Detection of Salmonella spp. by Traditional and PCR Assays in Raw Milk, Maysan, Iraq.

Salmonella spp are characterized as rod- shaped, motile, gram- negative bacteria which has the ability to infect animals and human. Salmonella spp occasionally causes sickness while in most cases not lead to severe symptoms. Analyzing milk for Salmonella spp. is not routine but traditional culture methods are used to evaluate the health condition of the dairy products. However, the antibody-based and nucleic-acid- based methods are practical for identifying Salmonella spp. Therefore, this research was designed to evaluate the use of traditional culture methods and PCR in detection of the presence of Salmonella spp. in raw milk samples in, Maysan Iraq. A total number of 130 raw milk samples collected from Maysan Iraq. All the samples were analyzed for the presence of Salmonella spp. using traditional culture method and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The culture method used in this experiment were done by using pre-enrichment, enrichment, selective plating and biochemical tests. The results of this traditional technique were compared with the results obtained from PCR method. The PCR was performed using a 284bp sequence of the invA gene. The results showed that 8 (7.07%) of samples were identified as salmonella positive using traditional culture technique but 14 (12.3%) samples were detected as salmonella positive by PCR method. The results of the current research revealed that the traditional culture based methods are generally time costuming and labor intensive but the development of new rapid methods including DNA based methods such as PCR are more sensitive and have dramatically decreased the time necessary for the detection of bacteria.

The Potential Benefits of Legumes Germ and Cereal Grains on Roosters' Reproductive Performance.

Vit E is known as one of the most important antioxidant. It has been previously approved that cereal grains and leafy plants are considered as the main source for α-tocopherol (Vit E). One of the recommended therapies for male infertility would be the Vit E therapy. Following Vit E consumption the semen parameters such as sperm concentration, ejaculation volume, sperm progressive motility, and in vitro function (zone binding assay) have been significantly improved. Therefore, present study was designed to investigate the effects of oral administration of cereal grain and seeds on reproductive performance of local cocks. During a period of 63 weeks, 100 local (Iraqi breed) rooster chicks were randomly divided into the five groups (n=20). Animals in group 1 served as control group and had not received any supplementations in their diet. The animals in the Groups 2-5 received diets which were fortified with 100, 200, 300, and 400 g of cereal grain and legume seeds pure germs. The results of the current study showed that the total number of spermatozoa and percentages of abnormal sperm were decreased by adding more amount of germ of cereal grain and seeds (P<0.01). Increased germ of cereal grain and seeds was not associated with pH volume, colour, consistency and motility of the sperm compared to corresponding rates in control group. Phospholipids content and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance of semen sample as well as density of ejaculate (sperm/µl) were decreased by adding increasing germ of cereal grain and seeds in diet of rosters. Weight of testis decreased by increasing levels of cereal grains and legume seeds germ in the diets (P<0.05).