Growth Of Cockerels Research Articles

Effects of Aloe vera as Leaf Protein Concentrate on Growth Performance of Cockerels

2 Abstract: The study investigated the effects of Aloe vera as leaf protein concentrate for cockerels. It was conducted with 72 - day old cockerels which at 3 weeks of age were randomly allotted to 3 dietary treatments of 24 birds each with 3 replicates per treatment. The rations were standard commercial feed 0% (T1), 5% (T2) and 10% (T3) inclusion levels of Aloe vera respectively. The design of the experiment was a completel y randomized design and the birds were fed for 42 days with their respective experimental diets. Records were kept on feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and mortality trend to the end of the experiment. Results showed that there were significant differences (p 0.05) on feed intake. Highest overall profit was obtained from the T2 group. The inclusion of Aloe vera at 5% level supports feed absorption and growth in cockerels. This can therefore be used as a good leaf protein concentrate in cockerel nutrition for improved productivity and therefore, profitability.

The effects of xylanase supplementation on growth, digestion, circulating hormone and metabolite levels, immunity and gut microflora in cockerels fed on wheat-based diets

1. The xylanase product used in this study was derived from a genetically modified isolate of Aspergillus niger. Two trials were conducted to investigate the effects of xylanase supplementation on growth, digestion, circulating hormone and metabolite levels, immune parameters and composition of the gut microflora in cockerels fed on wheat-based diets. 2. The experimental diets consisted of a wheat-based control diet supplemented with 0 or 0·1% enzyme preparation. The diets were fed between 7 and 21 d of age. 3. Enzyme supplementation improved growth and feed conversion efficiency. The addition of enzyme to wheat-based diet increased the apparent total digestibility of dry matter (DM), crude protein and fat. 4. Enzyme supplementation reduced the relative weight of digestive organs to a certain extent, but there was no significant difference. Enzyme supplementation reduced digesta viscosity in the jejunum. There was no significant difference between the two experimental groups in counts of lactobacillus and coliform bacteria in the caeca. 5. Enzyme supplementation increased the concentration of blood thyroxine (T4), insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and insulin, reduced the concentrations of blood uric acid, but had no significant effect on the concentrations of blood glucose and triiodothyronine (T3). 6. Enzyme supplementation increased the relative weight of spleen of cockerels, serum antibody titres to Newcastle disease virus (NDV), lymphocyte proliferation in response to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) and the natural killer (NK) cell activity. 7. It is concluded that supplementation with an enzyme preparation (xylanase), which hydrolyses non-starch polysaccharides can improve growth in cockerels fed on wheat-based diets. This improvement is achieved through enzyme effects on digestion, absorption, metabolism and immunity of cockerels.

Effect of age and sex of egg strain chickens and of two stocking densities of broilers on voluntary water intake and performance in a sub-humid environment.

Voluntary water intake and performance of egg-strain chickens of different age groups and sex were compared. Cockerels grew faster and consumed 41% more feed and 43% more water than pullets of the same strain and age. Cockerels of nineteen weeks consumed significantly more feed (P < 0.05) than layers of 30 weeks of the same strain, but there was no significant difference in their daily voluntary water intake. The physiological activities associated with egg laying in chickens, apparently require more water to feed ratio than for the active growth of cockerels. In a second experiment, the effect of 2 stocking densities on voluntary water intake and performance were compared. Birds on higher stocking density (0.09 m2/bird) performed similarly to those on low stocking density (0.18 m2/bird), but the higher stocking density birds recorded slightly higher mortality. Voluntary water consumption was not significantly affected (P > 0.05), although birds on higher stocking density recorded slightly higher average daily voluntary water consumption. The higher stocking density birds recorded slightly higher per cent mortality during the 8 week period, but higher per cent mortality was recorded with the low stocking density birds during the 0 to 4 week brooding period.

Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone Stimulates Body Weight Gain and Increases Thyroid Hormones and Growth Hormone in Plasma of Cockerels

The effect of TRH on growth in 4-week-old cockerels was examined in two separate experiments. Daily injection of TRH via the brachial vein stimulated growth in 4-week-old cockerels over 17 days of treatment in the first experiment and over 25 days in the second. In the first experiment, TRH at 1.0 micrograms and 10.0 micrograms/bird caused significant (P less than 0.05) increases of 12.0% and 12.4%, respectively, in growth rate, whereas in the second experiment, only the 1.0 micrograms/bird level of TRH caused an increase (P less than 0.05). In each experiment, the increase in body weight gain was not TRH dose dependent, and neither feed consumption nor feed efficiency was affected. Possible involvement of pituitary hormones in TRH-stimulated growth in cockerels was studied in a separate experiment, and the effects of TRH on plasma T3, T4, and GH were examined. TRH was given iv at 0.1, 1.0, and 10.0 micrograms/bird daily for 5 days, and plasma T3, T4, and GH concentrations were measured 15, 60, and 180 min postinjection by RIA on days 1, 3, and 5. The responses of T3 and T4 to TRH were greatest on day 1, were diminished by days 3 and 5, and were not dose-related. Significant, not dose-related, elevations of plasma GH concentrations were obtained at all doses of TRH. Based on these results, we suggest that TRH has the ability to promote a significant increase in body weight gain in 4-week-old cockerels, and the stimulatory effects may be mediated through GH and/or thyroid hormones.

Age Influenced Variations in Plasma Cholesterol, Testicular Cholesterol and Testicular Ascorbic Acid of Prepubertal Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo)

home Acta Veterinaria Brno Journal of the University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, Czech Republic Search:

PLASMA CONCENTRATIONS OF GROWTH HORMONE DURING GROWTH IN NORMAL AND TESTOSTERONE-TREATED CHICKENS

Department of Zoology, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX and * Department of Physiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903, U.S.A. (Received 9 May 1978) Recent avian studies (Harvey, Godden &amp; Scanes, 1977; Harvey, Scanes, Falconer, Bolton &amp; Chadwick, 1977) have established a definite pattern of growth hormone (GH) secretion during growth, with high plasma concentrations in young growing birds and low levels in adults. These observations indicate that the concentration of immunoreactive GH in the circulation may be related to the rate of body growth. The aim of the present study was, therefore, to determine whether experimental modification of growth was accompanied by corresponding alterations in GH secretion. Since testosterone suppresses growth in cockerels (Visco, 1973), plasma concentrations of GH were determined during growth in control and testosterone-implanted birds. Seven 2-week-old cockerels (Thornber 909 strain) were implanted subcutaneously with a testosterone pellet (Intervet, 100 mg) in the nape

Effect of Methandrostenolone on Growth and Feed Conversion in Cockerels and Pullets

INTRODUCTIONANDROGENS, more specifically, testosterone and some of its derivatives, have been shown to stimulate protein anabolism in man, rats, cattle, rabbits, and dogs (Bergetrand, 1950; Burris et al., 1954; Kenyon, 1938; Kim et al., 1952; Kochakian et al., 1935, 1950; Light and Tornaben, 1953; Perlman and Cassidy, 1953; Rupp and Paschkis, 1954; Shay et al., 1941). Their use as anabolic agents in chickens has not been particularly productive.Evidence to date in poultry suggests that androgens have neither improved feed efficiency nor growth rate. Depending upon the dose level, they have either reduced growth in the cockerel or have had little, if any, effect (Adams and Herrick, 1955; Anderson, 1953; Libby et al., 1953; Moreng and Bryant, 1956). In the pullet, the reports show no effect on gain (Anderson, 1953). In surgical capons, rate of gain has been stimulated by androgens (Libby et al., 1953).Desaulles (Desaulles et al.,…

Steroid hormones and the development of the reproductive system in the pullet.

THE reproductive system of the female bird undergoes remarkable changes at sexual maturity or when seasonal breeding occurs at which times weight and size increments of several thousand per cent occur in both the ovary and oviduct in only a few weeks or in only a few days. The extensive literature on the morphological aspects of these changes in birds has been reviewed (Breneman, 1955), but relatively little is known about the hormonal factors which influence the structural alterations. Fraps, Hooker, and Forbes (1948, 1949) determined that progesterone or a progesterone- like substance, is present in the fowl at about the time of ovulation. Kornfeld and Nalbandov (1954) demonstrated the presence of an estrogen in pullets at 16-20 days post-hatching and Romanoff (1949) reported that estrogen is secreted by the ovary of mature birds and that an estrogen can be found in the yolk of the egg. The presence of androgens in fowls is known only indirectly. Marked comb growth in cockerels and in pullets, however, ...