ARTICLE FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE August 2022 69 public domain. A summary of the content of the published article is discussed below. 600 1-d-old Cobb 500 male chicks were randomly assigned to 12 environmentally controlled chambers. The ambient temperature in the chambers gradually decreased from 32°C on day 1 to 24°C on day 21. At 8 AM on day 21, the temperature was increased to 35°C in 6 of the chambers to induce heat stress. This temperature was maintained for 12 h (from 8 AM – to 8 PM) daily and was reduced to 24°C each night to mimic the summer season. Pens were randomly assigned to treatments: 3-phase corn- and soy-based diet control or added with two different inclusion rates of PFA (250 and 400 ppm) diet in the grower (days 12–23) and finisher (days 24–42) phases. Under heat load conditions, adding PFA reduced core body temperature by 0.5°C to 0.7°C in an additive inclusion rate-dependent manner compared with the control group. Adding PFA stimulated appetite and increased energy intake in heat stress conditions in an inclusion rate-dependent way, resulting in higher B.W. ( 100 g, P < 0.05 ) and averaged 4 FCR-points better in PFA -fed birds compared with the control group. PFA addition at both inclusion rates significantly downregulated the hypothalamic HSP70 expression (mRNA and protein levels) compared with the control group (Fig.2), reducing hypothalamic intracellular stress. The effect of PFA on growth performance in this study seemed to be mediated by hypothalamic feeding- and drinking-related polypeptide expression. Under the conditions of this study, the addition of botanical substances as novel nutrients to alleviate heat stress has proven to be advantageous in reducing the impacts of climate stress on broilers. PFA are formulated to mitigate heat stress productivity losses in broilers via reduction of intracellular stress and stimulation of digestion during heat stress. References upon request. About Mojca Osredkar Mergole Mojca Osredkar Mergole is a doctor of veterinary medicine and started her professional career as a livestock and pet veterinarian. In 2013, she joined a company producing natural feed additives as a product manager responsible for natural feed additives for poultry. She focuses on feed additive development, operational and technical support to internal company departments and foreign agents (worldwide). She started working at Delacon in November 2021 as Global Technical Manager for Poultry. Figure 1. Effects of PFA on carcass parameters in broilers (Greene et al., 2020) Figure 2. Effects of PFA addition on the hypothalamic expression of HSP70 (Greene et al., 2020)
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