Grazing muzzles are a popular and effective management tool used to help prevent weight gain in obese-prone equids. Concerns have been raised over their possible negative impact on horse well-being as muzzles may interfere with normal grazing and social behaviors. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of grazing muzzles used for different lengths of time on behavior, voluntary exercise, and physiological stress of grazing horses housed in a herd. Six mature miniature horses (initial BW of 114.9 +/- 11.4 kg; BCS of 6.0 +/- 0.8) were studied using a 3 x 3 Latin Square repeated measure design with horses receiving one of three treatments daily for a period of 3 weeks. Treatments were unmuzzled (M0), muzzled for 10 h/d (M10, 0830-1830 h), or muzzled for nearly 24 h/d (M24). Horses were housed as a herd on a 0.6 ha grass pasture. Body weight (BW) was assessed weekly. Reaction to muzzle application was scored daily. Behavior was monitored with video twice weekly for two hours a day. An aggressiveness rank was assigned to each horse each period. Physiological stress was assessed weekly using changes in heart rate (HR), indices of heart rate variability, and salivary cortisol concentrations (SC). Voluntary exercise was measured for 24 h twice during each period. Data were analyzed as repeated measures with treatment and wk as main effects. Horses muzzled for 24 h/d lost BW while horses muzzled 0 or 10 h/d gained BW (P = 0.01). Horses muzzled for 24 h/d spent more time grazing (P = 0.04) and less time resting (P = 0.03) than M10 horses. Unmuzzled horses spent more time walking than M24 horses (P < 0.01), more time cantering than M10 (P = 0.02), and more time trotting than M10 and M24 (P = 0.04 and 0.01 respectively). Both muzzled treatments spent less time autogrooming with their mouths than unmuzzled horses (P < 0.01). Horses muzzled for 24 h/d had lower HR than M0 horses (P = 0.01) and higher beat-to-beat intervals than M0 and M10 horses (P = 0.01 and 0.03 respectively) while grazing. There were no effects of treatment on muzzle acceptability score, salivary cortisol, voluntary exercise, or change in aggressiveness rank. In conclusion, muzzling for 24 h/d prevented weight gain and did not cause apparent physiological stress. The lower HR and higher beat-to-beat interval in horses muzzled 24 h may be a potential health benefit and needs further exploration.

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration and Association of American Feed Control Officials approved Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae as a feed ingredient for poultry. The objectives of this work were 1) to formulate nutritionally balanced hen diets with BSF larvae meal and BSF larvae replacing corn and soybean meal, and 2) measure the impact of the dietary BSF treatments on hen performance and egg quality. In two experiments, BSF larvae meal (Exp 1, larvae with oil expressed) and BSF larvae (Exp 2, whole larvae) were fed to White Leghorn hens from 51 to 55 and 60-64 wks of age, respectively. The 216 hens were divided into 4 groups of 54 hens with one control group and 3 treatment groups. The hens were fed iso-caloric, isonitrogenous diets that had 3 dietary treatment levels of BSF larvae meal (8, 16 and 24%) and 3 levels of the larvae (6, 12 and 18%). Data were analyzed by one-factor ANOVA with the GLM procedure of SAS software (SAS, 2012) for the main effect of diet. Tukey’s multiple comparison was used for mean separation when the F-test was significant (P<0.05). Results obtained from Exp 1 found a negative impact when hens were fed BSF larvae meal at levels greater than 16%. Hens fed a diet devoid of soybean meal and completely replaced with meal had reduced feed consumption and egg production (P<0.05). Percent egg production averaged 85.14% for the control, 8 and 16% meal fed treatments and was significantly greater than hens were fed 24% meal at 77.01%. However, intermediate dietary meal levels (8 and 16%) had no negative impact on performance parameters and were not significantly different than hens fed the control diet. Yolk color was also significantly higher among the larvae meal treatments compared to the control. In Exp 2 hen body weight averaged 1737g, egg production 85.02% and egg size 64.17g and were not significantly impacted by the BSF larvae diets compared to the control (P > 0.05). However, feed intake and feed conversion (kg egg/kg feed) were significantly reduced by greater dietary levels of larvae (P < 0.05). Measures of egg quality including blood spots, meat spots and yolk color were not impacted by the treatment diets (P > 0.05), although egg specific gravity was higher (x̅=1.075 vs. 1.073) and albumen height (x̅=7.99 vs. 8.55) and Haugh units (x̅=87.54 vs. 91.28) were lower among the treatment eggs compared to the controls (P < 0.05). Egg yolk fatty acid profile was also impacted by the BSF larvae dietary treatments. Greater amounts of yolk fatty acids C12:0, C14:0, C14:1n5 and C21:0 were realized with increasing dietary levels of larvae (P < 0.05), however, there was no impact of the treatments on C18:2, linoleic acid or C18:3n3, alpha-linolenic acid (P > 0.05). It appears from these experiments that both BSF larvae and meal can be used as dietary sources of energy, protein, and amino acids for hen maintenance and egg production although there may be upper dietary limits. Furthermore, egg yolk fatty acid profiles can be impacted based upon the dietary levels of BSF larvae in the diet to reflect a more desired fatty acid profile at the manufacturer’s discretion. EFFECTS OF BUTYRATE ON NITROGEN CORRECTED APPARENT METABOLIZABLE ENERGY OF BROILER CHICKS Becky Y. Tran*, Michael Persia Virginia Tech Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences 175 West Campus Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24061 *Email: beckyt3@vt.edu ABSTRACT: In recent years, there has been pressure to find alternatives that can either replace or reduce the use of antibiotics in the poultry industry. As the intestines are the largest organ of the body, intestinal health has a tremendous effect on overall performance and nutrient utilization. Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid that has the potential to promote the growth and proliferation of intestinal cells as a method to improve performance in the absence of feed antibiotics. The supplementation of a protected butyrate (designed to delay absorption of butyrate until it reaches the intestine) to growing broiler chicks should increase the intestinal health of broiler chickens resulting in an increase in nitrogen corrected Apparent Metabolizable Energy (AMEn). A control and protected butyrate diet were formulated and fed to six cages of 8 Cobb 500 broiler chicks for each treatment in this preliminary experiment. Chicks were provided ad libitum access to experimental diets and water. The chicks were wing banded and weighed individually at day 0, 16. Feed offered and refused was measured over the 16 day experimental period. On experiment day 14, the excreta pan below each cage were cleaned of excreta and clean paper was added. Excreta samples were taken from excreta collected from 14 to 16 days. Excreta samples were dried and analyzed for gross energy, nitrogen and titanium. Although there were no significant differences in body weight gain (P = 0.46) and mortality corrected feed conversion ratio (P = 0.70) between treatments, this was not unexpected as no challenge was provided to the birds and growing conditions were sanitary. However, the AMEn tended to be increased by 105 kcal/kg when butyrate was added to the diet in comparison to the control fed broilers (P = 0.10). This positive AMEn response could be due to increased intestinal health resulting in the increased nutrient absorption. Although not a direct replacement of antibiotics, it appears that butyrate can be used to potentially promote intestinal health resulting in increased nutrient absorption of broiler chickens. In recent years, there has been pressure to find alternatives that can either replace or reduce the use of antibiotics in the poultry industry. As the intestines are the largest organ of the body, intestinal health has a tremendous effect on overall performance and nutrient utilization. Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid that has the potential to promote the growth and proliferation of intestinal cells as a method to improve performance in the absence of feed antibiotics. The supplementation of a protected butyrate (designed to delay absorption of butyrate until it reaches the intestine) to growing broiler chicks should increase the intestinal health of broiler chickens resulting in an increase in nitrogen corrected Apparent Metabolizable Energy (AMEn). A control and protected butyrate diet were formulated and fed to six cages of 8 Cobb 500 broiler chicks for each treatment in this preliminary experiment. Chicks were provided ad libitum access to experimental diets and water. The chicks were wing banded and weighed individually at day 0, 16. Feed offered and refused was measured over the 16 day experimental period. On experiment day 14, the excreta pan below each cage were cleaned of excreta and clean paper was added. Excreta samples were taken from excreta collected from 14 to 16 days. Excreta samples were dried and analyzed for gross energy, nitrogen and titanium. Although there were no significant differences in body weight gain (P = 0.46) and mortality corrected feed conversion ratio (P = 0.70) between treatments, this was not unexpected as no challenge was provided to the birds and growing conditions were sanitary. However, the AMEn tended to be increased by 105 kcal/kg when butyrate was added to the diet in comparison to the control fed broilers (P = 0.10). This positive AMEn response could be due to increased intestinal health resulting in the increased nutrient absorption. Although not a direct replacement of antibiotics, it appears that butyrate can be used to potentially promote intestinal health resulting in increased nutrient absorption of broiler chickens. THE IMPACT OF AGARICUS BLAZEI MUSHROOM EXTRACT WATER SUPPLEMENT ON HEN PERFORMANCE AND EGG QUALITY Trimble, L. D.*, A. D. Ferguson, N. Acar, P. H. Patterson The Pennsylvania State University College of Agricultural, Department of Animal Science 324 Henning Building, University Park, PA 16802 *Email: ldt5107@psu.edu ABSTRACT: An extract of the mushroom Agaricus blazei (ABE) was provided to commercial laying hens as the water supplement Agaricus Bio-CX manufactured by Atlas World USA, Inc. Pasadena, CA. Three levels of supplementation corresponding to 0.5, 1.0 and 3.0 times the manufacturer’s recommendations were provided to 10 replicate cages of hens per treatment and compared to Control birds receiving pure water during a 3 period (28 days/period) study. Body weight, feed intake, water intake, egg production and egg quality including egg weight, albumen height, Haugh units, specific gravity, blood spots, meat spots and yolk color were measured each period. Data were analyzed by one-factor ANOVA with the GLM procedure of SAS software (SAS, 2012) for the main effect of diet. Tukey’s multiple comparison was used for mean separation when the F-test was significant (P<0.05). The results indicated that the ABE had no significant impact on body weight or feed consumption during the 3-period study (P > 0.05). Egg production averaged 78.87% in period 1, 77.17% in period 2 and 74.08% in period 3, however, there were no significant differences due to the ABE treatments (P > 0.05). Feed conversion was not impacted by the ABE supplement in any time during the 3 periods (P > 0.05). Water consumption averaged 159.5 g/bird/day in period 1, 164.0 in period 2 and 164.5 in period 3, however, there were no significant treatment differences (P > 0.05). Neither was the water to feed intake ratio affected by the ABE treatments (P > 0.05). For egg quality no significant treatment effects on specific gravity, egg weight, blood or meat spots were observed (P > 0.05). In period 3, egg yolk color was significantly affected, but resulted in no biological significance with the levels of inclusion of ABE in the water (P > 0.05). In period 2, there was a linear impact of ABE on albumen height (P= 0.0057) and Haugh units (P =0.0126) suggesting lower quality with great inclusion of the ABE. Finally, no mortality was observed in the 3-period study (P > 0.05). These results sugg

Cigarette smoke exposure is a major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cadmium is a leading toxic component of cigarette smoke. Cadmium and zinc are highly related metals. Whereas, zinc is an essential metal required for normal health, cadmium is highly toxic. Zrt- and Irt-like protein 8 (ZIP8) is an avid transporter of both zinc and cadmium into cells and is abundantly expressed in the lung of smokers compared to nonsmokers. Our objective was to determine whether disturbed zinc homeostasis through diet or the zinc transporter ZIP8 increase susceptibility to lung damage following prolonged cigarette smoke exposure.Cigarette smoke exposure was evaluated in the lungs of mice subject to insufficient and sufficient zinc intakes, in transgenic ZIP8 overexpressing mice, and a novel myeloid-specific ZIP8 knockout strain.Moderate depletion of zinc intakes in adult mice resulted in a significant increase in lung cadmium burden and permanent lung tissue loss following prolonged smoke exposure. Overexpression of ZIP8 resulted in increased lung cadmium burden and more extensive lung damage, whereas cigarette smoke exposure in ZIP8 knockout mice resulted in increased lung tissue loss without a change in lung cadmium content, but a decrease in zinc.Overall, findings were consistent with past human studies. Imbalance in Zn homeostasis increases susceptibility to permanent lung injury following prolonged cigarette smoke exposure. Based on animal studies, both increased and decreased ZIP8 expression enhanced irreversible tissue damage in response to prolonged tobacco smoke exposure. We believe these findings represent an important advancement in our understanding of how imbalance in zinc homeostasis and cadmium exposure via tobacco smoke may increase susceptibility to smoking-induced lung disease.