Amir Mokhtarpour

Growing concerns over antibiotic resistance and environmental sustainability have increased the demand for natural alternatives to in-feed antibiotics in poultry production. Biochar offers a novel, eco-friendly solution that may improve animal performance while supporting waste valorization. This study investigated the effect of biochar produced from pistachio by-product (PB) on growth, feed efficiency, and gut health in Japanese quails. Birds were assigned to five dietary treatments including a control diet without additives, a diet with 0.05% flumequine, and diets supplemented with 0.35%, 0.65%, or 1% PB biochar for 35 days. Feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR), carcass traits, nutrient digestibility, intestinal histomorphology, and cecal microbial counts were evaluated. The results showed that final body weight and weight gain significantly increased in birds fed 0.65% biochar compared to the control and flumequine groups (P < 0.05). A trend towards a lower FCR was observed in birds fed 0.65% biochar compared with the control (P = 0.08). Except for the weight of the breast and thigh, none of the carcass traits and internal organs were affected by the treatments (P > 0.05). Preplanned comparisons between control and biochar-treated groups showed that PB biochar significantly increased Lactobacillus populations while reducing E. coli counts in the cecum (P < 0.05). Ileal digestibility of crude protein (CP) and crude fiber (CF) also enhanced with the inclusion of biochar in the diets compared to the control (P < 0.05). Dietary inclusion of PB biochar increased cecal and ileal villus height indicating improved gut morphology (P < 0.05). The optimal inclusion level of PB biochar was found to be 0.65%, which showed significant improvements in growth and digestibility. Overall, this study provides insight into the potential of PB biochar as a promising alternative to antibiotics.

The purpose of this study was to look at research trends in the application of CTM in animal nutrition in order to identify current and emerging challenges, as well as to examine the intellectual structure of the subject. The intellectual structure of CTM was examined using keyword and reference analysis. The research community includes all research and review articles published in journals indexed in the Web of Science database during the years 1990–2022. The results showed that the terms zinc, co-occurring 331 times, performance (324 times), and copper 216 (times) were the main and hotspots of research in the field of chelate. The data suggest that the most important keywords during the study period were zinc, copper, pig, bovine, metabolism, and bioavailability. The terms health, muscle, beef, trace elements, and dietary supplements represent emerging topics in CTM, as research began to focus on these areas during the years 2017–2022. The country with the greatest number of published articles was the United States of America. This bibliometric analysis showed that countries are focusing on the effects of CTM on the health and musculature of cattle through dietary supplementation with trace elements. According to the identified hot and emerging topics, this research can serve as a roadmap for a global comprehensive scientific plan and policy.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of addition of walnut shell biochar (WSB) and chicken manure biochar (CMB) to dairy ewes’ diet. In in vitro experiment, the effects of different levels of WSB and CMB (0.5, 1, and 1.5% diet dry matter (DM)) on rumen fermentation characteristics were assessed in a completely randomized design with seven treatments and three replicates. Treatments were as follows: basal diet without biochar (control), basal diet with 0.5, 1, and 1.5% WSB, and basal diet with 0.5, 1, and 1.5% CMB. Addition of 1% WSB and 1.5% CMB to the diet linearly decreased methane production and ammonia-N concentrations and increased pH compared to control (P < 0.001). Inclusion of WSB and CMB to the diet did not change volume of gas production and total volatile fatty acids (VFA) and proportion of acetate, propionate, and butyrate. In the second experiment, six milking Kermanian ewes were used in a replicated Latin square design with three treatments and three 21-day periods to evaluate the effects of 1% WSB and 1.5% CMB (based on results obtained from in vitro trial) on intake, digestibility, and milk yield and composition. Dietary inclusion of 1% WSB and 1.5% CMB resulted in more milk yield (P < 0.01), milk protein (P < 0.05), and solids not fat (SNF) (P < 0.001). Blood glucose and total protein increased (P < 0.01) in ewes fed 1% WSB and 1.5% CMB in comparison to ewes fed control diet. Apparent digestibility coefficients of DM (P < 0.01) and OM (P < 0.10) were increased with inclusion of 1% WSB and 1.5% CMB in diet. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility was also increased in WSB-fed ewes (P < 0.01). The lack of negative effects of 1% WSB and 1.5% CMB coupled with the observed reduction in methane emission and ammonia concentration and also improvement in milk production suggested that biochars can be beneficially incorporated in dairy ewes’ ration as a low-cost feed additive.