets as follows: ) basal diet with no supplementation (control), 2) the treatment diet supplemented with two levels (0.5 and 2%) of each herbal plant (Melilotus officinalis, Oliveria decumbens Vent, Aloe vera L). Based on results, the use of Aloe vera L led to the statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in mean Japanese quail egg production. Also, thiobarbituric acid and yolk cholesterol levels decreased significantly in the treated groups (P<0.05). However, significant differences were detected concerning albumen protein (%) and total protein (%) levels in the treatment groups in comparison to the control group. The use of Aloe vera L in quail ratio caused significant (P ≤ 0.05) decrease in Hough unit compared to the control group. The results from this study suggest that adding 0.5 and 2 percentages of these three herbal plants to the quails’ diet could improve quantity, quality and biochemical properties of the Japanese quails’ egg products.

In this research, through applying a questionnaire, detailed information were collected from 102 broiler farms over South Khorasan province. The data were associated to the farms performance during the years 2010 and 2011. European Efficiency Factor (EEF) was computed for the individual farms and their seasons of rearing, and then it was subjected to the Chi-Square and Logistic Regression statistical analyses using SPSS software. Most broiler breeders had a diploma and were at the age range of 41 to 50 years. The results of Chi Square test indicated that chick providing center (P<0.05), educational level (P<0.0001) and specialized information of the farmers (P<0.05), and rearing season (P<0.01) were statistically significantly associated with EEF as the effects of other independent variables are ignored. The findings of Logistic Regression analysis revealed that the educational level (P<0.0001) and specialized information of the farmers (P<0.05) as well as the strain of the chick (P<0.05) had positive influence on EEF measure as other factors were taken into account. This indicates that these significant factors are of great importance as the economic efficacy of a broiler farm enterprise is considered.

This experiment was conducted with 270 male Ross broiler chickens (308) to evaluate the effect of L-carnitine and additional levels of Lysine-Methionine mixed on performance, cecal microflora of broiler chick. Experiment was based on 3×3 completely randomized factorial design with nine groups (ten broilers per replicate and three replicates per treatment) during three starter (0-21days), grower (22-35 days) and finisher (35-42 days) periods. Different levels of L-carnitine (0 mg/kg, 75 mg/kg and 150 mg/kg) and additional lysine-methionine mixed levels 0, 15 and 30% more than recommended by Ross 308 broiler chickens  manual were used. The highest feed consumption and lowest weight gain was observed for broiler fed diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg L-carnitine with 15% additional lysine-methionine mixed and the lowest feed consumption and highest weight gain was observed for broiler fed diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg L-carnitine with 30% additional lysine-methionine mixed respectively (P<0.05). Furthermore, the highest and lowest lactobacilli population were observed in diet supplemented with 75, 150 mg/kg L-carnitine with 15% additional lysine-methionine mixed and 150 mg/kg L-carnitine with 30% additional lysine-methionine mixed respectively (P<0.05). In conclusion, result of this study showed that consumption of 150 mg/kg L-carnitine and 15% Lys -Met mix can increase production and health indices related to the broiler.