To determine the influence of contaminated live-haul cages (coops) on subsequent contamination of broilers prior to and during processing, broilers subjected to feed withdrawal were transported in sanitized and Salmonella-contaminated coops, processed under simulated commercial conditions, and analyzed for incidence of Salmonella. At 5, 6, or 7 wk of age, 128 broilers from the same research flo...

In this study, 2 experiments determined the effects of increasing dietary concentrations of deoxynivalenol (DON) on performance, intestinal morphology, and measures of innate immunity in broilers and turkeys. For experiment 1, the 3-wk study used 5 concentrations of DON (up to 18 or 10 mg of DON/kg of feed in broilers or turkeys, respectively) from naturally contaminated corn. The BW gains were...

Research on the interaction between dietary vitamins and intestinal bacteria is poorly understood. To investigate the effect of dietary vitamins on the cecal bacterial communities, 2 bacterial 16S rRNA gene clone libraries were constructed from pooled PCR products obtained from the cecal digesta of 28-d broilers fed diets with vitamins (V) at the NRC level or with no vitamins (NV). The results ...

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of β-mannanase BM: supplementation on the performance, metabolizable energy, amino acid digestibility, and immune function of broilers. A total of 1,600 broilers were randomly distributed in a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement (4 nutritional levels × 0 or 500 g/ton BM), with 10 replicates and 20 broilers per pen. The same design was used in the ...

1. Broilers were kept under environmental temperature regimens of 16, 21, 26 or 31 degrees and given, 22--57 d of age, either a complete diet or free-choice of whole wheat and a higher-protein food containing either 252 or 516 g crude protein (nitrogen x 6.25)/kg. 2. Broilers maintained at 16 and 21 degrees consumed food at a significantly higher rate than those kept at 26 degrees and the latte...

The improved genetic potential of contemporary commercial broilers cannot be fully expressed under hot conditions that depress growth rate, decrease breast meat yield, and reduce meat quality. The negative heat effects are attributed to the insulating feather coverage, which, under high ambient temperatures (AT), hinders dissipation of the excessive internally produced heat. Accordingly, feathe...

Layers and broilers were concurrently intratracheally challenged with 0.5 mg Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and 0.1 mg Human Serum Albumin (HuSA) at 3 weeks of age. Specific total and isotype-specific (IgM, IgG, IgA) Antibody (Ab) responses to HuSA during 3 weeks following immunization, cellular in vitro mitogen responses to Concanavalin A (Con A) and specific cellular responses in vitro to different...

This work was part of a project designed to assess whether organic selenium (Se) can protect against the toxic effects of cadmium (Cd). A total of 300 1-day-old, as hatched, broilers were randomly distributed in four dietary treatments with five replicate pens per treatment. In T1 treatment, broilers were fed a diet with 0.3 mg/kg added Se, as Se-yeast, without added Cd; in T2, broilers were fe...

Two replicate experiments were done to investigate if special diets provided to broilers in their last phase of life could reduce the negative effects of feed withdrawal and transport without an increased content of the digestive tract. In each experiment, 240 broilers were used. The experiments consisted of 2 interventions: the feed intervention and the transport intervention. The feed interve...

The effect of hatch location and diet density on the prevalence of footpad dermatitis and growth performance in broiler chickens was studied. Broilers (Ross 308), incubated at 2 different hatch locations but originating from the same parent stock, were subjected to 2 feeding programs differing in energy content (2,750 vs. 2,950, 2,850 vs. 3,050, 2,900 vs. 3,100, and 2,900 vs. 3,100 kcal/kg for ...