Ileal amino acid digestibility assay for the growing meat chicken—effect of the imposition of a fasting period and the nature of the test diet

1. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of cold‐pelleting, the length of the fasting period before feeding of the test diet and the nature of die test diet on apparent ileal nitrogen (N) digestibility in the broiler chicken.

2. Four‐week‐old broiler chickens were given a pelleted or non‐pelleted maize/soyabean meal (basal) diet. The birds were starved for 24 h, given a single test meal (25 g) by intubation and killed 4 h after the start of feeding by administration of a barbiturate, to allow sampling of ileal digesta (terminal 15 cm). Cold‐pelleting did not affect apparent ileal N digestibility.

3. Four‐week‐old broiler chickens were fasted for 12 or 24 h and then received a test meal (1 h free access) of either a pelleted soyabean meal or a pelleted meat‐and‐bone meal diet or were continuously fed on one of the two diets. The imposition of a fast did not affect apparent ileal N digestibility. However, a 24 h fasting procedure was preferred, as the between animal variation for apparent ileal N digestibility was lower than for the 12 h fast or for continuous feeding.

4. Four‐week‐old broiler chickens were given either semi‐synthetic starch‐based diets containing maize, wheat bran, meat‐and‐bone meal or fish meal as the sole sources of protein or each of these diets in combination with the basal diet (50:50 on a dry matter basis). With the exception of the maize diet, the apparent ileal N digestibility values calculated by correcting for the digestibility of the basal dietary component were significantly lower than when digestibility was determined directly using a diet in which the respective proteins were the sole protein source. This implies that interactions between the dietary ingredients influence estimates of apparent ileal N digestibility.     

Mixed Metazoan and Bacterial Infection of the Gas Bladder of the Lined Seahorse—A Case Report

Abstract

Five wild-caught Lined Seahorses Hippocampus erectus from an aquarium system presented with altered buoyancy and distended upper trunks. Radiography of one specimen revealed a reduced air volume in the gas bladder. Pneumocystocentesis revealed a brown exudate of numerous leukocytes, parasite ova, and Gram- and acid-fast-positive bacilli under wet mounts and stains. Necropsies revealed enlarged, friable kidneys and distended gas bladders containing copious purulent exudate, necrotic tissue, and adult digeneans Dictysarca virens. Bacterial isolates from exudate cultures grown on Lowenstein–Jensen medium were identified as Gordonia sp. and Mycobacterium poriferae by high-performance liquid chromatography and 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing. Histopathology demonstrated a histiocytic response in kidney and gas bladder exudate, inflammation of the gas bladder wall, and infection of the gas bladder lumen with parasite ova and acid-fast-positive and Gomori's methenamine silver-positive bacilli. Praziquantel is prescribed for digenean infections but dissolves incompletely in seawater and is toxic to this host. Eradication of intermediate host vectors is a management option. Treatment of Gordonia infection has not been addressed in nonhuman animals, and there is no known effective treatment for Mycobacterium spp. infection in fishes. This is the first case report of digenean infection of the gas bladder in a syngnathid, Gordonia sp. infection in a nonhuman animal, and M. poriferae infection in a fish.

Received May 25, 2012; accepted October 12, 2012