The present study was aimed to study the light and electron microscopic studies of thymic Hassall's corpuscles was done in various age groups of Nandanam Chicken ranging from day-old to forty weeks. Hassall's corpuscles are special, unique structures present in thymic medulla and also in the cortex of all the age groups of Nandanam chicken (from hatch to forty weeks) in the present study. Size of the Hassall's corpuscles in the medulla is larger than the ones present in the cortical region of thymus. The Hassall's corpuscles are made up of structureless eosinophilic mass surrounded by concentrically arranged reticuloepithelial cells. Under electron microscope, the Hassall's corpuscles were composed of reticuloepithelial cells interconnected by many desmosomes. The epithelial cells had abundance of cytoplasmic fibrils and desmosomes with few mitochondria and ribosomes. The nucleus was oval or round which was slightly indented. The centre of the Hassall's corpuscles was appeared either solid or cystic. The cystic corpuscles had cell debris within the cyst lumen.

The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of a combined use of extracts of medicinal herbs Taraxaumi mongolicum, Viola yedoensis Makino, Rhizoma coptidis, and Radix isatidis (MYCI) on porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). Twenty-two 3-day-old piglets received an oral challenge with $3{\times}10^{3.5}$ $TCID_{50}$ of the virulent PED virus (PEDV) in PBS or PBS only and daily oral administration of 60 mg of the MYCI mixture suspended in milk replacer or the vehicle for 7 days in a $2{\times}2$ factorial arrangement of treatments. Average daily gain (ADG) increased (p < 0.05) in response to the MYCI treatment in the PEDV-challenged piglets (-18 vs. 7 g for the vehicle- vs. MYCI-administered group), but not in unchallenged animals (27 vs. 28 g). Diarrhea score and fecal PEDV shedding, however, were not influenced by the MYCI treatment. The PEDV challenge caused severe intestinal villus atrophy and crypt hyperplasia, both of which were alleviated by administration of the MYCI mixture as indicated by an increase in the villus height and a decrease in the crypt depth due to the treatment. Overall, medicinal herb extracts used in this study ameliorated impaired growth performance and intestinal lesion of newborn piglets challenged with the virulent PEDV. Therefore, our results suggest that the MYCI mixture could be used as a prophylactic or therapeutic agent against PED.

Background: This study examined the effects of dietary supplementation with rice bran, sire breed and gender on live animal performance and carcass characteristics in Australian crossbred and purebred Merino lambs. Methods: Forty-eight lambs balanced by sire breed (Dorset, White Suffolk, Merino) and gender (ewe, wether) were randomly allocated into three dietary supplementation groups (Control- 24 lambs fed wheat/barley-based pellets, Low- 12 animals fed a 50/50 ratio of wheat-based/rice bran pellets, and High- 12 lambs fed rice bran pellets). The Rice bran pellets replaced 19 % of the barley component of the feed. Animals were group-fed at the rate of 1000 g of the supplement per head per day with ad libitum access to lucerne hay as the basal diet and water. The duration of the feeding trial was 49 days with an initial 21-day adjustment period. Results: Sire breed differences were evident for initial (p < 0.0002) and final (p < 0.0016) liveweights, hot carcass (p < 0.0030) and cold carcass (p < 0.0031) weights, as well as dressing percentage (p < 0.0078), fat thickness (p < 0.0467), yield grade (p < 0.0470) and rib eye area (p < 0.0022) with purebred Merino under-performing compared to the crossbreds. Concentrate feed conversion efficiency, costs per unit of liveweight gain and over the hooks income were comparable between treatments regardless of the observed trend where the high supplementation group tended to show lower feed intake (745.8 g/day) compared to both the control (939.9 g/day) and low supplementation groups (909.6 g/day). No significant differences (p > 0.05) were observed between treatments for live animal performance, carcass characteristics, gender and their second-order interactions. Conclusions: Results indicate that Rice bran can be utilised as a cost-effective supplementary feed source in genetically divergent sheep over a 49-day feeding period without detrimental effects on overall live animal performance or carcass characteristics.

This study was performed to investigate the effects of the low plane of nutrition on growth and meat quality of finishing pigs. A total of 136 crossbred barrows and gilts weighing approximately 55 kg were allotted to 8 pens, with 17 animals housed per pen, in a 2 (sex) ${\times}$ 2 (nutrition) factorial arrangement of treatments. The animals allotted to a medium plane of nutrition (MPN) received a finisher phase 1 (P1) diet containing 3.47 Mcal DE/kg and 0.92 % lysine and a P2 diet containing 3.40 Mcal DE/kg and 0.78 % lysine for 35 d and 36/43 d, respectively; the animals allotted to the low plane of nutrition (LPN) received only a P2 diet containing 3.00 Mcal DE/kg and 0.68 % lysine 7 d longer than MPN. The animals were slaughtered following the feeding trial, after which the loin, ham, Boston butt, and belly were taken from a total of 24 animals, with the average live weight being 120 kg, and their physicochemical and sensory quality traits were analyzed. Average daily gain did not differ between MPN and LPN during either P1 or P2. Average daily feed intake was greater (P < 0.05) in LPN vs. MPN during both phases whereas the opposite was true for the gain:feed ratio. Backfat thickness (BFT) was less in LPN vs. MPN (21.7 vs. 24.1 mm at 115 kg). The plane of nutrition influenced no effect on any of the physicochemical characteristics of fresh loin, ham, or Boston butt analyzed in the present study. Fresh hams from LPN exhibited superior aroma and odor scores than those from MPN; however, sensory quality traits were not influenced by the plane of nutrition in other fresh primal cuts or cooked meat. Instead, fresh primal cuts and cooked meat from gilts rendered superior physicochemical characteristics and sensory scores, respectively, than those from barrows. Results suggest that the low plane of nutrition may be useful to increase the slaughter weight of finishing pigs with a moderately high BFT by virtue of its BFT-lowering effect with or without exerting a slightly positive influence on pork quality.