Development of process to produce polyvalent IgY antibodies anti-African snake venom.

Polyvalent anti-Bitis and anti-Naja antivenom IgY antibodies were prepared using B. arietans, B. nasicornis, B. rhinoceros, N. melanoleuca, and N. mossambica venoms to immunize chickens. Blood and eggs were collected before and during the 10-month immunization period; the sera and yolk extracts were then prepared and assayed for the presence of antivenom antibodies by ELISA and Western blot methods. ELISA Antivenom antibody titers, referred to as U-ELISA/ml of serum or egg yolk extracts, absent in pre-immunization sera or yolk, increased sharply during the 4 weeks after immunization, reaching a plateau thereafter. Yolk extracts with high antivenom titers, as detected by ELISA were used to isolate and purify IgY. Purified IgY preparations recognized venom protein bands from 10 to 20 kDa to 60 and 70 kDa, as shown by Western blot. Recovery of antivenom antibodies from the whole yolk was over 80%. Final preparations exhibited high antivenom activity (>100,000 U-ELISA/ml) as well as efficacy in neutralizing venom lethality (1,440 microg of IgY neutralize 62.2 LD(50) of venom), and were free of toxic products, pyrogen or bacterial and fungal contaminations.

Exigência de lisina para codornas japonesas (Coturnix japonica) na fase de cria / Lysine requirement for growing japanese quails (Coturnix japonica)

Foram utilizadas 400 codornas fêmeas com peso médio de 7,3g + 0,3g no período de um a 42 dias de idade. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado, com cinco tratamentos e quatro repetições com 20 aves por unidade experimental. Os tratamentos consistiram em cinco níveis de lisina total na ração (0,90 por cento; 1,05 por cento; 1,20 por cento; 1,35 por cento; 1,50 por cento). As características avaliadas foram: consumo de ração médio diário (g/ave/dia) e acumulado (g/ave/período); peso médio das aves (g), ganho em massa corporal acumulado (g/ave/período), conversão alimentar (g de ração consumida/g de ganho de peso), mortalidade ( por cento/período) e uniformidade ( por cento/período). Também foi descrita a curva de crescimento das codornas para cada nível de lisina total utilizado. Não foi verificado efeito significativo para nenhuma das características avaliadas (P>0,05). O nível de 0,90 por cento de lisina total em rações com 20,70 por cento de proteína bruta atendeu às exigências de codornas japonesas durante o período de crescimento, correspondendo a um consumo diário, por ave, de 96,9 mg de lisina total.

In a study to establish total lysine requirement for growing japanese quails, 400 female quails 7.3 g + 0.3 g mean body weight were used from one to 42 days of age. A completely randomized experimental design was adopted, with five treatments and four replicates, with 20 birds per experimental unit. The treatments were five total lysine levels in the diet (0.90 percent; 1.05 percent; 1.20 percent; 1.35 percent and 1.50 percent). The evaluated data were: daily feed intake (g/ bird/ day); total feed intake (g/ bird/ period); body weight (g/ bird); total body weight gain (g/ bird/ period); feed conversion rate (g of feed intake / g of weight gain); mortality ( percent / period) and uniformity ( percent / period). The growing curve of the quails fed each total lysine level studied was also described. There was no statistical significant effect for all the evaluated data (P > 0.05). The level of 0.90 percent total lysine in 20.70 percent crude protein diet met the requirement of japanese quails during growing period, equivalent to a daily total lysine intake of 96.9 mg/ bird.