Effect of dietary fermented garlic by Weissella koreensis powder on growth performance, blood characteristics, and immune response of growing pigs challenged with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of fermented garlic by Weissella koreensis powder (WKG) on pig growth performance and immune responses after an Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge. In Exp. 1, 120 growing barrows (23.5 ± 0.5 kg of BW and 56 d of age) were used in a 35-d experiment to determine the optimal amounts of WKG. Pigs were randomly allotted to 1 of 5 treatments with 6 replicate pens and 4 pigs per pen. Dietary treatments included 1) NC (negative control; basal diet without antibiotics), 2) PC (positive control; basal diet + 1 g of tylosin/kg), 3) WKG1 (basal diet + 1 g of WKG/kg), 4) WKG2 (basal diet + 2 g of WKG/kg), and 5) basal diet + 4 g of WKG/kg. At the end of the feeding period, 12 pigs each were selected from the NC and WKG2 treatment groups, and 6 pigs were injected with LPS (50 µg/kg of BW) and the other 6 pigs with an equivalent amount of sterile saline, resulting in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Blood samples and rectal temperature data were collected at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 h after challenge. The ADG of pigs fed WKG- and antibiotic-supplemented diets was greater (P<0.05) than NC from d 14 to 35 and the overall phase, but no dosage-dependent effects were observed. At the end of the experiment, the fecal E. coli count was linearly reduced by the increasing amounts of WKG at d 35 (P=0.01). Challenge with LPS increased white blood cell counts at 6 and 8 h (P<0.01) and depressed lymphocyte concentration at 4, 8, and 12 h (P<0.01). During challenge, LPS injection increased rectal temperature at 2, 4, 6, and 8 h postchallenge (P<0.05), and WKG2 alleviated (P<0.05) the increase in the temperature at 2 h postchallenge. The LPS injection increased plasma tumor necrosis factor-α and IGF-1 concentrations at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 h (P<0.01), whereas an alleviating effect of WKG was observed at 4, 6, and 8 h after LPS challenge (P<0.05). At 2, 4, and 6 h postchallenge, concentration of cluster of differentiation-antigen-4-positive cells and cluster of differentiation-antigen-8-positive cells (CD4(+) and CD8(+), respectively) increased in the LPS treatments (P<0.05), and the WKG2 boosted this effect (P<0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of WKG2 in growing pigs can improve ADG and have a beneficial effect on the immune response during an inflammatory challenge.

Effects of δ-aminolevulinic acid and vitamin C supplementation on iron status, production performance, blood characteristics and egg quality of laying hens.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of laying hen diets supplemented with δ-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and vitamin C (VC) on productive performance, iron status and egg quality. A total of 252 Hy-line brown commercial laying hens were fed two levels of VC (0 and 500 mg/kg) and three levels of ALA (0, 5 and 10 mg/kg) in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement from 57 to 63 weeks of age. Each treatment contained seven replicates with six hens in each replicate. Supplementation of the diet with both ALA and VC resulted in a significant increase in egg production during 4-6 weeks (p < 0.05). The haematocrit (HCT), total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), white blood cell (WBC), total protein and albumin concentrations were not affected by the dietary treatments. However, ALA and interactive effect of ALA and VC were observed to increase the RBC, haemoglobin and serum iron concentrations (p < 0.05). In addition, inclusion of both ALA and VC increased blood lymphocyte percentage in relation to hens not supplemented with ALA (p < 0.05). Moreover, single effect of ALA or VC improved (p < 0.05) the yolk colour unit and albumin height from 3 to 6 weeks. The egg shell colour was increased (p < 0.05) by the effect of ALA. The addition of VC also led to an increase (p < 0.05) of the Haugh unit at the end of the experiment. However, neither ALA, nor VC exerted an effect on egg weight, egg shell breaking strength or egg shell thickness. The results demonstrate that dietary ALA and VC supplementation can improve the iron status and egg quality of laying hens.

Effects of chitooligosaccharide supplementation on performance, blood characteristics, relative organ weight, and meat quality in broiler chickens.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with chitooligosaccharide (COS) on growth performance, blood characteristics, relative organ weight, and meat quality in broilers. A total of 480 broilers with an average initial BW of 45.04 g per chick were randomly allocated into 1 of the following 4 dietary treatments (20 broilers per pen with 6 pens per treatment): 1) CON (basal diet), 2) ANT (basal diet + 44 mg/kg of avilamycin), 3) COS0.2 (basal diet + 14 g/kg of COS), 4) COS0.4 (basal diet + 28 g/kg of COS). The experiment lasted for 5 wk and avilamycin was administered from d 0 to 21. Growth performance was measured on d 0, 21, and 35, and all other response criteria were measured on d 35. No change in feed conversion (G:F) was observed in response to any of the treatments throughout the experimental period (P > 0.05). However, BW gain and feed intake were greater (P < 0.05) in broilers provided with feed supplemented with COS than in those in the control group. In addition, broilers had significantly greater (P < 0.05) red blood cell and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations when they were provided with the COS0.4 diet, whereas the triglyceride concentration was lower (P < 0.05) in broilers in the COS0.2 treatment group. No other blood characteristics were affected by the treatments. Additionally, as the dietary COS concentration increased, the liver weight increased (P < 0.05). Conversely, as the concentrations of dietary COS increased, abdominal fat decreased (P < 0.05). Furthermore, meat yellowness decreased (P < 0.05) as the concentration of COS increased. Finally, the breast meat and abdominal fat of birds provided with feed supplemented with COS had a lower (P < 0.05) saturated fatty acid concentration but a greater concentration of total monounsaturated fatty acids (P < 0.05) than that of birds in the control. In conclusion, COS can improve the performance and breast meat quality of broilers while increasing the red blood cell and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations in blood. In addition, COS can induce a decrease in abdominal fat and improve meat quality.

Antioxidative phenolic compounds from the roots of Rhodiola sachalinensis A. Bor.

The acetone extract of the roots of Rhodiola sachalinensis has furnished six phenolic compounds which exhibited significant scavenging effects against DPPH free radical. The structures of these compounds were identified and determined as gallic acid (1), (-)-epigallocatechin 3-O-gallate (2), kaempferol (3), kaempferol 7-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranoside (4), herbacetin 7-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranoside, (5) and rhodiolinin (6) by physico-chemical and spectral evidences.