Effect of a blend of cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, and Capsicum oleoresin on methane emission and lactation performance of Holstein-Friesian dairy cows.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of administering a standardized blend of cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, and Capsicum oleoresin (CEC) to lactating dairy cattle for 84 d (i.e., 12 wk) on enteric CH4 emission, feed intake, milk yield and composition, and body weight. The experiment involved 56 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows (145 ± 31.1 d in milk at the start of the trial; mean ± standard deviation) in a randomized complete block design. Cows were blocked in pairs according to parity, lactation stage, and current milk yield, and randomly allocated to 1 of the 2 dietary treatments: a diet including 54.5 mg of CEC/kg of DM or a control diet without CEC. Diets were provided as partial mixed rations in feed bins, which automatically recorded individual feed intake. Additional concentrate was fed in the GreenFeed system that was used to measure emissions of CO2, CH4, and H2. Feeding CEC decreased CH4 yield (g/kg DMI) by on average 3.4% over the complete 12-wk period and by on average 3.9% from 6 wk after the start of supplementation onward. Feeding CEC simultaneously increased feed intake and body weight, and tended to increase milk protein content, whereas no negative responses were observed. These results must be further investigated and confirmed in longer-term in vivo experiments.

Effect of dietary magnolia bark extract supplementation in finishing pigs on the oxidative stability of meat.

BACKGROUND: Magnolia bark extract (MBE) is a natural supplement with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities. Its properties suggest that the dietary supplementation in livestock could improve the quality of products. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate, for the first time, the effect of dietary MBE supplementation (0.33 mg/kg) in finishing pigs on the oxidative stability of meat. Oxidative stability is of paramount importance for pork, as it affects storage, retail, and consumer acceptance. For the purpose, the fatty acid profile, cholesterol, fat-soluble vitamins, antioxidant enzymes (catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase), non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (TEAC, FRAP, and Folin-Ciocalteu assays), color stability, and lipid stability of pork were assessed. RESULTS: Concerning carcass characteristics, dietary MBE did not affect cold carcass yield, but reduced (P = 0.040) the chilling weight loss. The meat from pigs fed MBE had a lower (P = 0.031) lightness index than the control meat. No effect on intramuscular fat, cholesterol, and fatty acid profile was observed. Dietary MBE did not affect the content of vitamin E (α-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol) in pork, whereas it reduced (P = 0.021) the retinol content. The catalase activity was 18% higher (P = 0.008) in the meat from pigs fed MBE compared with the control group. The MBE supplementation reduced (P = 0.039) by 30% the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in raw pork over 6 d of aerobic refrigerated storage. Instead, no effect on lipid oxidation was observed in cooked pork. Last, the meat from pigs fed MBE reduced Fe3+-ascorbate catalyzed lipid oxidation in muscle homogenates, with a lower (P = 0.034) TBARS value than the control group after 60 min of incubation. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary MBE supplementation in finishing pigs delayed the lipid oxidation in raw meat. This effect was combined with an increased catalase concentration. These results suggest that dietary MBE could have implications for improving the shelf-life of pork.

Garlic-Derived Organosulfur Compounds Regulate Metabolic and Immune Pathways in Macrophages and Attenuate Intestinal Inflammation in Mice.

SCOPE: Garlic is a source of bioactive phytonutrients that may have anti-inflammatory or immunomodulatory properties. The mechanism(s) underlying the bioactivity of these compounds and their ability to regulate responses to enteric infections remains unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study investigates if a garlic-derived preparation (PTSO-PTS) containing two organosulfur metabolites, propyl-propane thiosulfonate (PTSO), and propyl-propane thiosulfinate (PTS), regulate inflammatory responses in murine macrophages and intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) in vitro, as well as in a model of enteric parasite-induced inflammation. PTSO-PTS decreases lipopolysaccharide-induced secretion of TNFα, IL-6, and IL-27 in macrophages. RNA-sequencing demonstrates that PTSO-PTS strongly suppresses pathways related to immune and inflammatory signaling. PTSO-PTS induces the expression of a number of genes involved in antioxidant responses in IEC during exposure to antigens from the parasite Trichuris muris. In vivo, PTSO-PTS does not affect T. muris establishment or intestinal T-cell responses but significantly alters cecal transcriptomic responses. Notably, a reduction in T. muris-induced expression of Tnf, Saa2, and Nos2 is observed. CONCLUSION: Garlic-derived organosulfur compounds exert anti-inflammatory effects in macrophages and IEC, and regulate gene expression during intestinal infection. These compounds and related organic molecules may thus hold potential as functional food components to improve gut health in humans and animals.

Effect of different levels of organic zinc supplementation on pork quality.

This study investigated the effect of two supplementation levels of zinc glycinate (ZnGly) on performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of growing-finishing pigs. Thirty pigs (bodyweight: 61 ± 4.0 kg) were assigned to three treatments and fed ad libitum for 56 days a diet supplemented with 0 (control), 45 (Zn45), or 100 mg/kg (Zn100) of ZnGly. The highest ZnGly supplementation lowered the average daily gain (P = 0.031); while, cold carcass weight did not differ between treatments. Both ZnGly levels reduced carcass chill loss (P < 0.001). Micromineral content, color stability, and fatty acid profile of meat were not altered by ZnGly. Superoxide dismutase activity was lowered by Zn45 compared to control (P = 0.007); while, catalase activity was enhanced by Zn100 (P = 0.003). Although ZnGly supplementation did not influence lipid oxidation in raw meat and in meat homogenates incubated with pro-oxidant catalysts, Zn45 limited lipid oxidation in cooked meat (P = 0.037). Our results demonstrated that supplementing pigs with 45 mg/kg of ZnGly could improve the oxidative stability of pork subjected to strong pro-oxidant conditions, but this effect needs to be further elucidated.

Potential of a mixture of eugenol and garlic tincture to improve performance and intestinal health in broilers under necrotic enteritis challenge.

Plant extracts (PE) are gaining increased attention as potential alternatives to in-feed antimicrobials (AM) due to their known antimicrobial activities. This study was conducted to examine the potential of PE, a microencapsulated product composed of eugenol and garlic tincture as an alternative to AM-agent on performance and intestinal health in broilers under necrotic enteritis (NE) challenge. A total of 960 day-old mixed-sex Cobb 500 chicks were randomly distributed to 48-floor pens with 6 treatments replicated 8 times with 20 birds each. The 6 treatments were as follows: UC, unchallenged control; CC, challenged control; PE, challenged group plus PE; AM, challenged group plus AM; FAP, challenged group plus a full dose of AM with PE; HAP, challenged group plus a half dose of AM with PE in starter, grower and finisher phases. Birds in the challenged groups were inoculated with Eimeria spp. on d 9 and Clostridium perfringens on d 14. The body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and livability of birds were compromised, and intestinal lesions and mortality were increased (P < 0.05) by NE challenge, illustrating a successful clinical NE challenge. Birds fed AM had higher BWG and FI, and lower FCR, mortality, and intestinal lesions compared to the CC group (P < 0.05). Birds fed PE had improved FCR (P < 0.05) and livability (5.8%) in an overall period compared to the CC group. On d 16, PE supplementation reduced ileal lesion scores in only male birds (P < 0.05). Birds fed PE had decreased Eimeria maxima and Eimeria acervulina oocyst counts in caecal content (P < 0.05). Birds fed PE had decreased Escherichia brunetti and total oocyst counts in caecal content, and E. acervulina oocyst counts in ileal content in only female birds (P < 0.05). On d 35, PE supplementation reduced variation of BW in both male and female birds and increased yellowness (b∗ value, 14.4%) in the thigh. These findings suggest the potential of PE supplementation in diets to improve the performance and intestinal health of birds under clinical NE as indicated by improved FCR, livability, uniformity, reduced ileal lesions, oocyst counts and increased skin yellowness. However, the protective effect of PE may not be apparent in the presence of AM in the feed.

The phytonutrient cinnamaldehyde limits intestinal inflammation and enteric parasite infection.

Phytonutrients such as cinnamaldehyde (CA) have been studied for their effects on metabolic diseases, but their influence on mucosal inflammation and immunity to enteric infection are not well documented. Here, we show that consumption of CA in mice significantly down-regulates transcriptional pathways connected to inflammation in the small intestine, and alters T-cell populations in mesenteric lymph nodes. During infection with the enteric helminth Heligomosomoides polygyrus, CA treatment attenuated infection-induced changes in biological pathways connected to cell cycle and mitotic activity, and tended to reduce worm burdens. Mechanistically, CA did not appear to exert activity through a prebiotic effect, as CA treatment did not significantly change the composition of the gut microbiota. Instead, in vitro experiments showed that CA directly induced xenobiotic metabolizing pathways in intestinal epithelial cells and suppressed endotoxin-induced inflammatory responses in macrophages. Collectively, our results show that CA down-regulates inflammatory pathways in the intestinal mucosa and can limit the pathological response to enteric infection. These properties appear to be largely independent of the gut microbiota, and instead connected to the ability of CA to induce antioxidant pathways in intestinal cells. Our results encourage further investigation into the use of CA and related phytonutrients as functional food components to promote intestinal health in humans and animals.

Organic selenium supplement partially alleviated diquat-induced oxidative insults and hepatic metabolic stress in nursery pigs.

The study investigated antioxidant effects of Se on resilience to diquat-induced oxidative stress in nursery pigs. Thirty-five weaned pigs were individually housed and randomly assigned to one of the five treatments. Pigs were (1) fed a basal diet and intraperitoneally injected with sterile saline (negative control), (2) fed the basal diet and injected with diquat solution (positive control, PC), or fed the basal diet supplemented with 0·3 mg Se/kg as (3) sodium selenite (SS), (4) soyabean protein-chelated Se (SC) or (5) selenised yeast (SY) and intraperitoneally injected with diquat. Pigs were fed the experimental diets for 17 d and injected with diquat at 10 mg/kg body weight or saline on the 11th day of the study (day 0 post-injection (PI)). Diquat exposure induced acute stress and innate immune activation (P < 0·05) at 6 h PI and compromised (P < 0·05) plasma glutathione peroxidase activity on day 2 PI, which was accompanied by an increase in plasma malondialdehyde at 6 h and day 2 PI (P < 0·10). Organic Se, particularly SY, enhanced (P < 0·05) endogenous antioxidant activity in various aspects compared with the PC group. The growth rate and feed intake from day 0 to day 7 PI were significantly lower in the PC, SS and SC groups than the NC group (P < 0·05). Untargeted metabolomics analysis revealed that twenty-two hepatic metabolites (false discovery rate < 0·15) associated with lipid and cellular antioxidant metabolism were altered by diquat. SY restored hepatic metabolic profiles in some but not all samples.

Accurate quantification of metal-glycinates-sulphate complexes and free metals in feed by capillary electrophoresis inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

Traceability of metal-glycinate-sulphate complexes (Metal-GLY) in feed requires specific analysis to differentiate complexes from inorganic forms. A previously described method focused on the quantification of Metal-GLY at one single concentration but not on the quantification of free metal ion forms. The objective of this work was to extend the method to quantify both Metal-GLY and free metal ion forms of various metals at low inclusion levels. A 50/50 w/w mix of corn flour and soybean meal was used as feed. Copper-glycinate(Cu-GLY), Manganese-glycinate (Mn-GLY) and Zinc-glycinate (Zn-GLY) complexes (provided by Pancosma SA) were used for in-feed inclusions. The feed metal background concentrations and species repartitions were assessed. Cu-GLY was spiked on feed at levels matching 5, 15 and 45 mg/kg, corresponding to metal concentrations of 1.2, 3.6 and 10.8 mg/kg. Mn-GLY and Zn-GLY were spiked at 15, 45 and 100 mg/kg, corresponding to 3.3, 9.9, 22 mg/kg Mn and 3.9, 11.7, 26mg/kg Zn, respectively. The water soluble fraction of un-supplemented feed contained 0.06 mg/kg Cu, 0.05 mg/kg Mn and 0.12 mg/kg Zn, with 69.5% of Cu, 33.2% of Mn and 24.3% of Zn being present under free metal ions but 30.4% of Cu being present under Cu-GLY, 66.82% of Mn and 75.7% of Zn being present under Mn-GLY and Zn-GLY, respectively. The supplemented feeds at the 3 tested doses, from the lowest to the highest inclusion levels, contained in total respectively: 1.1, 3.05 and 9.06 mg/kg Cu; 2.99, 8.9 and 18.2 mg/kg Mn; 3.72, 10.9 and 23.4 mg/kg Zn. The M-GLY species recovered by analysis within the different supplemented feeds ranged from 76.26 to 89.32% for Cu-GLY, form 94.5 to 98.51% for Mn-GLY and from 76.05 to 98.96% for Zn-GLY. These results showed that CE-ICP-MS technique can be used to quantify low doses and to measure metal-species repartition between Metal-GLY and free metal ions, when included in feeds. For the first time, this study highlighted that the raw materials used contain Metal-GLY compounds. This raises the question of the occurrence of these compounds within the different raw materials used in feed production that could dramatically affect the way to supplement minerals in animal feed.