Effects of the stems and leaves of Astragalus membranaceus on growth performance, immunological parameters, antioxidant status, and intestinal bacteria of quail.

This study was designed to evaluate the potential application of the stems and leaves of Astragalus membranaceus (AMSL) in the poultry industry. Quails were divided into four groups and fed daily with an AMSL-free diet (control) or with 1%, 3%, or 5% (w/w) AMSL-incorporated diets for 35 days. The results showed that supplementing AMSL in the diet, especially at a concentration of 3%, increased daily gain and feed intake during the entire experiment (p < 0.05). The immune organ development of the thymus and bursa of Fabricius was promoted, and the immune system was enhanced by increasing the quantities of IgA and complements C3 and C4 (p < 0.05). The total antioxidant capacity and the activities of glutathione peroxidase and catalase were increased (p < 0.05). Moreover, the 3%-5% AMSL groups regulated the intestinal flora by promoting the proliferation of lactic acid bacteria and inhibiting the growth of coliform bacteria (p < 0.05). In conclusion, feeding incorporated diets with appropriate AMSL levels significantly increased growth performance, strengthened the immune system, improved antioxidative status, and regulated the intestinal microflora of quails, suggesting that AMSL has the potential to serve as a feed additive in the poultry industry.

Bactericidal Effect of Calcium Oxide (Scallop-Shell Powder) Against Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm on Quail Egg Shell, Stainless Steel, Plastic, and Rubber.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the bactericidal effect of calcium oxide (CaO) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms on quail eggshells and major egg contacting surfaces (stainless steel, plastic, and rubber). The samples were subjected to CaO treatments (0%, 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.15%, 0.20%, 0.25%, and 0.30%) for 1 min. All the CaO treatments significantly reduced P. aeruginosa biofilms on all tested surfaces as compared to controls. In comparison of biofilm stability, the strongest and most resistant biofilm was formed on eggshell against the CaO treatment, followed by rubber, stainless steel, and plastic. In evaluation of bactericidal effect, the largest reduction (3.16 log CFU) was observed in plastic even at the lowest concentration of CaO (0.01%), whereas the least reduction was found in eggshells, regardless of CaO concentration. In addition, stainless steel showed a significant reduction in biofilm formation at all concentrations except 0.10% to 0.15% CaO. At 0.30% CaO, the reduction of P. aeruginosa in biofilms on stainless steel, plastic, rubber, and eggshell were 5.48, 6.37, 4.87, and 3.14 log CFU/cm2 (CFU/egg), respectively. Biofilm reduction after CaO treatment was also observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Based on the FE-SEM images, we observed that P. aeruginosa biofilms formed compact aggregations on eggshell surfaces with CaO treatments up to 0.30%. More specifically, a 0.20% CaO treatment resulted in the reductions of 3 to 6 log CFU in all materials.

Coligranulomatosis (Hjärre and Wramby's disease) reconsidered.

Coligranulomatosis (Hjärre and Wramby's disease) is considered to be a disease of chickens, turkeys and partridges that occurs sporadically in individual, adult birds. Therefore, the condition is not of economic importance, but is of interest due to the similarity of its lesions to those of tuberculosis. In a number of cases the disease could be reproduced by inoculation via artificial routes of granuloma homogenate or Escherichia coli bacteria isolated from the lesions. Oral inoculations always failed. Occasionally, also serious outbreaks of granuloma disease have been reported in chickens, turkeys and quails. E. coli bacteria were either not isolated or isolated, but the disease could not be reproduced with the isolates, which means that the essence of Koch's postulates was not fulfilled. Also other evidence of causality was not presented. Therefore, these disease cases might have been wrongly diagnosed as coligranulomatosis. Instead they may have been caused by Tetratrichomonas gallinarum, a parasite, which has the ability to induce severe granulomatosis in chicken flocks as has been shown recently. It is concluded that whenever severe granuloma disease is observed in poultry flocks at a large scale and is thus economically relevant, T. gallinarum should be included and rank high in the list of differential diagnoses.

A survey of birds in Denmark for the presence of Pneumocystis carinii.

One hundred eighty-three toluidine blue O-stained necropsy lung imprint smears from different avian species were examined microscopically for Pneumocystis carinii. No cyst forms of the organism could be identified. Seventy-eight serum samples from a total of 155 chickens were examined by a competition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antibodies to P. carinii; 53 serum samples were from individual chickens, and 25 samples were pools of sera from two to five chickens. Diluted 1:50, the 78 serum samples showed a specific ELISA-inhibition of 4% to 56% (the 95% confidence limit being 25% to 30% inhibition). Diluted 1:50, nine serum pools representing 34 chickens and 17 of the 53 individual serum samples (32.1%) showed an inhibition greater than 30%. No specific pneumocyst DNA could be detected in serum from 13 of the 53 chickens using polymerase chain reaction and dihydrofolate reductase gene as a specific probe. Specific antibodies to a 116,000-molecular-weight antigen of rat pneumocysts were shown in two (13.3%) of 15 individual chicken serum samples. The results indicate that P. carinii organisms do not commonly reside in the lungs of birds, although some birds may be exposed to external sources of organisms.

Transforming variants of the avian myc-containing retrovirus FH3 arise prior to phenotypic selection.

The avian retrovirus FH3, which encodes a Gag-Myc fusion protein, transforms chicken macrophages but not fibroblasts. However, passage of FH3 viral stock in fibroblasts leads to emergence of a virus capable of fibroblast transformation. This virus has not acquired myc mutations; instead, it carries internal gag deletions which confer the ability to transform fibroblasts. We now demonstrate that this and similar deletion variants emerge repeatedly during selection. Sequence analysis reveals direct repeats at or near deletion junctions, suggesting that errors during reverse transcription may be involved in genesis of these viruses, which are then positively selected in fibroblast culture. By using the polymerase chain reaction, we found that such variants preexisted in original stocks even before selection, although they could not be detected by focus assay.

[Avian CELO adenovirus as a possible contaminant in cell cultures of Japanese quail embryos]. / Adenovirus ptits CELO kak vozmozhnyi kontaminant kul'tur kletok émbrionov iaponskikh perepelov.

Avian adenovirus CELO was found to replicate poorly in Japanese quail embryos (JQE) and cell cultures of them. The infectious process in these systems was latent. The antigen of adenovirus CELO in JQE cell culture was detectable by the fluorescent antibody method (FAM) within the first 24-72 hours after inoculation as fluorescent cytoplasmic granules. Subsequently, fluorescence of nuclei and macrophage cytoplasm was observed. The results indicate that JQE and their cell cultures are not contaminated with avian adenovirus CELO despite regular circulation of this agent among avian populations. The advantages of FAM (rapidity and clearness) for identification of adenovirus as substrates contaminant as compared with other biological methods have been demonstrated.

MC29 deletion mutants which fail to transform chicken macrophages are competent for transformation of quail macrophages.

A number of MC29 mutants with deleted myc genes have been previously characterized. Many of these mutants have been found to be defective for transformation of chicken macrophages in vitro and for tumor induction in chickens. Such mutants are capable of transforming Japanese quail macrophages in vitro and inducing a high incidence of tumors in Japanese quail. Thus, Japanese quail may contain a factor(s) capable of complementing the defective transforming proteins encoded by some deleted v-myc genes.

Marek's disease in Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica): a study of natural cases.

Marek's disease was observed in quails. Gross lesions were confined mostly to the spleen and liver. Microscopic lesions were commonly seen in spleen, proventriculus, liver, and duodenum. Skin, peripheral nerves, and other visceral organs were also involved. Of 123 quails examined, 39 had serum antibodies against Marek's disease. These antibodies were detected from 11 to 17 weeks of age; the highest incidence was recorded at 15 weeks. Feather follicular antigen detected in 30 of the 95 quails was comparable to that of chicken. The disease was experimentally reproduced in susceptible quails. Marek's-disease-tumor-associated surface antigens (MATSA) were demonstrated in the peripheral leukocytes and spleen cells of affected quails. The possible source of infection and its epidemiological importance are discussed.

Avian pox: infection and immunity with quail, psittacine, fowl, and pigeon pox viruses.

Quail, chickens, and turkeys vaccinated with pigeon and fowl pox viruses were not protected against challenge of their immunity with quail pox virus and they developed severe cutaneous lesions of pox. When quail and chickens were vaccinated with quail pox virus and given pigeon and fowl pox challenge viruses, no protection was present. Thus, quail pox virus had no immunologic relationship to pigeon and fowl pox viruses. Psittacine pox virus applied as a vaccine in quail and chickens also failed to protect against quail pox virus challenge. However, quail, chickens, and turkeys vaccinated with quail pox virus were protected against quail pox virus challenge. An isolate of psittacine pox virus, applied as a vaccine, protected chickens against challenge with the same virus isolate and also against challenge with two other psittacine pox virus isolates, confirming a close or identical antigenic relationship with each other. When combined in a multivalent vaccine, quail, psittacine, and fowl pox viruses induced excellent protection in chickens against challenge with the three respective viruses. The presence or absence of "takes" or reactions following vaccination by the wing web route did not necessarily correlate with the presence or absence of immunity noted from challenge by feather follicle virus application. The role of quail and psittacine pox viruses as potential pathogens for poultry was discussed briefly.

Oncogenecity of an avian erythroblastosis virus in mutant strains of Japanese quails.

The susceptibility of 12 mutant strains of Japanese quails to the R strain of avian erythroblastosis virus (AEV) was examined. Three strains, SBPP, PNN and CWE, showed high susceptibility and developed various types of tumors including erythroblastosis, hemangioma and myeloblastic leukemia. In relatively resistant WE strain, increased incidence and various types of tumors were observed by modification of host conditions. These results indicate pluripotential oncogenicity of AEV in quails as well as partial control of AEV-oncogenesis by genetical background of the host.

Evaluation of secondary enrichment for detecting Salmonellae in bobwhite quail.

Secondary enrichment of cultures in tetrathionate-brilliant-green broth substantially increased Salmonella recovery over that achieved with primary tetrathionate-brilliant-green broth or primary selenite-cystine broth.