Effect of gut stress induced by oxidized wheat gluten on the growth performance,gut morphology and oxidative states of broilers

This study was to investigate the effect of oxidized wheat gluten (OG) on growth performance, gut morphology and its oxidative states of broilers. One hundred and eighty‐day‐old male broilers (10 chicks/pen) were randomly allocated into three dietary treatments: control diet (CON), diet with 8% wheat gluten (WG) and diet with 8% OG with six pens/treatment. Body weight (BW) (21 and 35 days) and average daily gain (ADG) (1–21 days and 22–35 days) decreased (p < .05) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (1–21 days and 22–35 days) increased (p < .05) in OG treatment. Feed intake (FI) decreased (p < .05) in WG and OG treatments during 22–35 days. However, FI was not influenced by dietary treatments during 1–21 days (p > .05). The OG‐fed broilers had a lower faecal pH value (p < .05) and higher faecal moisture content (p < 05) at 14, 21, 28 and 35 days. Villus height, crypt depth and V/C value were not different (p > .05) among treatments at 21 and 35 days. Lipid peroxidation (LPO) (21 and 35 days) and malondialdehyde (MDA) (35 days) content in crop of OG treatment increased (p < .05). Oxidized glutathione (GSSG) (21 days), LPO (21 and 35 days) and MDA (21 and 35 days) content in ileum of OG treatment increased (p < .05). The reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG) (21 days) and (GSH) (35 days) in ileum of OG treatment decreased (p < .05). The present findings indicate that OG might be a stressor for broiler gut, which could induce oxidative stress both in crop and in ileum, and the diarrhoea as well. The growth performance of broiler was consequently depressed.     

Modulation of broilers’ caecal microflora and metabolites in response to a potential probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

Studies have found that a dietary supplement of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens improved the growth performance, increased the nutrient digestibility of hosts and modulated the intestinal microflora. A total of 360 1‐day‐old Ross broilers were randomly divided into three treatments: a control group with a basal diet, an antibiotic group with a basal diet and added colistin sulphate, and a probiotics group with a basal diet and added Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. The HiSeq high‐throughput sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA was used to investigate the differences in birds’ caecal microflora, and metabolomics was used to analyse changes in caecal metabolites. Results showed that the supplementation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens significantly improved the BW and ADG compared with the control birds. Results of sequencing indicated that (i) 645, 670, 596 unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were found in birds supplemented with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on day 7, 21 and 42, separately, (ii) due to the diversity and relative abundance of the birds’ caecal microflora, the OTUs of the caecal microflora clustered according to age and treatment, except on day 42, (iii) among the six predominate families (Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Erysipelotrichaceae, Lactobacillaceae and Rikenellaceae), the supplementation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens significantly increased Enterobacteriaceae on day 42, (iv) Bacillus amyloliquefaciens increased the relative abundance of Faecalibacterium and Ruminococcus on day 21, increased the Faecalibacterium and Blautia and decreased the Ruminococcus on day 42. The metabolomics of caecal metabolites showed that the dietary Bacillus amyloliquefaciens changed the caecal metabolites involved of amino acid metabolism and glyceride metabolism, and the antibiotics changed the caecal metabolites that were related to carbohydrates and amino acid metabolism on day 21.     

Amino acid profiles of rumen undegradable protein: a comparison between forages including cereal straws and alfalfa and their respective total mixed rations

Optimizing the amino acid (AA) profile of rumen undegradable protein (RUP) can positively affect the amount of milk protein. This study was conducted to improve knowledge regarding the AA profile of rumen undegradable protein from corn stover, rice straw and alfalfa hay as well as the total mixed ratio diets (TMR) based on one of them as forage source [forage‐to‐concentrate ratio of 45:55 (30% of corn stover (CS), 30% of rice straw (RS), 23% of alfalfa hay (AH) and dry matter basis)]. The other ingredients in the three TMR diets were similar. The RUP of all the forages and diets was estimated by incubation for 16 hr in the rumen of three ruminally cannulated lactating cows. All residues were corrected for microbial colonization, which was necessary in determining the AA composition of RUP from feed samples using in situ method. Compared with their original AA composition, the AA pattern of forages and forage‐based diets changed drastically after rumen exposure. In addition, the extent of ruminal degradation of analysed AA was not constant among the forages. The greatest individual AA degradability of alfalfa hay and corn stover was Pro, but was His of rice straw. A remarkable difference was observed between microbial attachment corrected and uncorrected AA profiles of RUP, except for alfalfa hay and His in the three forages and TMR diets. The ruminal AA degradability of cereal straws was altered compared with alfalfa hay but not for the TMR diets. In summary, the AA composition of forages and TMR‐based diets changed significantly after ruminal exposure, indicating that the original AA profiles of the feed cannot represent its AA composition of RUP. The AA profile of RUP and ruminal AA degradability for corn stover and rice straw contributed to missing information in the field.     

Multimarker and rare variants genomewide association studies for bone weight in Simmental cattle

Bone weight, defined as the total weight of the bones in all the forequarter and hindquarter joints, can reflect somebody conformation traits and skeletal diseases. To gain a better understanding of the genetic determinants of bone weight, we used a composite strategy including multimarker and rare‐marker association to perform genomewide association studies (GWAS) for that character in Simmental cattle. Our strategy consisted of three models: (i) A traditional linear mixed model (LMM) was applied (Q+K‐LMM); (ii) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with p‐values less than .05 from the LMM were selected to undergo the least absolute shrinkage and selector operator (Lasso) in the second stage (LMM‐Lasso); (iii) genes containing two or more rare SNPs were examined by performing the sequence kernel association test (gene‐based SKAT). A total of 1,225 cattle were genotyped with an Illumina BovineHD BeadChip containing 770,000 SNPs. After the quality‐control procedures, 1,217 individuals with 608,696 common SNPs and 105,787 rare SNPs (with 0.001 < minor allele frequency [MAF] <0.05) remained in the sample for analysis. A traditional LMM successfully mapped three genes associated with bone weight, while LMM‐Lasso identified nine genes, which included all genes found by traditional LMM. Only a single gene, EPHB3, surpassed the significance threshold after Bonferroni correction in gene‐based SKAT. In conclusion, based on functional annotation and results from previous endeavours, we believe that LCORL, RIMS2, LAP3, PRKAR2B, CHSY1, MAP2K6 and EPHB3 are candidate genes for bone weight. In general, such a comprehensive strategy for GWAS may be useful for researchers seeking to probe the full genetic architecture underlying economic traits in livestock.     

Impact of cold-season grazing and supplementary feeding on rumen metabolic parameters and micro-organisms in the ewes of Gansu Alpine Fine Wool Sheep北大核心CSCD

An experiment was conducted to scientifically identify the appropriate feed for Gansu Alpine Fine Wool ewes in order to change the animals' breeding mode, which currently can only be mated at the age of 2.5 years due to insufficient nutritional supply. The experiment selected 48 12-month-old ewes and randomly divided them into group a (Diet 1), group b (Diet 2), group c (Diet 3), and a control group with no supplementary feeding. The feed test was run for 90 days. The rumen pH of groups a and b were very significantly higher (P<0.01) or group c significantly lower (P<0.05) than control group. The rumen ammonia nitrogen, protein nitrogen and total nitrogen of groups a, b and c were all higher than control group (P<0.01). The total volatile fatty acids of group a and b were all higher than the control group (P<0.01), group b significantly higher than group c (P<0.05). The molar ratio of acetic acid and propionic acid in group a was very significantly higher than control group (P<0.01), group b and c were significantly higher than control group (P<0.05). The molar ratio of butyric acid in group a was very significantly higher than group c (P<0.01). The ratio of acetic acid and propionic acid in group b was significantly lower than control group (P<0.05). The number of several rumen fiber-degrading bacteria and protozoa in groups a, b and c were very significantly (P<0.01) or significantly (P<0.05) higher than the control. In conclusion, this study shows that supplementary feeding can positively affect the rumen metabolic parameters and the number of several rumen microorganisms in Gansu Alpine Fine Wool ewes. In general, the effects of Diet 1 were the strongest, while Diet 2 also produced notable improvements. © 2018, Editorial Office of Acta Prataculturae Sinica. All rights reserved.     

2018年安徽省部分地区A型禽流感流行率横断面研究

为了解安徽省A型禽流感病毒感染情况,2018年4—5月,在安徽省北部、中部和南部7个市,随机选取各类型场点173个,在每个场点内随机采集35份咽喉/泄殖腔和环境拭子样品,使用荧光RT-PCR进行A型、H5亚型、H7亚型流感病毒核酸检测。结果显示：在4个养殖场、3个活禽批发市场和17个农贸市场检出了A型禽流感病毒,场点阳性率分别为2.9%（4/140）、75.0%（3/4）、80.9%（17/21）,未检出H5和H7亚型流感病毒核酸;A型禽流感群体流行率为11.2%（95%CI：6.5%~15.8%）,个体流行率为1.2%（95%CI：0.9%~1.5%）;活禽交易市场内,禽群感染A型禽流感病毒的风险较高（OR=136,95%CI：32.7~549.4）。结果表明,A型禽流感病毒在养殖和交易环节存在一定的污染,而在活禽交易市场的污染更严重,是今后禽流感防控的重点,需继续加强活禽交易市场的管理和消毒灭源工作。     

猪德尔塔冠状病毒荧光定量PCR检测方法的建立

根据GenBank登录的猪德尔塔冠状病毒(PDCoV)毒株序列设计特异性引物,建立了检测PDCoV的实时荧光PCR方法。该方法在标准品浓度2.49×10~8~2.49×10~2 copies/μL范围内线性关系良好;特异性试验显示,其他几种常见猪病病毒未见典型扩增曲线;敏感性试验显示,最低检测下限为24.9 copies/μL;重复性试验显示,批内和批间变异系数小于3%。用该方法检测62份猪腹泻粪便样品,相比常规PCR方法,前者的检出率更高;两种方法检测1 168份进境活猪粪便拭子样品,结果均为阴性。结果表明,本研究所建立的方法适用于国内猪场的PDCoV的检测和进境活猪的监控检测,也可作为PDCoV的诊断及分子流行病学调查的技术手段。