Comparison of entropion outcome with and without intervention in Romane and Ile de France sheep breeds.

BACKGROUND: Congenital entropion is the most frequent ocular disorder in newborn lambs of certain sheep breeds, which, if not treated, can result in complete blindness and death due to starvation. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to compare the spontaneous healing of entropion in two breeds and assess the outcome of cases with and without therapeutic intervention. METHODS: A total of 158 entropion cases (119 Ile de France and 39 Romane) were investigated, and swab samples were collected from the cornea and conjunctiva of 73 of the affected lambs for bacteriological investigation. In addition, an ocular intervention was carried out in 123 affected animals. RESULTS: The Romane breed developed entropion at an average age of 7 days compared to the Ile de France, which developed it at an average age of 1 day. Likewise, significant differences were found between bilateral and unilateral involvement in both breeds. Meanwhile, 22.1% of cases recovered spontaneously, and the highest rate of spontaneous recovery without intervention was observed in the Romane breed (66%). Bacteria isolated from ocular samples included Staphylococcus spp. (42.5%), Bacillus spp. (21.9%), Trueperella pyogenes (13.7%), Corynebacterium spp. (12.3%) and Escherichia coli (9.6%). CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study showed that the onset time of entropion, bilateral involvement, the severity of the process and the need for re-treatment were higher in the Ile de France breed than in the Romane breed. Likewise, the Romane breed showed a higher degree of spontaneous recovery of entropion.

Shelf life extension of minced squab using poly-lactic acid films containing Cinnamomum verum essential oil.

The effects of poly-lactic acid films containing different concentrations of Cinnamomum verum essential oil (CVEO) on microbial, chemical and sensory criteria of minced squab were assessed during the storage at 4 °C for 12 days. The counts of total aerobic bacteria, psychrotrophic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, pseudomonads and Enterobacteriacea of wrapped samples with PLA films containing 0.6 and 0.9 % CVEO never reached 7 log CFU/g during the storage. Counts of E. coli and L. monocytogenes spiked to the PLA-wrapped with 0.6 or 0.9 CVEO squab samples were an order and 2 orders of magnitude lower, respectively, after the storage comparing to control. Also, samples wrapped with PLA films containing different concentrations of CVEO had lower total volatile base nitrogen, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances values vs. control. Finally, applying of PLA films containing different concentration of CVEO, led to minor changes in sensory characteristics (P > 0.05).