Effects of dietary lysozyme levels on growth performance,intestinal morphology,non‐specific immunity and mRNA expression in weanling piglets

The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of dietary lysozyme levels on growth performance, gut health and non‐specific immunity of weanling piglets. A total of 150 weanling piglets were allocated to six treatments. The piglets were fed the same basel diet supplemented with 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 mg/kg lysozyme as well as antibiotics for 28 days. From day 14 to day 28 of dietary treatment, piglets fed 90 mg/kg lysozyme had greater average daily gain than piglets fed control diet. During the whole experimental period, piglets fed 120 mg/kg lysozyme tended to have greater average daily gain than piglets fed control diet. Compared with piglets fed control diet, piglets fed diets containing antibiotics and 90 mg/kg lysozyme had greater villus height to crypt depth ratio in duodenum and jejunum. Additionally, dietary supplementation of 60 and 90 mg/kg lysozyme as well as antibiotics enhanced the phagocytic activity of peritoneal macrophages in piglets. In conclusion, dietary lysozyme can accelerate the growth of weanling piglets by improving gut health and non‐specific immunity and supplementing 90 mg/kg lysozyme is as effective as antibiotics (20 mg/kg colistin sulphate + 50 mg/kg kitasamycin) in improving the growth performance of weanling piglets.     

Immunogenic properties and mycoplasmal pneumonia of swine (MPS) lung lesions in Large White pigs selected for higher peripheral blood immune capacity

Immunogenic properties and mycoplasmal pneumonia of swine (MPS) lung lesions were compared between the immunity‐selected Large White line and the non‐selected Large White line. The selected Large White line showed a higher level of pulmonary MPS lesions compared with the non‐selected Large White line. Subsequent to vaccination, the percentage of natural killer cells and T cells (CD3⁺CD4⁺CD8^‐ and CD3⁺CD4^?CD8⁺ T cells) were significantly increased in the non‐selected line but remained unchanged in the immunity‐selected Large White line. Secretion of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae vaccine‐specific immunoblogulin G and phagocyte activity in peripheral blood were significantly higher in the immunity‐selected Large White line than in the non‐selected line. Expression of interleukin (IL)‐4 and IL‐6 messenger RNA in hilar lymph nodes was significantly lower in the immunity‐selected Large White line than in the non‐selected line. However, expression of IL‐10 in all immune tissues was significantly higher in the immunity‐selected Large White line. These results suggest that the selection for high immunity was not effective in increasing resistance to MPS lung lesions.     

Nanosize of zinc oxide and the effects on zinc digestibility,growth performances,immune response and serum parameters of weanling piglets

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of nanosize zinc on zinc digestibility, growth performances, immune response and serum parameters of weanling piglets. Ninety‐six LYD weanling piglets were assigned to control, zinc oxide (ZnO), organic‐Zn (Zn‐methionine) and nanosize ZnO (nano‐Zn) groups with four replicates. The zinc was at the 120 mg/kg level in the treatment group's diet, while the control group's was 80 mg/kg Zn. The experiment results indicated that the nano‐Zn and organic‐Zn groups had significantly higher Zn digestibility compared to the ZnO and control groups. For the immune response traits, the IgG level and goat red blood cells (GRBC) antibody titer were nano‐Zn and organic‐Zn>ZnO>control; in the phytohemagglutinin (PHA) challenge test result, nano‐Zn>organic‐Zn>ZnO>control; in regard to the γ‐globulin level, nano‐Zn and organic‐Zn>ZnO and control, with significant difference between groups. In the serum parameters aspect, serum Zn concentration in nano‐Zn and organic‐Zn groups were higher than in the ZnO and control groups, serum growth hormone concentration was increased in the nano‐Zn group than in the other groups. In conclusion, nanosize zinc oxide for dietary supplementation can increase zinc digestibility, serum growth hormone levels and carbonic anhydrase activity and enhance the immune response of weanling piglets.     

Effects of amino acids supplementation in low crude protein diets on growth performance,carcass traits and serum parameters in finishing gilts

This study investigated the effects of amino acids (AA) supplementation in low crude protein (CP) diets on growth performance and carcass characteristics in finishing gilts. One hundred and eighty gilts (59.1 ± 5.1 kg) were randomly allotted to one of five diets which consisted of a high CP (15.6%) diet or four low CP (11.6%) diets for 50 days. The low CP diets were supplemented with lysine + threonine + methionine (LCM), LCM + tryptophan (LCT), LCT + valine (LCV) or LCV + isoleucine (LCI), respectively. Gilts were housed at six pigs per pen with six pens per treatment. At the end of the 50‐day experiment, 30 gilts (one pig per pen) with average body weight (BW) of 98 kg were killed to evaluate carcass traits. The pigs fed the diet supplemented with LCV obtained the highest average daily gain (ADG), which was higher than those of pigs fed the diet supplemented with LCM (P < 0.05). Dietary supplementation with tryptophan, valine and isoleucine in low CP diets increased ADG (linear and quadratic effect, P < 0.05), serum levels of valine (quadratic effect, P < 0.05) and isoleucine (linear and quadratic effect, P < 0.05) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA (linear and quadratic effect, P < 0.05) in finishing gilts. © 2016 Japanese Society of Animal Science     

Determination of biogenic amines in aerobically stored beef using high-performance thin-layer chromatography densitometry

The aim of this study was to develop a high-performance thin-layer chromatography densitometry method to simultaneously evaluate levels of different biogenic amines (BAs) in beef stored aerobically at 4°C. Steaks from M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscles were overwrapped with polyvinyl chloride film and stored for 0, 4, 7, and 10 days. For this purpose, the solvent system and pH for the derivatization of BAs with dansyl chloride were optimized. Moreover, this method was also validated for linearity, limits of detection and quantification, precision, and recovery. As found using this method in beef samples, spermine content decreased significantly after 7 days of storage, and tyramine and cadaverine were not detected until day 10.     

Pyruvate kinase is necessary for Brucella abortus full virulence in BALB/c mouse

Brucellosis, caused by a facultative intracellular pathogen Brucella, is one of the most prevalent zoonosis worldwide. Host infection relies on several uncanonical virulence factors. A recent research hotpot is the links between carbon metabolism and bacterial virulence. In this study, we found that a carbon metabolism-related pyruvate kinase (Pyk) encoded by pyk gene (locus tag BAB_RS24320) was associated with Brucella virulence. Determination of bacterial growth curves and resistance to environmental stress factors showed that Pyk plays an important role in B. abortus growth, especially under the conditions of nutrition deprivation, and resistance to oxidative stress. Additionally, cell infection assay showed that Pyk is necessary for B. abortus survival and evading fusion with lysosomes within RAW264.7 cells. Moreover, animal experiments exhibited that the Pyk deletion significantly reduced B. abortus virulence in a mouse infection model. Our results elucidated the role of the Pyk in B. abortus virulence and provided information for further investigation of Brucella virulence associated carbon metabolism.     

Content and distribution of different phosphorus forms in broiler chickens

To understand the background value of phosphorus in chickens, the quantitative distribution of different phosphorus forms, including total phosphorus (TP), free phosphate (FP) and phospholipid (PL), in viscera, blood and bones of broiler chickens was investigated. Results showed that phosphorus contents exhibited significant differences in different parts of chickens. TP content of breast and thigh meat was over 5.0 g/kg, in which most of the phosphorus was in the form of water‐soluble phosphates. TP content in viscera was higher than that in meat, and spleen was observed to contain the highest amount of phosphorus (10.0 g/kg). In all tested organs, FP and PL contents in liver were the highest, ranging between 1207–1989 and 81–369 mg/kg respectively. TP content in chicken bone was in the range of 52 716–136 643 mg/kg, and FP content in the bone was relatively lower than that in chicken meat.     

Estimation of the standardized ileal digestible lysine requirement for primiparous pregnant sows

This experiment was conducted to determine the optimal standardized ileal digestible lysine (SID Lys) level in diets fed to primiparous sows during gestation. A total of 150 (Landrace × Large White) crossbred gilts (weighing 149.9 ± 3.1 kg) were fed gestation diets (12.55 MJ of ME/kg) containing SID Lys levels of 0.43, 0.52, 0.60, 0.70 or 0.80% respectively. Gilts were fed 2.0 kg/day from day 1 to 80 and 3.0 kg/day from day 80 to 110 of gestation respectively. Gilts were allocated to treatments based on their body weight on the day of breeding. Weight gain from day 80 to 110 increased with increasing dietary SID Lys levels (p = 0.044). Fitted broken‐line (p = 0.031) and quadratic plot (p = 0.047) analysis of body weight gain indicated that the optimal SID Lys level for primiparous sows was 0.70 and 0.69% respectively. During gestation, neither backfat thickness nor loin eye area was affected by dietary SID Lys level. Increasing dietary Lys had no effect on the litter size at birth or pigs born alive per litter. Litter weight at birth was not affected by dietary SID Lys level. The litter weight variation at birth quadratically decreased with increasing dietary SID Lys (p = 0.021) and was minimized at 0.70% dietary SID Lys. Gilts fed the 0.70% SID Lys diet had the highest dry matter (p = 0.031) and protein (p = 0.044) content in colostrum. On day 110 of gestation, gilts fed the 0.70% SID Lys diet tended to have the highest serum prolactin (p = 0.085) and serum insulin (p = 0.074) levels. The data demonstrate that the optimal dietary SID Lys was 0.70% for pregnant gilts, which is similar to the recommendation of 0.69% that was estimated by the NRC (2012).     

Two single nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter of the ovine myostatin gene (MSTN) and their effect on growth and carcass muscle traits in New Zealand Romney sheep

Myostatin is a negative regulator of muscle growth and development in mammals, and variation in ovine myostatin gene (MSTN) has been demonstrated to be associated with variation in the muscularity of sheep. Polymerase chain reaction–single‐stranded conformational polymorphism (PCR–SSCP) was used to look for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a 304‐bp amplicon from the promoter region of ovine MSTN. Sequence analyses revealed two previously identified SNPs (c.?2449G/C and c. ?2379T/C) that resulted in three haplotypes (H₁ (c.[?2449G; ?2379C]), H₂ (c.[?2449C; ?2379C]) and H₃ (c.[?2449G; ?2379T]). The effect of these SNPs on growth and carcass traits was investigated in 357 NZ Romney lambs. General linear mixed‐effect models revealed that sheep with the genotype c.?2449GC had a higher loin meat yield (p = 0.032) and proportion loin yield (p = 0.028), than those with the genotype c.?2449GG. The genotype c.?2379CC was associated with an increase in three weight traits: birthweight (p = 0.003), tailing weight (p = 0.009) and weaning weight (p = 0.028), when compared with the genotype c.?2379TC, but it was not found to have an association with growth rate. This suggests that c.?2379T/C has an effect that originates at, or before birth. Haplotype H₃ was associated with a decrease in birthweight (p = 0.002), tailing weight (p = 0.003) and weaning weight (p = 0.011). Haplotype H₂ was associated with increased loin yield (p = 0.012) and proportion loin yield (p = 0.002). The SNPs may have value as genetic markers for improved Romney breeding.