A study was conducted utilizing two strains of male Large White turkeys (BUT Big 6 and Nicholas 700) to determine the effects of increasing Arg:Lys ratios on live performance and carcass composition. Diets were formulated to provide 100, 110, and 120% of NRC (1994) Lys levels, adjusted for dietary energy level, with Arg:Lys ratios of 1.0:1, 1.1:1, 1.2:1, and 1.3:1 in a 3 x 4 factorial arrangeme...

Compared with quadrupeds, bipedal runners of the same weight have longer legs, take longer steps and can presumably use slower, more economical muscle fibers. One might predict that bipedal running is less expensive, but it is not. We hypothesized that bipeds recruit a larger volume of muscle to support their weight, eliminating the potential economy of longer legs and slower steps. To test our...

There is a gap in knowledge of microbiological quality in raw chicken products produced by nonconventional methods and no studies have reported the microbiological quality of turkeys produced under different rearing environments. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the microbiological quality of conventionally and organically reared whole chicken and turkey carcasses purchased from 3 ret...

Aggressive encounters and injuries due to head pecking seriously threaten the welfare of domestic turkeys and also result in economic waste within the turkey industry. The aim of this study was to investigate whether domestic turkey toms distinguish group members from non group members and if they preferably attack the latter. Two unfamiliar groups of four domestic turkey toms were brought into...

Cyanosis is a category of condemnation for poultry, as defined by Agriculture and Agrifood Canada. A retrospective study to examine the seasonal patterns and trends for turkey cyanosis condemnation was conducted for the years 1987 to 1995 with the use of condemnation records made available by a single abattoir in Ontario. Condemnation for cyanosis had a significant seasonal pattern, with major ...

That the ovum of Heterakis papillosa is an important source of the virus in the natural transmission of blackhead in turkeys is suggested by experimental evidence obtained in the present investigation. Confirmatory morphological evidence has not thus far been obtained to establish definitely that this worm serves as the invertebrate host of Histomonas meleagridis. It is possible occasionally to...

Turkey osteomyelitis complex (TOC) is defined by the US Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) to include normal-appearing processed turkey carcasses that contain lesions including green discoloration of the liver, arthritis/synovitis, soft-tissue abscesses, and osteomyelitis of the proximal tibia. The lesions are associated with many different opportunistic organisms, mainly Staphylococcus aure...

Satellite cell (SCs), the main progenitors for post-hatch poultry muscle growth, has maximal mitotic activity and sensitivity to temperature during first week after hatch. The objective of present study was determine effect hot cold temperatures on proliferation differentiation SCs from pectoralis major (P. major) fast-growing 1-week-old Nicholas commercial (NC) turkeys compared Randombred Cont...

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of whole wheat feeding on selected parameters of humoral and cell-mediated immunity in growing turkeys. A total of 210 one-day-old heavy-type Hybrid Converter male turkeys were randomly divided into three different dietary treatment groups, each consisting of 7 replicate pens of 10 birds per pen. Until 4 wk of age, all birds were fed a com...