Antimicrobial Use in Pig Farms in the Midwestern Region of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The use of antimicrobials in swine production is an issue that concerns the whole world due to their impact on animal and public health. This study aimed to verify the antimicrobial use in 29 commercial full-cycle farms in the midwestern region of the state of Minas Gerais, since this region is a hub of intensive pig farming in Brazil, as well as the possible correlations between the use of antimicrobials, biosecurity, and productivity. A total of 28 different drugs used for preventive purposes were described. On average, the herds used seven drugs, exposing the piglets for 116 days and totaling 434.17 mg of antimicrobials per kilogram of pig produced. Just eight active ingredients made up 77.5% of the total number of drugs used on the studied herds. Significant differences were found between the variables, biosecurity score and number of sows, antimicrobial amount and number of drugs, number of drugs and number of sows, and between productivity and biosecurity scores. The use of antimicrobials was considered excessive in the swine farms in the state of Minas Gerais compared to what was reported in Brazil and in other countries. Educational measures and better control should be proposed to reduce the preventive use of antimicrobials.

Experimental ethology of intensively reared lowland pacas (Cuniculus paca).

The objective of this study was to evaluate and to describe the main behaviors of family groups of lowland pacas (Cuniculus paca) raised in a commercial breeding facility. We used 24 adult pacas, 16 females and 8 males, with a mean live weight of 8.2 kg and age ranging from 2 to 4 years. The animals were kept in groups of two females and one male per enclosure. Cameras were used to monitor the animals. The behaviors identified were divided into five categories (maintenance, exploratory, social interaction, reproductive, and environmental interaction). A completely randomized design in a split-split plot arrangement with three treatment factors was used: sex, period of the day, and season. The frequencies of the maintenance and environmental interaction behavioral categories were significantly higher during the day compared to the nocturnal period (P < 0.05). The duration of each behavioral category differed significantly (P < 0.05) between day and night. The frequencies of the maintenance and reproductive behavioral categories were significantly higher during the dry season compared to the rainy season (P < 0.05) and the relative duration of behaviors of the environmental interaction category was shorter during the dry season (P < 0.05). Females exhibited a significantly higher frequency of maintenance and environmental interaction than males (P < 0.05) and the duration of environmental interaction was shorter (P < 0.05) in females. The present results add to the existing knowledge on the behavior of lowland pacas raised in captivity for production of this wild species which is in the stage of domestication.

Inhibition of Lrrk2 reduces ethanol preference in a model of acute exposure in zebrafish.

Due to its multifactorial and yet to be fully understood origin, ethanol addiction is a field that still requires studies for the elucidation of novel genes and pathways that potentially influence the establishment and maintenance of addiction-like phenotypes. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the role of the LRRK2 pathway in the modulation of ethanol preference behavior in Zebrafish (Danio rerio). Using the behavioral Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) paradigm, we accessed the preference of animals for ethanol. Next, we evaluated the transcriptional regulation of the gene lrrk2 and the receptors drd1, drd2, grin1a, gria2a, and gabbr1b in the zebrafish brain. Additionally, we used a selective inhibitor of Lrrk2 (GNE-0877) to assess the role of this gene in the preference behavior. Our results revealed four distinct ethanol preference phenotypes (Light, Heavy, Negative Reinforcement, and Inflexible), each showing different transcriptional regulation patterns of the drd1, drd2, grin1a, gria2a, and gabbr1b receptors. We showed that the lrrk2 gene was hyperregulated only in the brains of the animals with the Inflexible phenotype. Most importantly, we showed, for the first time in the context of preference for ethanol, that treatment with the GNE-0877 inhibitor modulates the transcription of the target receptor genes and reduces the preference for ethanol in the animals of the Inflexible group. This result corroborates the hypothesis that the LRRK2 pathway is involved in the inflexible preference for ethanol behavior. Lastly, we identified a possible pharmacological target for the treatment of abusive preference behavior for ethanol.

Effects of dietary inclusion of macaúba seed cake meal on performance, caecotrophy traits and in vitro evaluations for growing rabbits.

The objective was to evaluate the inclusion of macaúba seed cake (MSC) meal in diets for growing rabbits by assessing their growth and slaughtering performance, haematological traits, nutritional contribution of caecotrophs, in vitro digestibility, degradability and fermentation parameters. A total of 88 rabbits were distributed to four groups with 22 animals each and fed diets containing 0, 50, 100 and 150 g/kg of MSC, respectively. The in vitro assays were conducted employing cecum inoculum on the same dietary treatments. The inclusion of MSC yielded a quadratic effect on in vitro dry matter digestibility (p < 0.001). The maximum amount of produced gas was raised linearly with the inclusion of MSC (p = 0.016). MSC linearly reduced several variables as the nutritional contribution of caecotrophs in dry matter (p = 0.017) and crude protein (p = 0.014), live weight at 51 d (p = 0.024), body weight gain (p = 0.039), average daily feed intake (ADFI) (p = 0.001) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (p = 0.007) in the first period evaluated (30-50 d); furthermore the ADFI and FCR the second (51-72 d) and whole period (30-72 d) (p < 0.001). MSC addition caused a quadratic effect on white blood cells count (p = 0.026) and a linear decrease of eosinophils (p = 0.045). In conclusion, the inclusion of up to 150 g/kg of MSC improves the in vitro digestibility and fermentation potential of the diets, reflecting on the ADFI and FCR of the animals, although adverse effects are observed on the weight of the commercial carcass and nutritive contribution of the caecotrophs.