Potential Role of Antioxidants and Advanced Management Strategies to Improve Animal Production, Reproduction, Health, and Welfare

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Welfare".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2025 | Viewed by 2203

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy
Interests: oxidative stress; animal reproduction; nutraceuticals; phytotherapy; animal welfare
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Poultry Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21545, Egypt
Interests: poultry and rabbit husbandry; behavior; welfare; nutrition; biotechnology; management; production

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Oxidative stress is a state characterized by an altered modulation of free radicals that can cause many events that affect the health and welfare of animals, their production, and are often related to infertility. Animals have made up antioxidant defense systems composed of endogenous or exogenous compounds, which play a role in preventing the generation of free radicals, inactivating pro-oxidants, and limiting their deleterious effects by allowing the repair of oxidative damage. Deficiency in any part of the antioxidant defense system seems to result in a decrease in total antioxidant capacity. The manipulation of antioxidant mechanisms has been proposed as a strategy to protect health and well-being, ensure quality production, improve reproductive functions in vivo, and develop projects for use in assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in vivo and in vitro, in livestock and pets.

We encourage the submission of original Articles, Reviews, Communications, Commentary, and Case reports, and contributions regarding studies aimed at the use of natural antioxidants and modern practical approaches to reduce stress on farm animals and pets, which can counteract the deleterious effects, especially of the reactive oxygen species, to ensure health and welfare in animals and sustainable production capacities.

Prof. Dr. Francesca Ciani
Dr. Karim El-Sabrout
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • animal welfare
  • animal feeding
  • animal production
  • management
  • environmental stresses
  • antioxidants
  • free radicals
  • One Health
  • product quality

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 560 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Drinking Ionized Water on the Productive Performance, Physiological Status, and Carcass Characteristics of Broiler Chicks
by Abdullah Mohamed, Mohamed Khalil, Farid Soliman and Karim El-Sabrout
Animals 2025, 15(2), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15020229 - 16 Jan 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1066
Abstract
Water treatment technologies have received great attention recently, as water is the most important nutritional element, and animals consume it daily in larger quantities than those of food. The ideal water treatment affects the chemical composition and physical properties of water, having a [...] Read more.
Water treatment technologies have received great attention recently, as water is the most important nutritional element, and animals consume it daily in larger quantities than those of food. The ideal water treatment affects the chemical composition and physical properties of water, having a significant positive impact on the animal’s physiology, productivity, and welfare. Studies conducted on water ionization devices for broiler chickens remain limited; therefore, this study was planned to investigate the effect of ionized drinking water on the productive performance, physiological status, and carcass characteristics of broiler chicks. A total of 900 one-day-old broiler chicks were randomly and equally assigned to three groups, each with six replicates (50 birds/replicate). The first group (C) received tap drinking water and served as a control, while the second group (T1) received ionized drinking water from an ionizing device that worked for 1 h/100 L. The third group (T2) received ionized drinking water from an ionizing device that worked for 2 h/100 L. Water analysis for each treatment was performed. Productive traits, such as weekly body weight, feed intake, and water intake, were recorded. Hematological parameters and biochemical constituents were measured according to the reference’s description. Furthermore, carcass characteristics, such as carcass weight and dressing percentage, and bacterial count of the intestine, such as Lactobacilli and Coliform counts, were determined. From the results, ionized water (T1 and T2) had a negative ORP, which is often desirable as it suggests the presence of antioxidant properties and lower total dissolved solids (TDSs), heterotrophic plate count (HPC), and algal total count (ATC) than in tap water. The treated chicks showed higher final body weights and better feed conversion rates than the control. Ionized water also improved carcass quality characteristics, such as carcass weight and dressing percentage. T1 and T2 chicks exhibited higher hemoglobin, total protein, globulin, G and M immunoglobulin, and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels, as well as lower malondialdehyde (MDA) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels than the control. Furthermore, they had lower pathogenic bacteria counts. Therefore, it is recommended to employ the ionizing approach for broiler chicken drinking water, particularly a 2 h/100 L ionization application, for better animal productivity, health, and welfare. Full article
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