Prebiotics can restrict Salmonella populations in poultry: a review.

Antibiotics were over the years, the common supplement used for poultry production. There is a global trend to lessen antibiotics' use due to the contamination of consumed meat with antibiotic residues. Also, there is a concern that human treatments might be jeopardized due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Prebiotics are attractive supplements, particularly in poultry production, because of the diversity of their effects, including pH amendments, production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and the inhibition of pathogens' growth. The commonly used prebiotics are carbohydrate sources that cannot be easily broken down by chickens. However, they can efficiently be utilized by the intestinal tract's microflora. Oligosaccharides, polysaccharides and lactose are non-digestible carbohydrate sources that are typically used in poultry diets as prebiotics. This review covers current applications and prospects for using prebiotics to improve poultry performance and reduce pathogens, particularly Salmonella, in gastrointestinal tract.

Productive performance, fertility and hatchability, blood indices and gut microbial load in laying quails as affected by two types of probiotic bacteria.

This study investigated two kinds of probiotic bacteria (Bacillus toyonensis, B1 and Bifidobacterium bifidum, B2) on laying Japanese quail's performance, egg quality, fertility and hatchability, blood biochemical characteristics and microbiological parameters. A total of 270 mature quails (180 females and 90 males) were distributed into ten groups in a completely randomized design at eight weeks of age. The experimental groups were as follows: T1: basal diet only (control); T2-T5, basal diet plus 0.05, 0.075, 0.10 and 0.125% B1, respectively; T6: basal diet plus 0.10% B2; T7-T10: basal diet plus 0.05, 0.075, 0.10 and 0.125% B1 plus 0.05% B2, respectively. Results revealed that egg number (EN) and egg weight (EW) were gradually increased (P < 0.01) as the levels of both probiotic types increased. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly (P < 0.05) better within the total experimental period (8-20 weeks) due to B1 alone or/with B2 supplementation. Values of yolk percentage (Y%) were statistically (P < 0.01) higher only at 8-20 weeks of age and T10 recorded the highest value. By increasing the level of probiotics, fertility and hatchability percentages (F% and H%) were gradually increased (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05). Creatinine (CR) level was statistically reduced in birds fed T4 diet. Also, urea-N and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels were reduced in treated birds. The opposite was found regarding alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Conclusively, using B1 and B2 enhanced the productive performance, some egg quality traits, fertility and hatchability, digestive enzyme activities, and reduced the harmful bacteria in the gut of laying Japanese quail. Our findings could recommend to apply T4 (basal diet + 0.10 % B1), T6 (basal diet + 0.10% B2) and T9 (basal diet + 0.10% B1 + 0.05% B2) levels for the best results.

Impacts of onion and cinnamon supplementation as natural additives on the performance, egg quality, and immunity in laying Japanese quail.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary dried onion and dried cinnamon supplementation on laying performance, egg quality, serum lipid profile, and immune responses of Japanese quails. A total of 120 laying quails aged 12 weeks were randomly allocated into five groups (24 birds each). Each treatment was replicated 4 times with 6 quails in a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments were as follows: control (basal diet only, without any supplementation); tylosin (basal diet + 100 mg tylosin/kg diet); onion (basal diet + 800 mg dried onion/kg diet); cinnamon (basal diet + 800 mg dried cinnamon/kg diet); and onion + cinnamon (basal diet + mixture of 400 mg each of dried onion and dried cinnamon/kg diet). Cinnamon supplementation improved laying rate, egg numbers, egg mass, and feed conversion ratio of quails compared to the control treatment, followed by tylosin supplementation. Egg shell percentage was higher (P < 0.05) in quails that consumed the onion + cinnamon mixture than those fed only the cinnamon supplemented diet. Serum total lipid content, egg yolk lipids and egg yolk cholesterol were lower (P < 0.05) in birds fed with the supplemented diets than that of the control group. On the other hand, dietary supplements did not affect levels of triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein levels. The dietary supplementation with onion and/or cinnamon reduced serum malondialdehyde levels compared to control treatment. The foot web index was higher (P < 0.05) in the onion treatment than in the other experimental groups. The dried cinnamon and the mixture of dried onion + dried cinnamon treatments showed higher (P < 0.05) immunoglobulin M (IgM) levels than the control treatment. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with natural plant materials such as dried onion and cinnamon can be used to improve the laying Japanese quail performance, egg quality, and immunity.

Effect of graded levels of dietary Bacillus toyonensis and Bifidobacterium bifidum supplementation on growth, carcass traits and ileal histomorphometry and microbiota of growing quails.

This experiment investigated the role of graded dietary levels of two probiotic strains (Bacillus toyonensis; BT and Bifidobacterium bifidum; BB) on the growth rate, carcass traits, physiological and histological aspects of growing Japanese quail. One thousand and three hundred sixty one-day-old un-sexed Japanese quail chicks were distributed randomly into ten groups. The 1st group served as a control and fed the basal diet without supplement while the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th groups received the control diet supplemented with 0.05, 0.075, 0.10 and 0.125% BT, respectively. The 6th group fed the control diet plus 0.10% BB while the remaining groups (7th to 10th) received the basal diet incorporated with the previous levels of BT rich with 0.05% BB. Dietary supplementation of BT and/or BB increased body weight and gain; however, feed intake and feed conversion were not affected. Amylase activity was significantly elevated in 5th, 7th and 9th groups, while lipase activity was improved in all treatment groups except 3rd and 6th groups. Results obtained concluded that dietary supplementation of BT with or without BB is useful for performance, digestive enzyme activities, blood cholesterols, antioxidant status and ileal histomorphometry and microbiota of growing Japanese quail.

COVID-19 in Human, Animal, and Environment: A Review.

The medical authority in China, especially in Wuhan city, reported on December 2019 a large number of highly fatal, rapidly spreading viral pneumonia caused by an unknown coronavirus. The common history of all the patients was their visiting a Wuhan's whole food store, where live animals and seafood are sold. Irrespective of the efforts of the Chinese authorities, the virus spread rapidly all over the world by travelers, provoking widespread attention by the media and panic. Many previous coronavirus epidemics had been recorded, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and the recently newly discovered epidemic is named coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19). This disease is caused by SARS Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), and this virus is antigenically related to the SARS virus (SARS-CoV), which had been detected in 2002, depending on clinical, serological, and molecular findings. There is rapid competition among the researchers to discover the source of the virus, understand the mechanism of the disease development, establish treatment strategies, and determine the factors affecting the incidence of infection and severity of the disease, and focus on the production of a vaccine. Coronaviruses are a group of single-stranded, positive-sense RNA genome viruses; its genome length varies from 26 to 32 kb. Coronavirus causes mild to severe respiratory disorders. In December 2019, several cases of pneumonia of unknown causes were found in Wuhan city, which is located in the Hubei province in China. Chinese health authorities investigated the problem and found that a new virus caused such infection and, using next-generation sequencing, found the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). It has been transferred from humans to humans and animals to humans (zoonotic). Coronaviruses cause multiple respiratory problems, varying from common cold to severe infections such as SARS. General symptoms of infection include fatigue, cough, and breathing problems such as shortness of breath, as described by World Health Organization. Serious cases may result in pneumonia, renal failure, and even death. We address current information about the new SARS Coronavirus-2 as well as the COVID-19 disease caused by it in this review.

Probiotics in poultry feed: A comprehensive review.

The use of antibiotics to maintain animal well-being, promote growth and improve efficiency has been practised for more than 50 years. However, as early as the 1950s, researchers identified concern on the development of resistant bacteria for the antibiotics streptomycin and tetracycline used in turkeys and broilers respectively. These findings laid the groundwork for agricultural officials to impose stricter regulatory parameters on the use of antibiotics in poultry feeds. Probiotics are live micro-organisms included in the diet of animals as feed additives or supplements. Commonly known as a direct-fed microbial, probiotics provide beneficial properties to the host, primarily through action in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of the animal. Supplementation of probiotics in the diet can improve animal health and performance, through contributions to gut health and nutrient use. For instance, supplementation of probiotics has been demonstrated to benefit farm animals in immune modulation, structural modulation and increased cytokine production, which positively affect the intestinal mucosal lining against pathogens. Bacillus subtilis has been a popular bacterium used within the industry and was shown to improve intestinal villus height. Increasing the villus height and structure of the crypts in the GIT allows for the improvement of nutrient digestion and absorption. Tight junctions maintain important defences against pathogenic bacteria and cellular homeostasis. Heat stress can be a major environmental challenge in the poultry industry. Heat stress causes the bird to fluctuate its internal core temperature beyond their comfort zone. To overcome such challenges, poultry will attempt to balance its heat production and dissipation through behavioural and physiological adaptation mechanisms.

The role of polyphenols in poultry nutrition.

In the last two decades, poultry and animal industries became increasingly interested in using plant-based feed supplements, herbs and their derivatives to retain or enhance their health and productivity. These health benefits for the host mainly attributed to the secondary plant metabolites, namely polyphenols. Polyphenols are renowned for their antioxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-mutagenic and anti-inflammatory properties. However, despite these advantages of polyphenols, they have been characterized by poor absorption in the gut and low concentration in target cells that compromise their role as effective antioxidants. The low bioavailability of polyphenols necessitates the need for further investigations to harness their full potential in poultry farms. This review is existing evidence about the bioavailability of polyphenols and their antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, detoxification properties and their impacts on poultry performance.

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) Oil as a Potential Alternative to Antibiotics in Poultry.

The removal of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) as feed additives in poultry nutrition from the market in many countries has compelled researchers to find unconventional and safe alternatives to AGPs. Probiotics, prebiotics, enzymes, organic acids, herbs, immune-stimulants and essential oils (EO) have been investigated as feed additives in poultry production. Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), one of the oldest medicinal plants and widely used around the world, can be used in poultry rations in the form of powder or essential oil. Essential oils produced from aromatic plants have become more interesting owing to their potential effects as hypocholesterolaemic agents, antioxidants, antimicrobials, antifungals and stimulants of digestive enzymes. The potential insecticidal and antimicrobial activities of EO against pathogens that cause spoilage in agriculture crops and human diseases might be attributed mainly to the high content of volatile components (mainly cinnamaldehyde, eugenol and carvacrol) in cinnamon oil. The present review focuses on the effects of cinnamon oil as a feed additive on poultry performance, carcass traits, meat quality, hypocholesterolaemic impact, antioxidant activity, immunity and microbiological aspects.

Growth performance, hemato-biochemical indices, thyroid activity, antioxidant status, and immune response of growing Japanese quail fed diet with full-fat canola seeds.

Dietary supplementation of full-fat canola seeds (FFCS) can be part of the global solution to the problem of incessant raise in feed cost. Genetic improvement via plant breeding constantly introduces varieties of canola with higher content of unsaturated fatty acids and lower content of anti-nutritional factors. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the dietary inclusion effect of new mutant of FFCS on growth performance, carcass traits, blood metabolites, thyroid activity, antioxidant status, and immune response of growing Japanese quails. A total of 640 21-day-old quails were used in a completely randomize design with and equally allotted to four experimental groups and eight replicates each. The experimental groups fed diets supplemented with 0, 50, 100, and 150 g FFCS/kg diet from 21 to 49 days of age. All experimental diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. The inclusion level of FFCS did not affect body weight and body weight gain at all studied periods, while feed intake was reduced and feed conversion ratio was enhanced linearly under all experimental periods except the duration from 28 to 35 days of age. All carcass traits were not statistically affected with graded levels of FFCS. Hemoglobin, leucocytes, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and MCH concentration values were linearly increased. Serum protein fractions, liver enzymes activities, renal function biomarkers, and triiodothyronine concentration were not affected. However, serum lipid profile was significantly altered, where high-density lipoprotein was linearly increased while triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) were linearly (and quadratically for LDL) decreased. Antioxidant and immune statuses were improved; significant increment in glutathione and glutathione peroxidase values and antibody titer against Newcastle disease virus were elevated in groups treated with 10% and 15% FFCS. In conclusion, studied levels of FFCS, however, were not able to promote the growth rate of growing Japanese quails; they were more effective in boosting their antioxidant status and humoral immune response.

Impacts of Strain Variation on Response to Heat Stress and Boldo Extract Supplementation to Broiler Chickens.

There is increasing interest in the use of natural antioxidant supplements in poultry diets as protection against the adverse effects of heat stress. The potential protective effect of boldo (Peumus boldus molina) leaf extract, which have antioxidant activity, were investigated against the harmful effects of heat stress in two broiler strains. Arbor Acres (AA) and Avian-48 (AV) chicks were divided into thermoneutral (TN) and heat stress (HS) groups and treated with 1 g boldo leaf extract/4 L drinking water during the heat stress period. HS reduced growth performance in both strains. The phagocytic index, phagocytic activity, and eosinophil and lymphocytes counts were significantly elevated in TN and HS AV birds but not altered in AA birds. Boldo extract treatment partially eliminated the previous negative impacts of heat stress. AA chicks were better able to withstand HS than AV chicks. Serum concentrations of total lipids and cholesterol were reduced in HS birds of both strains. Malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase levels were elevated but restored with the administration of boldo leaf extract in HS birds of both strains. Economic parameters were negatively affected by HS but restored to values close to those of the control group in boldo-treated HS birds. In conclusion, the administration of boldo leaf extract in drinking water was effective in neutralizing the harmful effects of heat stress on growth performance, blood indices, and economic parameters and improved the antioxidant defense system in heat-stressed birds.