Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Animal Science, Sari University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Sari, Iran
2 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Animal Science and Fisheries, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Sari, Iran.
3 Mycology and Medical Bacteriology Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Abstract
Keywords
Main Subjects
Extended Abstract
Introduction
The purposes of using vitamins in the poultry industry are to maintain normal cellular function, health and prevention of diseases in the body. Since group B vitamins, especially folic acid, are used on a small scale in poultry feed, they may be destroyed due to improper storage conditions or heat from cooking in feed factories. Therefore, in order to solve this problem in the diet of broiler chickens, this nutrient must be fortified and the bioactive substance of the food must be protected. Existing techniques for encapsulation of nutrients or active ingredients include spray-drying microencapsulation, extrusion encapsulation, fluidized bed coating, colocalization, molecular encapsulation using liposome encapsulation, and hydrogel encapsulation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate and compare the effect of Nano folic acid supplementation and regular folic acid in reducing homocysteine level and mortality rate in broiler chickens.
Materials and methods
In this study, in total, 250 one-day-old broiler chickens of the Ross 308 commercial strain were distributed into five groups and five replications with 2 x 2 factorial method in the form of a completely random design, and ten broiler chickens in each replication. The groups are: 1) control diet (with folic acid), 2) diet without folic acid with folic acid in water (4 mg/L) in non-Nano form, 3) diet without folic acid with folic acid in water (4 mg/L) in the form of nanoliposomes, 4) the control diet with folic acid in water (4 mg/L) in non-nano form, 5) the control diet with folic acid in water (4 mg/L) in the form of nanoliposomes. Birds had free access to food and water and received 23 hours of light per day. The initial rearing temperature was set at 33°C and decreased by 2°C weekly. The experiment lasted 6 weeks. There were three diets consisting of starter, grower and finisher that were fed as mass, which was based on corn/soybean meal that met the nutrient requirements determined by the NRC (1994) of the commercial hybrid Ross 308 with and without folic acid supplementation prepared.
Results and discussion
The effect of the form of folic acid consumption was significant on the reduction of homocysteine concentration and mortality, but the consumption form of nano folic acid caused a significant reduction of homocysteine and mortality. Also, the treatment of nano folic acid in the amount of 4 mg/kg along with the control diet significantly reduced homocysteine and mortality compared to the control group (p<0.05). The control diet along with folic acid in water (4 mg/L) reduced homocysteine and mortality in non- nano form compared to the control group. Also, the control diet along with folic acid in water (4 mg/L) in nano form significantly reduced the percentage of homocysteine and mortality compared to the control group (p<0.05).
Conclusions
The present study shows that nano folic acid and regular folic acid are the most effective vitamin B9 for reducing high plasma homocysteine concentration and reducing losses in broiler chickens. Nano folic acid showed significantly better efficacy than conventional folic acid due to its smaller particle size and higher bioavailability.
Author Contributions
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All authors contributed equally to the conceptualization of the article and writing of the original and subsequent drafts.
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The authors would like to thank all participants of the present study.
The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of ABCD (Ethical code: IR.UT.RES.2024.500). The authors avoided data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and misconduct.
The author declares no conflict of interest.
The author declares no conflict of interest.
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