Ahmed S. Hussein

The effect of dietary menhaden, olive, and coconut oil fed with three levels of vitamin E on plasma and liver lipids and plasma fatty acid composition in rats

The effect of dietary fats with varying degrees of unsaturation in the presence of different concentrations of vitamin E on tissue lipid levels was studied in rats. Rats were fed either menhaden oil, olive oil or coconut oil at 15% levels with either 0.1, 0.3 or 0.6 mg/g of vitamin E as alpha-tocopherol for four weeks. Rat serum and liver were analyzed for total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triacylglycerol and phospholipids. In addition, fatty acid composition of serum lipids was also analyzed. Serum total cholesterol and triacylglycerol were significantly lower in rats fed menhaden oil than in those fed olive or coconut oil, while the HDL-cholesterol was significantly higher in serum of rats fed menhaden and olive oil than in those fed coconut oil. Levels of vitamin E in the diet had only a significant effect on serum cholesterol and liver phospholipids. The Pearson correlation coefficient showed a significant positive relationship between serum triacylglycerol and total cholesterol, and a negative correlation between triacylglycerol and HDL-cholesterol, and between total and HDL-cholesterol.In the liver, total cholesterol was significantly higher in rats fed coconut oil than in rats fed menhaden oil. Total liver phospholipids were lower in rats fed either coconut oil or olive oil compared to those fed menhaden oil, especially with higher levels of vitamin E intake. Higher levels of vitamin E in the diet appear to increase triacylglycerol and phospholipids in livers of rats fed menhaden oil. In the liver a significant negative correlation was observed between phospholipids and cholesterol. The type and degree of unsaturation (polyunsaturated fatty acids in menhaden oil, monounsaturated fatty acids in olive oil and saturated fatty acids in coconut oil) significantly affected plasma and tissue lipids.

Induced moulting procedures in laying fowl

Several successful methods of inducing moulting have been used to recycle laying hens, the majority of which require an optimum weight loss of 25–30% to achieve maximum egg production during the post-moulting period. The conventional feed restriction procedure is most often used in the egg industry because it is a simple, practical and economical technique that can be used in combination with light and/or water restriction. Mineral-induced moulting procedures, such as the use of high levels of either aluminium in the form of a soluble salt or dietary zinc, have also been used successfully. In addition, low levels of dietary zinc combined with a low calcium diet have also induced moulting in laying hens. The use of low sodium diets has been equally as successful as the conventional feed restriction technique as a means of inducing a moult. Although mineral-induced moulting procedures produce similar results to the conventional feed restriction techniques in post-moulting egg production, but with lower mortality rates, some of these procedures may not yet be practical for use in the egg industry. Hormone-induced moulting is another method and involves the use of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (Gn-RH) agonist. It has an advantage over the conventional feed restriction procedure in that it does not require severe initial body weight loss to attain maximum egg production in the post-moulting period.

The use of step-down and modified constant protein feeding systems in developing pullets reared in hot climates.

The effect of using varied levels of dietary protein with high energy levels in rearing diets on pullet development and on subsequent layer performance in hot climates, was studied using 160 Lohmann White Leghorn pullets. Five replicate groups of 16 pullets, 1 day of age were randomly assigned to each of two series of rearing diets. Pullets in both treatments were fed a 190 g crude protein (CP)/kg starter diet in the first week. Dietary protein level series used during Weeks 2‐6, 7‐ 14, and 15‐18 were 190, 160, and 135 g CP/kg, respectively, for the decreasing protein series treatments and 160, 160, and 135 g CP/kg, respectively, for the semi-constant series. Energy level used during the rearing period in all diets was 12.55 MJ AME/kg. Pullets were reared under a natural cyclic hot temperature ranging as low as 278C measured at 07:00 hours and as high as 348C measured at 13:00 hours. At the beginning of Week 19, pullets were transferred to laying cages and fed two isocaloric layer diets for 20 weeks. Diet 1 used 190 g CP/kg and 4 g methionine/kg and Diet 2 used 160 g CP/kg and 3.4 g methionine/kg. Each diet was fed to half of the pullets within each rearing treatment program. During the rearing period, body weight of pullets in both treatment programs was similar, as was feed intake during Weeks 7‐14 and 15‐18. However, pullets fed diets with 160 g CP/kg had significantly (p<0.05) higher feed intake than those fed the 190 g CP/kg diet during Weeks 2‐6. Hen-day egg production, days to 50% egg production, egg weight and Haugh unit values were not affected by dietary protein treatments during the rearing period. Reducing protein levels from 190 to 160 g CP/kg in laying hen diets significantly increased egg production during Weeks 27‐30 and 35‐38, but reduced egg weight during Weeks 23‐30 period of egg production. In addition, the results of this study showed that when birds were given adequate pullet development, very few differences in egg production parameters resulted due to feeding 160 or

Graded levels of sugar syrup in broiler rations and its effect on growth performance and blood biochemical parameters

Dietary energy for chickens normally includes cereal grains and fat. This innovative study investigated the effect of replacing part of the corn and fat in broiler chicken rations with graded levels of sugar syrup on growth performance and biochemical parameters. Experimental treatments consisted of feeding a corn-soy basal diet alone, or with graded levels of sugar syrup in increments of 5%, 10% and 15%. All starter diets were isonitrogenous and isocaloric. Body weight gain and efficiency of feed utilization of chicks fed the control diet alone were not significantly (P < 0.05) different from chicks fed diets supplemented with either 5% or 15% sugar syrup. Supplementation of sugar syrup to broiler diets had no significant effect on blood glucose, creatinine, total protein, or liver enzymes. Adding 5% sugar syrup to broiler rations significantly decreased blood cholesterol and triglycerides in chickens fed the sugar syrup diet compared with birds fed the control diet. In conclusion, the results shows sugar syrup can be used in poultry ration to replace part of the corn as a source of energy. These results allowed the authors to recommend the safe usage of sugar syrup in broiler rations.

Applying Mobile Computing Technology in Traceability of a Poultry Production System

Traceability is defined in the ISO Regulation 9000:2000 as the ability to trace the history, application and location of what is under consideration. Traceability systems are record keeping systems designed to track the flow of product or product attributes through the production process or supply chain. All international supply chains are forced to comply with traceability requirements. In this project, we develop and implement an end-to-end mobile application that traces the poultry production. The application consists of front-end and back-end systems. At the front-end, the worker uses a handheld device (cell phone, PDA, etc.) to enter and send the information collected at the field to the back-end server. The handheld device should be connected to the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) wireless network, and should be GPRS enabled. The back-end server documents all information received from the front-end and make them available, through the Internet, to system administrators. The back-end system consists of web server, application logic and database server.

Effect of dietary inclusion of sugar syrup on production performance, egg quality and blood biochemical parameters in laying hens

The effects of dietary inclusion of sugar syrup on quality of egg, cholesterol level, production performance, serum total protein and blood biochemical parameters were evaluated in laying hens. A total of 300 commercial Lohmann LSL hens (30 weeks of age) were randomly distributed into 3 dietary treatments which consisted of a normal corn diet containing corn–soy and 2 diets containing 5% and 10% sugar syrup. Each treatment was replicated 5 times (n = 20). Egg production, feed intake, body weight and egg weight of laying hens fed different diets were recorded. The experiment lasted for 20 weeks. The Haugh unit scores of hens fed diets with sugar syrup were significantly increased (P < 0.05) compared with the control treatment. The sugar syrup had no significant effect on liver enzymes, total protein, blood glucose and creatinine in all treatments. The eggs laid by hens fed sugar syrup diets had lower cholesterol level (P < 0.05) compared with those laid by hens fed the control diet. Electrophoresis analysis showed that comparable electrophoretic patterns were noticed between serum proteins of treatment groups. From the results, it can be concluded that sugar syrup diets and corn diets have similar effects on feed intake, body weight, production of eggs and blood biochemical parameters in layer hens, which suggests sugar syrup can be used as an energy source for replacing part of corn in poultry layer diets.