An Immobilized Form of a Blend of Essential Oils Improves the Density of Beneficial Bacteria, in Addition to Suppressing Pathogens in the Gut and Also Improves the Performance of Chicken Breeding.

Antimicrobial growth promoters (AGP) are used in chicken production to suppress pathogens in the gut and improve performance, but such products tend to suppress beneficial bacteria while favoring the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. A green alternative to AGP with the ability to suppress pathogens, but with an additional ability to spare beneficial gut bacteria and improve breeding performance is urgently required. We investigated the effect of supplementation of a blend of select essential oils (cinnamon oil, carvacrol, and thyme oil, henceforth referred to as EO; at two doses: 200 g/t and 400 g/t feed) exhibiting an ability to spare Lactobacillus while exhibiting strong inhibition ability under in vitro tests and immobilized in a sunflower oil and calcium alginate matrix, to broiler chickens and compared the effects with those of a probiotic yeast (Y), an AGP virginiamycin (V), and a negative control (C).

Effects of Dietary Antimicrobial Growth Promoters on Performance Parameters and Abundance and Diversity of Broiler Chicken Gut Microbiome and Selection of Antibiotic Resistance Genes.

Antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) are commonly used in broiler production. There is a huge societal concern around their use and their contribution to the proliferation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in food-producing animals and dissemination to humans or the environment. However, there is a paucity of comprehensive experimental data on their impact on poultry production and the AMR resistome.

Supplementation of sulfur and folic acid improves performance of broiler chicken fed suboptimal concentrations of dietary methionine.

Background: Supplementation of sulfur (S) and folic acid (FA) are known to spare the dietary requirement of methionine (Met) in chicken. An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of feeding graded concentrations of FA (0, 2, 4, 6, 8 mg kg ) and two concentrations of S (0 and 2 g kg ) in 5 × 2 factorial design. Diet without FA and S was considered as negative control (NC).

Effect of methyl donors supplementation on performance, immune responses and anti-oxidant variables in broiler chicken fed diet without supplemental methionine.

Objective: Methionine (Met) is involved in methyl group transfer besides protein synthesis. As the availability is limited and cost is high for synthetic Met, reductions in its inclusion in broiler diet may be possible by supplementing the low Met diets with methyl donors (MD) like betaine (Bet), folic acid (FA), vitamin B12 (B12), and biotin (Bio). An experiment was conducted to study the effects of supplementing the MD on performance (average daily gain [ADG], daily feed intake, feed efficiency [FE]), anti-oxidant variables, immune responses and serum protein concentration in broilers fed sub-optimal concentrations of dietary Met.

Gut Microbial Composition Differs Extensively among Indian Native Chicken Breeds Originated in Different Geographical Locations and a Commercial Broiler Line, but Breed-Specific, as Well as Across-Breed Core Microbiomes, Are Found.

Gut microbiota plays an important role in the health and performance of the host. Characterizations of gut microbiota, core microbiomes, and microbial networks in different chicken breeds are expected to provide clues for pathogen exclusion, improving performance or feed efficiency. Here, we characterized the gut microbiota of "finishing" chickens (at the end of production life) of indigenous Indian Nicobari, Ghagus, and Aseel breeds, originating from the Nicobari island, coastal India, and the Indian mainland, respectively, as well as a global commercial broiler line, VenCobb 400, using 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing.

EEG based interpretation of human brain activity during yoga and meditation using machine learning: A systematic review.

Objectives: The present investigation is to study the impact of yoga and meditation on Brain waves concerning physical and mental health. There are mainly three stages (steps) in the brain wave classification:(i) preprocessing, ii) feature extraction, and iii) classification. This work provides a review of interpretation methods of Brain signals (Electroencephalogram (EEG)) EEG during yoga and meditation.

Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Organic Trace Minerals at Reduced Concentrations on Performance, Bone Mineralization, and Antioxidant Variables in Broiler Chicken Reared in Two Different Seasons in a Tropical Region.

Two experiments were conducted to study the performance, antioxidant activity, and bone mineral variables in broilers fed organic trace minerals (OTM) at lowered concentrations in the diet. In experiment 1, a total of 1500 day-old broiler male chicks were randomly distributed into six groups with 10 replicates of 25 chicks each and housed in floor pens (1.90 × 1.

Dietary supplementation of extracts of red sea weed (Kappaphycus alvarezii) improves growth, intestinal morphology, expression of intestinal genes and immune responses in broiler chickens.

Background: Effects of supplementation of dried alkaline (referred to as MVP1) and aqueous (referred to as PBD1) extracts of Kappaphycus alvarezii, were evaluated in broiler (Vencobb 400) chickens (1-35 days post-hatch). In experiment I, each of the seven diets (basal diet with three levels (0.5, 1.

Effect of incremental levels of dietary total sulfur amino acids on performance of white leghorn laying hens fed diets containing guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) meal.

Background: The present study evaluated the potential of increasing dietary levels of the most limiting amino acids such as total sulfur amino acids (TSAA) with respect to mitigating the adverse effects of the inclusion of guar meal (GM) in the diet of WL layers on egg production, feed efficiency and egg weight. In total, 4928 WL (Lohmann L) hens (32 week of age) were randomly allotted to eight treatments with seven replicates of 88 birds. The dietary treatments were a set of four maize-soybean meal based diets containing four graded concentrations of TSAA (5.

A dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]pyrrole based, NIR absorbing, solution processable, small molecule donor for efficient bulk heterojunction solar cells.

A novel, NIR absorbing organic small molecular donor material denoted as ICT3 with an A-D-D-D-A architecture having dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]pyrrole (DTP) and butylrhodanine as donor and acceptor moieties, respectively, is synthesized and its thermal, photophysical, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties are explored. ICT3 has excellent stability over a broad range of temperatures with a decomposition temperature (T corresponds to 5% weight loss) of 372 °C, soluble in most common organic solvents (solubility up to 30 mg mL) and suitable for solution processing during device fabrication. ICT3 has broad (520-820 nm) and intense visible region absorption (molar excitation coefficient is 1.

Effect of supplementing different concentrations of organic trace minerals on performance, antioxidant activity, and bone mineralization in Vanaraja chickens developed for free range farming.

An experiment was conducted to determine the performance, antioxidation activity, and bone mineral content in Vanaraja chickens fed diet supplemented with organic trace minerals (oTM) at reduced levels. A total of 360 day-old chicks were selected and distributed randomly into 60 battery brooder pens. A maize-soybean meal-based control diet was supplemented with inorganic trace minerals (iTM), i.

Effect of supplementing organic selenium on performance, carcass traits, oxidative parameters and immune responses in commercial broiler chickens.

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of supplementing various concentrations (0, 100, 200, 300, or 400 μg/kg diet) of organic Se on growth performance, carcass traits, oxidative stress, and immune responses in commercial broiler chickens reared in open-sided poultry house under tropical climatic conditions. Each diet was fed ad libitum to eight replicates consisting of six birds in each pen from 1 to 42 d of age. Body weight gain and feed efficiency, and relative weight of liver, abdominal fat and ready to cook yields were not affected (p>0.

Salmonella typhimurium's transthyretin-like protein is a host-specific factor important in fecal survival in chickens.

The transthyretin-like protein (TLP) from Salmonella enterica subspecies I is a periplasmic protein with high level structural similarity to a protein found in mammals and fish. In humans, the protein homologue, transthyretin, binds and carries retinol and thyroxine, and a series of other, unrelated aromatic compounds. Here we show that the amino acid sequence of the TLP from different species, subspecies and serovars of the Salmonella genus is highly conserved and demonstrate that the TLP gene is constitutively expressed in S.

Surface Fractal Analysis for Estimating the Fracture Energy Absorption of Nanoparticle Reinforced Composites.

In this study, the fractal dimensions of failure surfaces of vinyl ester based nanocomposites are estimated using two classical methods, Vertical Section Method (VSM) and Slit Island Method (SIM), based on the processing of 3D digital microscopic images. Self-affine fractal geometry has been observed in the experimentally obtained failure surfaces of graphite platelet reinforced nanocomposites subjected to quasi-static uniaxial tensile and low velocity punch-shear loading. Fracture energy and fracture toughness are estimated analytically from the surface fractal dimensionality.

Effect of nutrient density on production performance, egg quality and humoral immune response of brown laying (Dahlem Red) hens in the tropics.

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of various concentrations of metabolizable energy (ME) with graded incremental levels of crude protein (CP) and essential amino acids (lysine and methionine) on production performance, egg quality and humoral immune response of Dahlem Red laying hens. Four experimental diets based on maize-soybean meal-deoiled rice bran were prepared. Diet 1 was fed as a control diet containing 2,600 kcal ME/kg, 15% CP, 0.

Determination of power-law attenuation coefficient and dispersion spectra in multi-wall carbon nanotube composites using Kramers-Kronig relations.

Using a broadband through-transmission technique, the attenuation coefficient and phase velocity spectra have been measured for a set of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-nylon composites (from pure nylon to 20% MWCNT by weight) in the ultrasonic frequency band from 4 to 14 MHz. The samples were found to be effectively homogeneous on spatial scales from the low end of ultrasonic wavelengths investigated and up (>0.2 mm).