Improvement In Performance Traits Research Articles

Comparative genomic characterization and screening of regulatory regions of casein gene family in Bos taurus and Bubalus bubalis

Both cattle and buffalo are rich genetic resource, raised for dairy, meat and draft purposes and possess great economic significance globally. Genomic characterization is imperative to explore inherent potential of animal species for targeted improvement in performance traits. This study aimed to perform comparative genomic characterization and sequence analysis of casein genes family (CSN1S1, CSN1S2, CSN2 and CSN3) in Bos taurus and Bubalus bubalis. Phylogenetic, motif, conserved domain and gene structure analyses discovered evolutionarily conserved nature of these genes in cattle and buffalo. Results indicated that casein proteins were thermostable and hydrophilic, although αs1, β, and κ caseins showed acidic behavior except for αs2-casein that was somewhat basic. The present study revealed lower distribution of transcription binding (TFB) sites particularly CAP, GATA, HSF2 and LMO2COM in Bubalus bubalis as compared to Bos taurus which might have potential effects on the transcription and translational efficiencies of casein genes in Bos taurus. However, functional studies are required to evaluate the effects of these TFB sites on regulation of casein genes expression in Bos taurus and Bubalus bubalis.

Marker-assisted Selection in Fish: A Review

The important economical traits like body growth, resistance to diseases, meat quality, etc. highly influence the profitability of food animals including fishes. The main target of every selective breeding programme is to produce improved traits offspring’s. However, improvement of performance traits through traditional phenotype-based selection needs several generations to optimise these characters. Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) is a type of indirect method of selection of better performing breeding individuals. MAS is beneficial when the traits are difficult, expensive to measure and has both low heritability and recessive traits. MAS facilitates the exploitation of existing genetic diversity in breeding populations and can be used to improve desirable traits in livestock. MAS depends on identifying the link between a genetic marker and Quantitative Traits Loci (QTL). The distance between marker and target traits determines the association of the marker with the QTL. After identifying the markers linked to QTL, they can be used in the selective breeding programme to select the brooders having better genetic potential for the targeted trait. Improvement of performance traits through MAS is fast and more accurate and allows us to understand the genetic mechanism affecting performance traits.

Phenotypic, genetic and environmental trends of production traits in Phule Triveni synthetic cow

The research data spread over a period of 37 years (1976 to 2012) were utilized to study the production traits, viz. first lactation 300 day milk yield (FL300DMY), first lactation total milk yields (FLTMY), first lactation length (FLL) and first dry period (FDP). The 493 first lactation performance records of Phule Triveni cows reared at Research Cum Development Project on Cattle, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (MPKV), Rahuri was used to investigate the effect of environmental factors on first lactation production traits. Phenotypic, genetic and environmental trends were estimated using Smith II (SM-II) and best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) methods in these traits. The estimated annual phenotypic, genetic and environmental trends were -20.70 ± 1.42 kg, 33.38 ± 48.99 kg (SM-II) and 1.31 ± 0.60 kg (BLUP) and - 54.08 ± 49.01kg (SM-II) and -22.01 ± 1.58 kg (BLUP) for FL300DMY, - 21.01 ± 4.18, 21.35 ± 60.09 kg (SM-II) and 2.15 ± 0.73 kg (BLUP) and - 42.36 ± 60.23 kg(SM-II) and - 23.16 ± 4.24 kg(BLUP) for FLTMY, - 0.44 ± 0.30 days, 4.27 ± 4.94(SM-II) and 0.09 ± 0.13(BLUP) days for FLL, 0.98 ± 0.24 days, - 0.99 ± 3.58(SM-II) and - 0.11 ± 0.08 (BLUP) days, 1.97 ± 3.59 (SM-II) and 1.09 ± 0.25(BLUP) days for FDP, respectively. The genetic trends for most of the production traits were positive except FDP revealing desirable improvement in performance traits over time.

Effects of Utilization of Crushed, Boiled and Fermented Roselle Seeds (Hibiscus sabdariffa) on the Performance of Broiler Chickens

Aim of Study: The study examines the effects of utilization of crushed (CRRS), boiled (HTRS) and fermented (FRS) Roselle seeds (Hibiscus sabdariffa) on the performance of broiler chickens Study Design: A total of 135 Anak day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to three (3) experimental groups of three (3) replicates using completely randomized design, data collected were subjected to ANOVA using SPSS and Likert scaling technique. Place and Duration of Study: Livestock Complex, College of Agriculture, Lafia, Nasarawa state, Nigeria: February 2012 to April 2012. Methodology: The effects of inclusion of differently processed Roselle seeds on performance traits of experimental birds were evaluated through feeding trials (128 d) and (2950 d) at starter and finisher phases. Dietary treatments were as follows: D1, D2 and D3 representing Crushing of Raw Rosselle Seeds (CRRS); Hydrothermally Processed Rosselle Seeds (HTRS) and Fermented Rosselle Seeds (FRS) base diets. Results: No significant (P=0.05) difference in the following parameters: initial weight, feed Original Research Article British Biotechnology Journal, 4(1): 21-29, 2014 22 intake, FCR and survival percentage in the starter phase while the finisher phase significantly (P=0.05) differ only the performance index. Overall scoring of performance parameters showed those birds in D3 group were better than D2 and D1 in that order Conclusion: Roselle seeds inclusion in broiler diets provides effective mechanism for the improvement in performance traits of broilers and fermentation of rosselle (Hibiscus sabdarif) is best processing method.

Effects of dietary alternatives (probiotic, green tea powder, and Kombucha tea) as antimicrobial growth promoters on growth, ileal nutrient digestibility, blood parameters, and immune response of broiler chickens

A feeding trial was conducted to study the effects of alternative antimicrobial growth promoters (probiotic, Kombucha tea, and green tea powder) in wet, wheat-based diets on broiler performance, carcass yield, organ weights, immune response, and histomorphological measurements of the small intestine. One hundred and sixty-one-day-old male broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments for 6 weeks. The dietary treatments were: (a) control (1.2 g water/gram of dry feed), (b) control diet supplemented with 1 g/kg probiotic (8 × 105 colony forming units (CFU) of Bacillus subtilis/gram), (c) control diet plus 1.2 g/kg diet Kombucha tea (20 % concentration), and (d) control diet plus 10 g/kg green tea powder. The body weight and feed intake were significantly (P < 0.05) increased by the dietary inclusion of the Kombucha tea compared to the control and green tea-fed broilers. However, an improvement in performance traits was observed in broilers fed with the probiotics. Plasma lipids of birds fed the green tea powder diet consisted of lower cholesterol and TG and higher HDL than those of control birds. Protein digestibility was significantly higher (P < 0.05) for birds given the Kombucha tea supplement compared to that of the control birds. The probiotic diet increased (P < 0.05) the villus height/crypt depth ratio and the villus height in the duodenum. Overall, the results in this work show that Kombucha tea and probiotic supplements in feed display growth promoting effects similar to those of traditional antibiotics; therefore, these products might be alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters.

Influence of supplementation of prebiotic, probiotic, and antibiotic to wet-fed wheat-based diets on growth, ileal nutrient digestibility, blood parameters, and gastrointestinal characteristics of broiler chickens

A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementations of prebiotic, probiotic, and antibiotic to wet wheat-based diets on broiler performance, carcass yield, organ weights, and histomorphological measurements of the small intestine. One hundred and sixty-day-old male broiler chicks were randomly assigned to one of four dietary treatments for 6 weeks. The dietary treatments were: (1) control (1.2 g water/gram of dry feed); (2) control diet supplemented with antibiotic (15 mg/kg of virginiamycin); (3) control diet supplemented with 1 g/kg probiotic (8 × 105 colony forming units (CFU) of Bacillus subtilis/gram); and (4) control diet supplemented with 1 g/kg prebiotic (Aspergillus sp. meal). The body weight and feed intake were significantly (P < 0.05) increased by the dietary inclusion of the antibiotic compared with the control and pre- and probiotics-fed broilers. Moreover, an improvement in performance traits was observed in broilers fed with the pre- and probiotics. Relative abdominal fat weight was significantly (P < 0.01) greater for the broilers fed diets containing antibiotic than control diets. Protein digestibility was significantly higher (P < 0.05) for birds supplemented with virginiamycin compared with the control and prebiotic birds. The addition of either pre- or probiotic increased (P < 0.05) the villus height/crypt depth ratio and villus height in both duodenum and ileum. However, the ileal crypt depth was significantly increased for pro- and prebiotic supplementations compared with antibiotic (P < 0.05).

The role of peppermint (Mentha piperita) on performance in broiler diets

This study was conducted to determine the performance of broilers fed diets supplemented with dry peppermint (Mentha piperita L.),which are among the alternative growth promoters. A total of 200 (Hubbard ) broiler chicks were used in this study Five levels of whole peppermint, 0.00%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% were incorporated into the basal diet for six weeks . The feeding period for all groups lasted for 42 days. The results have appeared that there is an improvement in performance traits for all treated groups compared with the control group. However, the chicks feed with 0.50 % peppermint performed better than those fed with 1.5% peppermint concerning weekly body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and dressing percent, there was no significant effect was noticed on the addition of the peppermint to the diet on blood traits (PCV% , RBC , Hb% and WBC) , unless liver weight shows that were significant between treatments compared with control. For the H/L ratio shows significant difference between treatments compared with control.

Effects of dietary inclusion of probiotic and synbiotic on growth performance, organ weights, and intestinal histomorphology of broiler chickens

A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementations of synbiotic and probiotic on broiler performance, carcass yield, organs weights, and histomorphological measurements of small intestine. Six hundred 1-d-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 dietary treatments for 5 wk. The dietary treatments were 1) control, 2) basal diets supplemented with synbiotic (1 kg of Biomin IMBO/ ton of the starter diets and 0.5 kg/ton of the grower diets), 3) basal diets supplemented with probiotic (1 kg of a homofermentative and a heterofermentative Lacto-bacillus sp./ton of feed). The BW, average daily weight gain, carcass yield percentage, and feed conversion rate were significantly (P < 0.05) increased by the dietary inclusion of the synbiotic compared with the control and probiotic-fed broilers. Moreover, a slight improvement in performance traits was observed in broilers fed the probiotic compared with control birds. The absolute and relative weight of spleen and thymus tended to be greater (P < 0.1) for the probiotic-supplemented group compared with the synbiotic-supplemented group. The relative liver weight was greater (P < 0.05) for probiotic-fed birds compared with synbiotic-fed birds. Additionally, the weight of small intestine was greater for either probiotic- (3.17) or synbiotic-fed birds (3.11) than the controls (2.89). Furthermore, dietary treatments influenced the histomorphological measurements of small intestinal villi. The addition of either probiotic or synbiotic increased (P < 0.05) the villus height:crypt depth ratio and villus height in both duodenum and ileum. The duodenal crypt depth remained unaffected (P > 0.05). However, the ileal crypt depth was decreased by dietary supplementations compared with control. In conclusion, synbiotic or probiotic displayed a greater efficacy as growth promoters for broilers. Furthermore, the dietary supplementations resulted in an increase in the villus height and crypt depth of intestinal mucosa of broilers. The increase in the villus height and villus height:crypt depth ratio was associated with improvement of growth performance for both synbiotic and probiotic. This indicates that the synbiotic and probiotic can be used as a growth promoter in broiler diets and can improve the gut health. These products show promising effects as alternatives for antibiotics as pressure to eliminate growth-promotant antibiotic use increases.