Thermal Comfort, Growth Performance and Welfare of Olive Pulp Fed Broilers during Hot Season
Farouq Heidar Barido
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Thanks for your work and presentation.
However, please consider the following comments during your revision.
- Line 84, the abbreviation OP should be mentioned firstly as “olive pulp” followed by “OP”. The same in line 98, EU “European Union”. Line 164, THI “Temperature Humidity Index”. Line 183, ΒΤ (Body Temperature). Line 184, BWG (Body Weight Gain).
- Line 101, the beginning of the statement should not be an abbreviation “OP”.
- Why the study was carried out on 19-days-old chickens, not from the first day or even week of life?! There was no need for apply the study on chickens from a commercial flock and adapt them for a long time before the beginning of the experiment.
- What the meaning of the statement ”this period was necessary for stabilizing the chicken’s body weight” (line 144).
- The feather cleanliness, FPD (swelling-bubble foot), and hock burn scoring systems should be supported by references.
- Lines 341 and 342 contain some abbreviations such as GSH, SOD, and MDA. They should be deleted as they were mentioned once.
- Lines 414 and 423, foot pad dermatitis should be deleted, the abbreviation is enough.
- Line 414, (PUFA) should be mentioned as full words.
- The thermo-protective mechanism of OP (regulating of panting behavior) should discussed more in the discussion.
- The references section writing should follow the instructions of the journal.
- What is the cost-benefit ratio of using OP in the ration of broilers?!.
- Why the authors didn't measure the carcass characteristics of the used OP concentrations?!
Best wishes
Author Response
please see the attachment
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The idea of this study to investigate the thermal comfort and growth performance effect from olive pulp on broilers during hot season is fresh and potentially own decent scientific soundness and novelty.
From all section of manuscript [abstract, introduction, result and discussion, and conclusion], only minor comment can be found, representing its good presentation by the authors. However, some sentences and English quality need significant improvement.
Overall, author did really great job in this work, and some comments that need to be addressed can be found in the following document.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Due to consideration of confusing sentences found and some grammatical errors, as well as ineffective sentences, Extensive editing are highly suggested to improve the quality of manuscript.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
This is an interesting study and the authors managed to investigate the dietary effect of dried olive pulp (0, 3 and 6% OP), on broilers’ thermal comfort, growth performance and welfare in a commercial poultry farm during hot season. The manuscript is generally well written and structured. However, there are some issues (mentioned below) in the manuscript that needs to be addressed before it can be accepted for publication.
Why did the authors concentrate on how dried olive pulp affected chicken growth and welfare given the weak introduction? Why did the authors choose just 3 and 6% of dried olive pulp among the wide range (2-20%)? There is no explanation as to why these parameters and this level were examined. Sorry, but the reasons mentioned in the introduction do not support the study's goal.
The study, in my opinion, is deficient in measuring some crucial information, such as possible hormonal mechanisms involved in the stress response, thermoregulation, and metabolic changes in broiler chickens exposed to high environmental temperatures (Such as plasma thyroxine, corticosterone, HSP70 and HSP90 genes), and I believe this special dataset can be used to comprehend the metabolic state and bird health as a result of the action of dried olive pulp. How could you possibly expect the chickens to experience the effects of dried olive pulp?
The active components and polyphenols were used to examine the beneficial effects of dried olive pulp in the discussion. However, you didn't measure these substances in the used OP?
Discussion is insufficient; this required updated citations up to 2023 and discussions of related published literature to explore the significance of the results of the work. More specifically, you need to present data from other studies with the inclusion level of dried olive pulp to the degree this is feasible.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Dear authors,
Abstract:
- Row: Please a noun at the beginning of the sentence...Eg: A number of 180...
- Row 11: Please, first you explain in extenso what CON, OP, OP3 and OP6 mean and add into brackets their abbreviation.
Row 17: The statistical difference is it significant? The same observation is for body temperature.
Row 18: Rephrase it......
Avoid the expression ............seems
The introduction:
Comprehension, well argument about heat stress, cheap source of protein, birds' behaviour under heat stress.
Row 84: OP (first write it in extenso)
Material and Method:
Please add the diet structure. You are discussing the effect of olive pulp-fed broilers, therefore the structure of the diet must appear within the manuscript.
Author Response
please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors did the required modifications.
Author Response
Thank you very much!
Reviewer 4 Report
Dear authors,
The manuscript presents an interesting study approach and analysis of using olive waste in broilers' feeding, especially in heat stress conditions.
You have answered my concerns and enquiries.
The revision has improved the manuscript.
