Growth performance and carcass characteristics of finishing male lambs fed barberry pomace-containing diets.

Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) fruits contain bioactive compounds with antimicrobial, antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects. The inclusion of barberry pomace (BP) in finishing diets could potentially enhance growth performance and carcass characteristics of sheep. To test this hypothesis, 21 male Balouchi lambs (24.5 ± 4 kg initial live weight; 5 ± 0.6 months of age) were randomly assigned to three BP-containing experimental diets to determine their effects on feed intake, live weight gain and carcass characteristics. The experimental diets were formulated to meet nutrient requirements for a targeted daily weight gain of 200 g as follows: (1) control diet (BP0), (2) control diet in which 7.5% of alfalfa hay and wheat straw were replaced with BP (BP75), (3) control diet in which 15% of alfalfa hay and wheat straw were replaced with BP (BP150). Lambs were fed the experimental diets for 75 days during which feed intake and live weight changes were recorded. At the end of the feeding period, lambs were fasted for 16 h, weighed and then slaughtered in order to determine carcass characteristics. Experimental diets had no effect on feed intake and growth performance of lambs. Similarly, diets had no effect (p > 0.05) on weight of carcass, commercial cuts (neck, shoulder, loin, leg, fat-tail, brisket, flank) and non-carcass components (head, skin, feet, lung and trachea, heart, liver, spleen, gastro-intestinal, kidney, bladder and testicles) but linearly increased (p < 0.05) warm and cold dressing percentage as well as heart weight. These results do not support the hypothesis that feeding BP-containing diets enhances growth performance and carcass characteristics of male Balouchi lambs. However, inclusion of BP had no negative effects on animal performance and carcass characteristics.

Streptococcus equi in Equine: Diagnostic and Healthy Performance Impacts.

Although the strangles disease of Streptococcus equi was discovered many decades ago in 1,251 by Jordanus Ruffus, it has still remained a major frequently diagnosed infection in horses all over the world. The S. equi subspecies pathogen is known to be often resistant to antibiotic treatment, and it makes the antibiotics inefficient; hence, this review was conducted to study how the disease can be managed. The age-long sign of this infection is the oozing of pus through the mucous and skin membranes. Affected horses lose appetite, develop fever, and become depressed, which result in them losing weight and becoming lethargic, reducing their physical activity especially when they are being raised for athletic and sport purposes. This article reviews various solutions proffered by several researchers about the healthy performance impacts of S. equi in equine.

Effect of dietary inclusion of lecithin with choline on physiological stress of serum cholesterol fractions and enzymes, abdominal fat, growth performance, and mortality parameters of broiler chickens.

A total of 270 one-d-old Ross 308 broiler chicks were randomly allotted to 9 experimental diets (3 replicates of 10 birds each), including three types of supplemental lipotropic factors (control, 0.1% or 0.2% choline and 0.5% or 1% lecithin) in a 3 × 3 factorial arrangement. Supplementation of lecithin improved FCR values during 1-21 days of age. Although no differences were noticed for mortality index among different diets, the group supplemented with a combination of choline (0.1) and lecithin (0.5) showed the highest (P < 0.0001) production index. Choline (0.1% or 0.2%) significantly decreased serum total cholesterol by 11%, triglycerides by 21%, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) by 20%, and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) by 20%, while increased the glucose and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) values by 11% and 6%, respectively. On the other hand, lecithin significantly increased glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, LDL and VLDL by 4%, 9%, 7%, 24%, and 25%, respectively. Choline supplementation decreased the aspartate amino transferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (AP); however, the lecithin addition increased their respective proportions. This study concluded that the combinations of 0.1% choline and 0.5% lecithin is the best among all other treatments because of the highest production index and least mortality.

Dietary Supplementation with sodium bentonite and coumarin alleviates the toxicity of aflatoxin B1 in rabbits.

Eighty-four male New Zealand White rabbits with average body weight 778 ±â€¯65 g were blocked into four groups to evaluate the ability of sodium bentonite and coumarin in alleviating the toxicity of aflatoxin B1. The first group was fed on a diet without any treatment (CON), while the remaining three diets were added with aflatoxin B1 at 0.25 ppm diet. Diet fed to the third and fourth group of rabbits were further supplemented with sodium bentonite at 5 g/kg (SOB) and coumarin at 5 g/kg (COU) of the diet, respectively. Feeding aflatoxin-contaminated diet (AFL) caused necrosis of liver tissue and reduced the weight gain, average daily gain, feed conversion ratio, nutrient digestibility coefficients, and nitrogen balance of rabbits. This, in turn, was reflected as a reduction in carcass characteristics. The serum collected from rabbits fed aflatoxin-contaminated diet showed decreased levels of total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose, total cholesterol, and triglycerides, and increased concentrations of urea, creatinine, and liver enzymes. Further, aflatoxin diet increased the cecal pH, and decreased the ammonia nitrogen, total volatile fatty acids, and individual fatty acids proportion of cecal fluid. Supplementing sodium bentonite and coumarin at 5 g/kg diet reduced the negative effects of aflatoxin B1 on growth performance, digestibility of nutrients, biochemical parameters, carcass characteristics, and cecal fermentation profile. Furthermore, the coumarin-supplemented group showed better body weight gains and carcass weights compared to the rabbits fed with diets containing sodium bentonite. In conclusion, both sodium bentonite and coumarin supplementation was beneficial in ameliorating the toxicity of aflatoxin B1. Further, the increased body weight gains and better-feed conversion in coumarin-supplemented rabbits project the coumarin as a better anti-aflatoxigenic supplement.

Nanoparticles in Equine Nutrition: Mechanism of Action and Application as Feed Additives.

Several concerns exist regarding horse rearing such as environmental pollution, antibiotics resistance, digestive disorders, mycotoxins contamination of animal feed, gut health management, and improvement of feed efficiency. Nanoparticles have the potential to address these issues and thus could be used as feed additive. Citrate reduces and stabilizes gold nanoparticles, alongside biosynthesized silver nanoparticles have the potential to prolong and improve digestive enzyme activity, which would enhance starch digestibility in the stomach. Zinc oxide and selenium nanoparticles could be used to improve feed digestibility and volatile fatty acids production. Magnesium oxide, silver, and copper nanoparticles exhibit strong antimicrobial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative microbes and weaken the biofilm formation of the microbial community. Calcium, zinc, and silver nanoparticles could be used to prevent periodontal disease in horses. In addition, silver nanoparticles may be applied as antifasciolitics and potentially against other gastrointestinal parasites. Environmental concern of equines could be addressed by using cerium oxide, silver, and cobalt nanoparticles to reduce methane emission and zinc oxide could help to reduce fecal mineral output. Fullerol C60[OH]24, a honey-derived silver nanoparticle and zinc oxide nanoparticles exhibit attractive antibacterial properties because of increased specific surface area as the reduced particle enhance unit surface reactivity. Gut health management of equines could be solved with nanoparticles because of the ability of ferrous oxide and copper nanoparticles to improve microbial growth, whereas zinc oxide improves villus height, crypt depth, and villous surface area. It is required to explore in depth the beneficial effects of these nanoparticles as a novel area in the equine industry's both in vitro and in vivo before recommendation to equine owners.

Synergetic action between the rumen microbiota and bovine health.

Host-rumen-microbe interactions are essential components of many physiological processes, and therefore can affect ruminant health. Classical knowledge of rumen microbiology is based on culture-dependent methodologies, which only account for 10-20% of the rumen bacterial communities. While, the advancement in DNA sequencing and bioinformatics platforms provide novel approaches to investigate the composition and dynamics of the rumen microbiota. Recent studies demonstrated that the ruminal ecosystem is highly diverse and harbors numerous microbial communities. The composition of these microbial communities are affected by various environmental factors such as nutrition and different management strategies. Disturbance in the microbial ecology of the rumen is associated with the development of various diseases. Despite the flow of recent rumen-based studies, rumen microbiota is still not fully characterized. This review provides an overview of recent efforts to characterize rumen microbiota and its potential role in rumen health and disease. Moreover, the recent effects of dietary interventions and probiotics on rumen microbiota are discussed.

Pathogenic flora composition and overview of the trends used for bacterial pathogenicity identifications.

Over 250 species of resident flora in the class of bacteria are known to be associated with humans. These conventional flora compositions is often determined by factors which may not be limited to genetics, age, sex, stress and nutrition of humans. Man is constantly in contact with bacteria through media such as air, water, soil and food. This paper reviews the concept of bacterial pathogenesis from the sequential point of colonization to tissue injury. The paper in addition to examination of the factors which enhance virulence in bacterial pathogens also x-rayed the concept of pathogenicity islands and the next generation approaches or rather current trends/methods used in the bacterial pathogenicity investigations. In terms of pathogenicity which of course is the capacity to cause disease in animals, requires that the attacking bacterial strain is virulent, and has ability to bypass the host immune defensive mechanisms. In order to achieve or exhibit pathogenicity, the virulence factors required by microorganisms include capsule, pigments, enzymes, iron acquisition through siderophores. Bacterial Pathogenicity Islands as a distinct concept in bacterial pathogenesis are just loci on the chromosome or extra chromosomal units which are acquired by horizontal gene transfer within pathogens in a microbial community or biofilm. In the area of laboratory investigations, bacterial pathogenesis was initially carried out using culture dependent approaches, which can only detect about 1% of human and veterinary-important pathogens. However, in the recent paradigms shift, the use of proteomics, metagenomics, phylogenetic tree analyses, spooligotyping, and finger printing etc. have made it possible that 100% of the bacterial pathogens in nature can be extensively studied.