Prevalence of intestinal parasites in dogs from public shelters in Serbia

Data on endoparasitic infections in dogs from dog shelters in Southeastern Europe are limited; thus, this study aimed to add to the existing knowledge on this topic by reporting on the prevalence of intestinal parasites in dogs from public dog shelters in the Republic of Serbia. In 2017 and 2018, individual and pooled fecal samples, were collected from 1267 dogs from six shelters. All samples were qualitatively examined for parasites using flotation tests. Seven taxa of intestinal parasites were identified: Cystoisospora spp., ascarids: Toxocara canis and Toxascaris leonina, hookworms, Trichuris vulpis, taeniids and Dipylidium caninum. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites was 58. 3 % (78. 1 % in young dogs and 53.1 % in adult dogs). The parasites detected in both young (<1 year old) and adult dogs (>1 year old) were Cystoisospora spp. (20 % and 4.9 %), T. canis (33.5 % and 14.7 %), T. leonina (7.7 % and 2.3 %), and hookworms (16.9 % and 15 %), respectively. However, T. vulpis (9.6 %), taeniids (1.3 %), and D. caninum (5.4 %) were detected only in adult dogs. In the Belgrade shelter, young dogs had a higher prevalence of endoparasitic infections (18.9 %, 49/260) than adult dogs (14.8 %, 149/1007). In the Subotica, Jagodina and Niš shelters, young dogs had significantly higher (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively) prevalence of endoparasitic infections (10 %, 12.3 % and 14.6 %) than adult dogs (5.3 %, 8 % and 7.2 %). These results will be useful for establishing health care programs in dog shelters and implementing effective strategies for the control of intestinal parasites.     

富锗酵母培养物对下笼蛋鸡肉品质、肠道菌群及结构的影响

本试验旨在研究富锗酵母培养物对下笼蛋鸡肉品质及肠道的影响。选取505日龄健康的海兰褐壳蛋鸡480只,随机分为4组,每组5个重复,每个重复24只鸡。对照组饲喂基础日粮,试验组在基础日粮中分别添加12、16、20 mg/kg的富锗酵母菌培养物。预试期7 d,正试期为42 d。结果表明:与对照组相比,12、16、20 mg/kg组腿肉的蒸煮损失分别降低45.2%、33.6%、39.7%(P<0.01),pH均高于对照组(P<0.01);16mg/kg组腿肌的亮度(L~*)低于对照组(P<0.05);12、16、20 mg/kg组腿肌的剪切力分别比对照组低44.13%、56.07%、50.60%(P<0.01);各试验组胸肌pH均高于对照组(P<0.01),16mg/kg组的pH高于12、20mg/kg组(P<0.05);与对照组相比,16mg/kg组乳酸菌数量升高(P<0.05);空肠中,各试验组的绒毛长度高于对照组(P<0.01);16、20 mg/kg组绒毛长度/隐窝深度高于对照组(P<0.01)。结果显示,日粮中添加富锗酵母培养物可以改善下笼蛋鸡小肠的形态结构和肠道菌群平衡,提高鸡肉品质,建议添加量为16 mg/kg。     

Effect of chlorogenic acid on intestinal inflammation,antioxidant status,and microbial community of young hens challenged with acute heat stress

Heat stress in poultry is deleterious to productive performance. Chlorogenic acid (CGA) exerts antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplemental CGA on the intestinal health and cecal microbiota composition of young hens challenged with acute heat stress. 100-day-old Hy-line brown pullets were randomly divided into four groups. The control group (C) and heat stress group (HS) received a basal diet. HS + CGA₃₀₀ group and HS + CGA₆₀₀ group received a basal diet supplemented with 300- and 600-mg/kg CGA, respectively, for 2 weeks before heat stress exposure. Pullets of HS, HS + CGA₃₀₀, and HS + CGA₆₀₀ group were exposed to 38°C for 4 h while the control group was maintained at 25°C. In this study, dietary CGA supplementation had effect on mitigate the decreased T-AOC and T-SOD activities and the increasing of IL-1β and TNFα induced by acute heat stress. Dietary supplementation with 600 mg/kg CGA had better effect on increasing the relative abundance of beneficial bacterial genera, such as Rikenellaceae RC9_gut_group, Ruminococcaceae UCG-005, and Christensenellaceae R-7_group, and deceasing bacteria genera involved in inflammation, such as Sutterella species. Therefore, CGA can ameliorate acute heat stress damage through suppressing inflammation and improved antioxidant capacity and cecal microbiota composition.     

野外放归大熊猫肠道菌群变化的研究

对四川卧龙中国保护大熊猫研究中心的一只野外放归亚成体大熊猫肠道菌群的组成和季节变化规律进行了研究,同时与其圈养双胞胎兄弟的肠道菌群进行了比较。从放归大熊猫粪便中分离出17种肠道菌,优势菌群为肠杆菌、肠球菌和乳杆菌。与圈养大熊猫相比,放归大熊猫肠道菌群中优势菌群的种类未发生改变,但是肠球菌数量增加,肠杆菌和乳杆菌的数量减少。研究发现放归大熊猫肠道菌群中的肠杆菌和肠球菌的数量随季节变化有较大波动,乳杆菌的数量随季节变化波动不大;而圈养大熊猫三种优势菌的数量随季节变化波动都不大。     

Tall oil fatty acid inclusion in the diet improves performance and increases ileal density of lactobacilli in broiler chickens

1. Studies were conducted with tall oil fatty acids (TOFA) to determine their effect on broiler chicken performance and ileal microbiota. TOFA, a product originating from coniferous trees and recovered by fractional distillation of side-streams from pulp production, mainly comprises free long-chain fatty acids (~90%) and resin acids (~8%). Conjugated linolenic acids and pinolenic acid are characteristic fatty acid components of TOFA.

2. TOFA products at 750 mg/kg feed were tested in two 35-day broiler chicken trials, each using a wheat soya-based diet and with 12 replicate pens per treatment. In both trials, TOFA improved body weight gain at all time points (P < 0.001) and feed conversion efficiency during the first 21 days (P < 0.01). Two different dry TOFA formulations (silica carrier and palm oil coating) were tested and showed performance effects similar to liquid TOFA.

3. Ileal digesta of the broiler chickens was analysed for total eubacteria, Lactobacillus spp., Enterococcus spp., Escherichia coli and Clostridium perfringens on days 14 and 35. TOFA significantly increased total eubacteria and lactobacilli density on day 14 (P < 0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between these bacterial groups and broiler body weight on day 14 (P < 0.01).

4. A numerical reduction in C. perfringens was observed. In vitro growth inhibition studies showed that C. perfringens was strongly inhibited by 10 mg/l TOFA (P < 0.001), while common lactobacilli were resistant to >250 mg/l. The in vitro results were thus in line with in vivo observations.

5. The mechanisms behind the bacterial shifts and their role in performance improvement are unknown. Further purification of TOFA components is needed to identify the effective agents.     

Plantago ovata in broiler chicken nutrition: Performance,carcass criteria,intestinal morphology,immunity, and intestinal bacterial population

In this experiment, the effect of dietary Plantago ovata (PO) on performance, carcass criteria, intestinal morphology, immunity, and intestinal bacterial population of broiler chickens was evaluated. A total of 250 one‐day‐old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to five treatments containing 0, 5, 10, 15, or 20 g/kg of PO with five replicate pens and 10 birds in each replicate. Dietary PO increased body weight gain and decreased feed conversion ratio in the finisher period, improving the performance index (p < .05). Dietary treatments had no effects on carcass criteria, but breast meat percentage showed an increasing trend with incremental levels of PO in the diet (p = .069). The length of small intestine, especially jejunum section, as well as the villus height, villus width, villus area, and goblet cell numbers were significantly increased with supplemental PO (p < .05). Humoral and cellular immunity parameters, and oxidation stability of meat were improved due to use of dietary PO (p < .05). Dietary PO decreased the CFU of Escherichia coli, whereas the Lactobacilli population was increased (p = .001). Broken‐line regression revealed that dietary PO at the rate of 10 g/kg may results in the best performance in broiler chickens. This study showed that PO at the level of 10 g/kg could be considered as a beneficial feed additive in broiler diet.     

Selecting the hologenome to breed for an improved feed efficiency in pigs—A novel selection index

Most traits in animal breeding, including feed efficiency traits in pigs, are affected by many genes with small effect and have a moderately high heritability between 0.1 and 0.5, which enables efficient selection. Since the microbiota composition in the gastrointestinal tract is also partly heritable and was shown to have a substantial effect on feed efficiency, the host genes affect the phenotype not only directly by altering metabolic pathways, but also indirectly by changing the microbiota composition. The effect of the microbiota composition on the breeding value of an animal is the conditional expectation of its breeding value, given the vector with microbiota frequencies, that is The breeding value of an animal can therefore be decomposed into a heritable contribution that arises from an altered microbiota composition and a heritable contribution that arises from altered metabolic pathways within the animal, so Instead of selecting for breeding value , an index comprising the two components and with appropriate weights, that is , can be used. The present study shows how this breeding strategy can be applied in pig genomic selection breeding scheme for two feed efficiency traits and daily gain.     

Probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria or synthetic TLR2 agonist boost the growth of chicken embryo intestinal organoids in cultures comprising epithelial cells and myofibroblasts

The intestinal epithelial cells reside in close proximity to myofibroblasts and microbiota, which are supposed to have an impact on intestinal stem cells fate and to influence processes of tissue maturation and regeneration. Mechanism underlying these phenomena and their diversity among vertebrates can be studied in 3D organoid cultures. We investigated the growth of chicken embryo intestinal epithelial organoids in Matrigel with and without Toll-like receptors (TLRs) stimulation. The organoid cultures contained also some myofibroblasts with potential to promote intestinal stem cell survival. Organoid cells, expressing TLR4, TLR2 type 1 and TLR2 type 2 were incubated with their agonists (lipopolysaccharide – LPS and Pam3CSK4) or co-cultured with Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria (LA-5). Pam3CSK4 and LA-5 promoted organoid growth, which was demonstrated by comparing the morphological parameters (mean number and area of organoids). The profile of prostaglandins (PG), known to promote intestinal regeneration, in supernatants from organoid and fibroblast cultures were evaluated. Both PGE₂ and PGD₂ were detected. As compared to unstimulated controls, supernatants from the Pam3CSK4-stimulated organoids contained twice as much of PGE₂ and PGD₂. The changes in production of prostaglandins and the support of epithelial cell growth by myofibroblasts are factors potentially responsible for stimulatory effect of TLR2 activation.     

中草药免疫活性物质对鱼类肠道菌群群落的影响研究进展

对近年来国内外有关中草药免疫活性物质对鱼类肠道菌群群落结构的影响进行了综述,旨在为开发绿色高效、营养全面的饲料提供科学的理论依据。     

微生物菌群培养组学在动物医学中的应用

实验室条件下可培养的微生物约占自然界中微生物总数的1%，这限制了人们对99%未知微生物的认识和利用，而研究表明，那些“不可培养的微生物”是可以被开发和利用的，未能被纯培养的微生物才是未知微生物的主体。微生物培养组学探索利用多种培养条件和长时间的培养，结合基质辅助激光解吸电离飞行时间质谱法（MALDI-TOF-MS）和16S核糖体RNA（rRNA）测序可以大规模鉴定各种微生物，同时利用全基因组测序和宏基因组测序手段对未知微生物进行深入分析。本文综述了国内外近年来微生物菌群培养组学在反刍动物胃肠道、禽类盲肠及家畜鼻腔微生物菌群研究中的最新进展，探讨将动物体内菌群培养组学方法应用于动物疾病防治领域的可行性。作为一个新兴的研究方法，尽管该培养组学还存在一些不够成熟的方面，但它的发展前景十分广阔，微生物菌群培养组学方法和其他研究方法的互补已经逐渐成为发展兽医微生物学新的突破口。