The aim of this study was to determine the effects of in ovo injection of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) to fertile Ross 308 broiler eggs or dietary supplementation on growth performance, internal organ development, gut histomorphology and cecum microbiota during 14 d of growing period. This study was designed as 2×2 factorial experimental design. Fertile 92 Ross 308 eggs were injected with SC solution 0.2ml at 18d of hatch and 90 eggs non-injected as control, afterward dietary SC supplementation was applied during the 14 d to broiler diet. In this study, 160 broiler chicks were used in four treatment groups at 10 replicate for each treatment group and 4 chicks for each replicates. Treatment groups were A) in ovo SC injection + dietary SC supplementation, B) in ovo SC injection + basal diet, C) no injection + dietary SC supplementation, D) no injection + basal diet as control. Live weight, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio and gut histomorphology, caecum microbiota, internal organ weight were recorded at 14 days of age. Live weight gain increased in C group than in the D group. Feed consumption, feed conversion ratio and internal organ weights were not affected by the treatments. Villi length and villi width increased in A group among the other treatment groups in jejunum, villi length increased in A and C groups among the other groups in ileum. Villi length/villi width ratio increased in A group than in the D group in ileum, was not different in jejunum. LAB counts in caecum were higher in A group than those of C and D groups, but was not different from B group. Enterobactericaea count was lower in A and B group than in the D group, was not different from C group. To conclude, results showed that dietary Saccharomyces cerevisiae supplementation increased broiler growth at 14 day by increasing villi development and improving gut health.

The study investigated the effects of oregano- or red pepper-essential oil at delayed feeding (0, 24 and 48 h post-hatching) on performance and morphological development of small intestine segments. Female broilers were fed one of 3 rations including a control ration with no essential oil (CONT), the rations added with either oregano essential oil (OEO) or red pepper essential oil (RPEO) at 250 mg/kg to CONT. A total of 18 chicks from each treatment were used to measure the morphological parameters of the small intestine segments on the 14th day. Prolongation of accessing time to ration significantly decreased the body weights of broilers at 3rd, 7th and 14th d, feed intake (FI) from 4 to 7 d and improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broilers at the period of 4-7 d. Access to ration for 48 h post-hatching significantly decreased the body weight gains at the period of 4-7 and 7-14 d, FI from 7 to 14 d and improved FCR of broilers at the period of 7-14 d. OEO250 ration significantly increased villus height (VH) and villus surface area (VSA) of jejunum (J) and ileum (I) of broilers fed immediately and the IVH and IVSA of broiler accessed to ration for 48 h post-hatching. VH of duodenum (D), IVH and IVSA of broilers fed for 24 h post-hatching were significantly increased by RPEO250 ration. OEO250 and RPEO250 rations significantly reduced crypt depth (CD) of D and J of broiler accessed to ration for immediate and DCD of broiler fed for 24 h post-hatching. OEO250 and RPEO250 rations significantly increased IVH and IVSA and reduced DCD, JCD and ICD of broilers. In conclusion, OEO250 and RPEO250 rations affected positively VH and VSA of I and reduced CDs of small intestine segments of broilers accessed to ration at different times.

The impacts of egg weight (EW), egg shell temperature (EST), egg position in the incubator (EP) and incubator ventilation program (IVP) on embryonic mortality (EM) and hatchability of fertile eggs (HFE) of broiler breeders were investigated in this study. EW was determined total 1920 hatching eggs which were obtained from middle aged (31 weeks) Ross 308 broiler breeders. These eggs were classified according to weight as heavy (65.52±0.08g), medium (61.47±0.04g) and light (57.56±0.08g) then were randomly set in trolleys of four identical incubators sorted as near the heather side – door side, humidifier side – opposite side and top – middle – bottom. In two incubators 37.78°C (100.0°F) EST and 38.06°C (100.5°F) EST were provided in the other two. Similarly, two machines were operated on classic IVP system and the other two were operated on new IVP system organised specially for this project during first 10 days of incubation. At the end of the hatching period, data including EM and HFE data were examined in eggs with different EST, EW and EP. It was found that EW and EST were affected to EM and HFE. Lower last stage + pipped but unhatched embryo rates and accordingly higher HFE were determined in eggs with 37.78°C (100.0°F) EST and light. However, differences between IVP and EP data were not significant.

The study aimed to compare the effects of dietary supplementation of probiotic and olive leaf-, grape seed- and pomegranate peel extracts as natural antimicrobial on lipid oxidation, microbiological content and quality of raw broiler meat. Chickens were fed the control diet (CONT) and diets supplemented with probiotic (P), oleuropein (olive leaf extract, OLE100 and OLE200), proanthocyanidin (grape seed extract, GSE100 and GSE200) and proanthocyanidin (pomegranate peel extract, PPE100 and PPE200) at 100 and 200 mg/kg levels to the CONT diet. All dietary treatments significantly reduced MDA value of breast meat at 9th day, total aerobe bacteria and coliform bacteria contents of breast meat at 14th day. The P, OLE200, PPE100 and PPE200 diets significantly decreased lactic acid bacteria content of breast meat at 14th day. The pH value of raw breast meat at 24 h was significantly reduced by dietary treatments compared to the CONT diet. Feeding the P, PPE100 and PPE200 diets significantly increased water holding capacity of breast meat compared to those of broilers fed the CONT, GSE100 and GSE200 diets. The P, OLE200, PPE100 and PPE200 diets significantly reduced drip loss of breast meat at 7th day compared to the CONT, OLE100, GSE100 and GSE200 diets. Cooking loss of breast meat was significantly decreased by all dietary treatments except GSE diet compared to the CONT diet. It was concluded that probiotic, olive leaf- and pomegranate peel- extracts have potential to be used as natural antimicrobial feed additives in terms of the lipid oxidation, microbial content and quality of broiler meat.