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Scientific Reports Sep 2023This study aimed to assess the impact of a commercial blend of functional oils, specifically cashew nutshell liquid and castor oil (FO), in two physical forms (solid: P;...
This study aimed to assess the impact of a commercial blend of functional oils, specifically cashew nutshell liquid and castor oil (FO), in two physical forms (solid: P; liquid: S), in comparison to a combination of virginiamycin and anticoccidials on the gut health of broilers challenged with coccidiosis. A total of 1760 1-day-old male chicks were randomly distributed in a study design with eight treatments. The treatments included: a control group (without additive), OFS_0.75_kg/t (FO spray), OFP_1.0_kg/t (FO powder), OFP_1.5_kg/t (FO liquid spray), Sal (anticoccidials), Sal_Vir (virginiamycin and anticoccidials), Sal_OFS_0.5_ kg/t (anticoccidials plus FO spray), and Sal_OFP_1.0_kg/t (anticoccidials plus FO powder). All birds were challenged with Eimeria spp. at 14 days. The physical form of FO did not affect performance and intestinal health parameters. At 42 days, broilers from the control and OFS_0.75 treatments were the lightest, while those from the Sal_Vir and Sal_OFP_1.0 treatments were the heaviest (P < 0.05). FO reduced the presence of Clostridium perfringens. The individual phytogenic additives did not prevent weight loss in birds challenged with Eimeria, but they mitigated the effects of the infection by modulating the intestinal microbiota. A synergistic effect was observed between the FO and anticoccidials, yielding satisfactory results in substituting virginiamycin.
Topics: Male; Animals; Chickens; Eimeria; Powders; Castor Oil; Virginiamycin
PubMed: 37670021
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41743-9 -
Animal Nutrition (Zhongguo Xu Mu Shou... Sep 2021The primary aim of this experiment was to critically explore the relationship between the different levels of mixed organic acids (MOA) and growth performance, serum...
The primary aim of this experiment was to critically explore the relationship between the different levels of mixed organic acids (MOA) and growth performance, serum antioxidant status and intestinal health of weaned piglets, as well as to investigate the potential possibility of MOA alternative to antibiotics growth promoters (AGP). A total of 180 healthy piglets (Duroc × [Landrace × Yorkshire]; weighing 7.81 ± 1.51 kg each, weaned at d 28) were randomly divided into 5 treatments: 1) basal diet (CON); 2) CON + chlorinomycin (75 mg/kg) + virginiamycin (15 mg/kg) + guitaromycin (50 mg/kg) (AGP); 3) CON + MOA (3,000 mg/kg) (OA1); 4) CON + MOA (5,000 mg/kg) (OA2); 5) CON + MOA (7,000 mg/kg) (OA3). This study design included 6 replicates per treatment with 6 piglets per pen (barrow:gilt = 1:1) and the experiment was separated into phase 1 (d 1 to 14) and phase 2 (d 15 to 28). In phases 1, 2 and overall, compared with the CON, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was reduced ( < 0.01) and the average daily gain (ADG) was increased ( < 0.05) in piglets supplemented with AGP, OA1 and OA2. The concentration of serum immunoglobulins G (IgG) was improved ( < 0.05) in piglets supplemented with OA2 in phase 2. In the jejunum and ileum, the villus height:crypt depth ratio was significantly increased ( < 0.01) in piglets fed AGP and OA1. The mRNA expression level of claudin1 and zonula occludens-1 () ( < 0.01) was up-regulated in piglets supplemented with OA1 and OA2. The piglets fed AGP, OA1 and OA2 showed an increase ( < 0.05) in the content of acetate acid and total volatile fatty acids (TVFA) in the cecum, and butyric acid and TVFA in the colon compared with CON. Also, OA1 lowered ( < 0.05) the content of Lachnospiraceae in piglets. These results demonstrated that MOA at 3,000 or 5,000 mg/kg could be an alternative to antibiotics due to the positive effects on performance, immune parameters, and intestinal health of weaned piglets. However, from the results of the quadratic fitting curve, it is inferred that MOA at a dose of 4,000 mg/kg may produce a better effect.
PubMed: 34466678
DOI: 10.1016/j.aninu.2020.11.018 -
PloS One 2017There is a paucity of data on the reason for and the quantity of antimicrobials used in broiler chickens in Canada. To address this, the Canadian Integrated Program for...
There is a paucity of data on the reason for and the quantity of antimicrobials used in broiler chickens in Canada. To address this, the Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS) implemented surveillance of antimicrobial use (AMU) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in broiler chicken flocks in 2013. Shortly after this (2014), the poultry industry banned the preventive use of ceftiofur in broiler chickens. The objectives of this analysis were to describe antimicrobial use (AMU) in Canadian broiler chickens between 2013 and 2015 (n = 378 flocks), compare these results to other animal species in Canada, to highlight the utility of farm surveillance data to evaluate the impact of a policy change, and to explore how different antimicrobial use metrics might affect data interpretation and communication. The surveillance data indicated that the poultry industry policy resulted in lower antimicrobial use and resistance, and they successfully captured information on when, where, why, and how much antimicrobials were being used. The majority of antimicrobials were administered via the feed (95%). The relative frequency of antimicrobial classes used in broiler chickens differed from those used in swine or in food animal production in general. Coccidiostats were the most frequently used antimicrobial classes (53% of total kg). Excluding coccidiostats, the top three most frequently used antimicrobial classes were bacitracin (53% of flocks), virginiamycin (25%) and avilamycin (21%), mainly used for the prevention of necrotic enteritis. Depending on the AMU metric utilized, the relative rankings of the top antimicrobials changed; hence the choice of the AMU metric is an important consideration for any AMU reporting. When using milligrams/Population Correction Unit (mg/PCU) the top three antimicrobial classes used were bacitracins (76 mg/PCU), trimethoprim-sulfonamides (24 mg/PCU), and penicillins (15 mg/PCU), whereas when using a number of Defined Daily Doses in animals using Canadian standards /1,000 chicken-days at risk (nDDDvetCA/1,000 CD) the ranking was bacitracins (223 nDDDvetCA/1,000 CD), streptogramins (118 nDDDvetCA/1,000 CD), and trimethoprim-sulfonamides (87 nDDDvetCA/1,000 CD). The median animal treatment days in feed for one cycle (ATD/cycle) during the three-year study were 34 ATD/cycle; this was equal to the mean age of the flocks at pre-harvest sampling day (days at risk), indicating that the studied flocks except those that were raised without antibiotics and organic, were fed with medicated rations throughout the observation period. Overall, more than half (59%) of antimicrobials used in broiler chickens were in classes not used in human medicine, such as ionophores and chemical coccidiostats aimed to prevent coccidiosis. Compared to grower-finisher pigs and in production animal species (national sales data), the mg/PCU of antimicrobials used in broiler chickens was relatively lower. The findings of this paper highlighted the importance of farm-level AMU surveillance in measuring the impact of interventions to reduce antimicrobials in poultry.
Topics: Animal Husbandry; Animals; Anti-Infective Agents; Canada; Chickens; Enteritis; Poultry Diseases
PubMed: 28658278
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179384 -
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Apr 2020L-phenylglycine (L-Phg) is a rare non-proteinogenic amino acid, which only occurs in some natural compounds, such as the streptogramin antibiotics pristinamycin I and...
L-phenylglycine (L-Phg) is a rare non-proteinogenic amino acid, which only occurs in some natural compounds, such as the streptogramin antibiotics pristinamycin I and virginiamycin S or the bicyclic peptide antibiotic dityromycin. Industrially, more interesting than L-Phg is the enantiomeric D-Phg as it plays an important role in the fine chemical industry, where it is used as a precursor for the production of semisynthetic β-lactam antibiotics. Based on the natural L-Phg operon from Streptomyces pristinaespiralis and the stereo-inverting aminotransferase gene hpgAT from Pseudomonas putida, an artificial D-Phg operon was constructed. The natural L-Phg operon, as well as the artificial D-Phg operon, was heterologously expressed in different actinomycetal host strains, which led to the successful production of Phg. By rational genetic engineering of the optimal producer strains S. pristinaespiralis and Streptomyces lividans, Phg production could be improved significantly. Here, we report on the development of a synthetic biology-derived D-Phg pathway and the optimization of fermentative Phg production in actinomycetes by genetic engineering approaches. Our data illustrate a promising alternative for the production of Phgs.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Fermentation; Genes, Bacterial; Genetic Engineering; Glycine; Operon; Pseudomonas putida; Stereoisomerism; Streptomyces; Streptomyces lividans; Synthetic Biology
PubMed: 32078019
DOI: 10.1007/s00253-020-10447-9 -
Microorganisms Jul 2019Necrotic enteritis (NE) continues to present major challenges to the poultry industry, and the etiologic agent is the fourth leading cause of bacterially-induced...
Necrotic enteritis (NE) continues to present major challenges to the poultry industry, and the etiologic agent is the fourth leading cause of bacterially-induced food- borne illnesses in the US. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of a probiotic during naturally occurring NE. On day of hatch, 1080 Cobb 500 male broilers were randomly allocated to three groups (12 replicate pens/treatment, 30 birds/pen) including 1) negative control (NC): corn-soybean meal diet; 2) positive control (PC): NC + 20 mg virginiamycin/kg diet (0.450 kg Stafac20/ton); and 3) NC + PrimaLac (1.36 and 0.91 kg/ton from 1-21 and 22-42 days, respectively). One day (d) post placement, all birds were challenged by a commercial live oocyst coccidia vaccine as a predisposing factor to NE. Body weight and feed intake were measured at the onset of NE (d 8) and end of each feeding phase. On d 8, small intestines of two birds/pen were examined for NE lesions, and jejunum samples from one bird were collected for mRNA gene expression analysis of tight junction proteins, cytokines, and nutrient transporters. Data were analyzed using the Jump (JMP) software and significance between treatments identified by LSD ( < 0.05). Compared to NC, supplementation of probiotic reduced d 1-42 mortality; however, PC was the only group with significantly lower mortality. Despite significantly improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) in PC and probiotic groups during d 1-42, average daily gain was only higher in PC (77.69 g/bird) compared with NC (74.99 g/bird). Furthermore, probiotic and PC groups had significantly reduced lesion scores in the duodenum and jejunum compared to NC. Expression of claudin-3 was higher, while expression of zonula occluden-2 tended ( 0.06) to be higher in probiotic-supplemented birds compared to NC. Moreover, birds fed the probiotic diet had significantly higher expression of IL-10, IL-17, AMPK-α1, and SGLT1 mRNA compared to NC birds. The expression of PepT1 was higher for the probiotic-supplemented group compared to PC. IFN-γ expression was lower in PC compared to NC, while there was no difference between probiotic and NC. There were no differences in gene expression of sIgA, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-22 among treatments. Collectively, these data indicate that in a naturally occurring NE model, supplementation of a probiotic helps to improve FCR and reduce lesions, potentially due to the improvements in mRNA expression of tight junctions, cytokines, and nutrient transporters.
PubMed: 31370350
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms7080231 -
Frontiers in Microbiology 2022Antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) are commonly used in broiler production. There is a huge societal concern around their use and their contribution to the...
Effects of Dietary Antimicrobial Growth Promoters on Performance Parameters and Abundance and Diversity of Broiler Chicken Gut Microbiome and Selection of Antibiotic Resistance Genes.
Antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) are commonly used in broiler production. There is a huge societal concern around their use and their contribution to the proliferation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in food-producing animals and dissemination to humans or the environment. However, there is a paucity of comprehensive experimental data on their impact on poultry production and the AMR resistome. Here, we investigated the effect of five antimicrobial growth promoters (virginiamycin, chlortetracycline, bacitracin methyl disalicylate, lincomycin, and tylosin) used in the commercial broiler production in the Indian subcontinent and in the different parts of the world for three consecutive production cycles on performance variables and also the impact on gut bacteria, bacteriophage, and resistome profile using culture-independent approaches. There was no significant effect of AGPs on the cumulative growth or feed efficiency parameters at the end of the production cycles and cumulative mortality rates were also similar across groups. Many antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were ubiquitous in the chicken gut irrespective of AGP supplementation. In total, 62 ARGs from 15 antimicrobial classes were detected. Supplementation of AGPs influenced the selection of several classes of ARGs; however, this was not correlated necessarily with genes relevant to the AGP drug class; some AGPs favored the selection of ARGs related to antimicrobials not structurally related to the AGP. AGPs did not impact the gut bacterial community structure, including alpha or beta diversity significantly, with only 16-20 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of bacteria being altered significantly. However, several AGPs significantly reduced the population density of some of the potential pathogenic genera of bacteria, such as . Chlortetracycline increased the abundance of phage, whereas other AGPs did not influence the abundance of bacteriophage significantly. Considering the evidence that AGPs used in poultry production can select for resistance to more than one class of antimicrobial resistance, and the fact that their effect on performance is not significant, their use needs to be reduced and there is a need to monitor the spread of ARGs in broiler chicken farms.
PubMed: 35783415
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.905050 -
Scientific Reports May 2023Actinobacteria are well known as a rich source of diversity of bioactive secondary metabolites. Kutzneria, a rare actinobacteria belonging to the family...
Actinobacteria are well known as a rich source of diversity of bioactive secondary metabolites. Kutzneria, a rare actinobacteria belonging to the family Pseudonocardiaceae has abundance of secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and is one of important source of natural products and worthy of priority investigation. Currently, Kutzneria chonburiensis SMC256 has been the latest type-strain of the genus and its genome sequence has not been reported yet. Therefore, we present the first report of new complete genome sequence of SMC256 (genome size of 10.4 Mbp) with genome annotation and feature comparison between SMC256 and other publicly available Kutzneria species. The results from comparative and functional genomic analyses regarding the phylogenomic and the clusters of orthologous groups of proteins (COGs) analyses indicated that SMC256 is most closely related to Kutzneria sp. 744, Kutzneria kofuensis, Kutzneria sp. CA-103260 and Kutzneria buriramensis. Furthermore, a total of 322 BGCs were also detected and showed diversity among the Kutzneria genomes. Out of which, 38 clusters showing the best hit to the most known BGCs were predicted in the SMC256genome. We observed that six clusters responsible for biosynthesis of antimicrobials/antitumor metabolites were strain-specific in Kutzneria chonburiensis. These putative metabolites include virginiamycin S1, lysolipin I, esmeraldin, rakicidin, aclacinomycin and streptoseomycin. Based on these findings, the genome of Kutzneria chonburiensis contains distinct and unidentified BGCs different from other members of the genus, and the use of integrative genomic-based approach would be a useful alternative effort to target, isolate and identify putative and undiscovered secondary metabolites suspected to have new and/or specific bioactivity in the Kutzneria.
Topics: Actinomycetales; Genomics; Secondary Metabolism; Multigene Family; Phylogeny
PubMed: 37258607
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36039-x -
Microbiome 2015The emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance in pathogens have led to a restriction on the use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) in animal feed in some...
BACKGROUND
The emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance in pathogens have led to a restriction on the use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) in animal feed in some countries. The potential negative after-effects of a ban on AGPs could be mitigated by improving animal intestinal health with prebiotic dietary fibers such as xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS). However, the mechanism(s) by which an antibiotic or prebiotic contributes to the health and growth of animals are not well understood. Here, we evaluated XOS and virginiamycin (VIRG)-mediated changes in gut microbiota of broiler chickens using pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene.
RESULTS
There was a significant change in the relative abundance of certain bacteria, but the overall microbial diversity was not affected by treatment with either XOS or VIRG. Supplementation of HXOS (2 g XOS/kg diet) increased the proportion of Lactobacillus genus in the cecum, whereas Propionibacterium and Corynebacterium genera were enriched in the ileum of VIRG (16 mg/kg) treated birds. Furthermore, an increase in the cecal concentrations of acetate and propionate was observed in HXOS- and VIRG-fed chickens, respectively. These two groups of birds had better feed conversion efficiencies in comparison with the control group from day 7 to 21. In addition, temporal variations in the gut microbiota were evident in the chickens of different ages.
CONCLUSIONS
Treatments with XOS or VIRG modified the relative abundance but not the presence or absence of specific microbial genus. The increase in both Lactobacillus spp. and acetate production in the cecum of HXOS-treated chickens may promote intestinal health.
PubMed: 25874109
DOI: 10.1186/s40168-015-0079-4 -
Poultry Science Mar 2016An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of yeast-derived products and distillers' dried grains with solubles (DDGS) on growth performance, small...
Effect of yeast-derived products and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) on growth performance, gut morphology, and gene expression of pattern recognition receptors and cytokines in broiler chickens.
An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of yeast-derived products and distillers' dried grains with solubles (DDGS) on growth performance, small intestinal morphology, and innate immune response in broiler chickens from 1 to 21 d of age. Nine replicates of 5 birds each were assigned to dietary treatments consisting of a control diet without antibiotic (C), and diets containing 11 mg/kg of virginiamycin, 0.25% of yeast cell wall (YCW), 0.2% of a commercial product Maxi-Gen Plus, 0.025% of nucleotides, 0.05% of nucleotides, or a diet containing 10% of DDGS. On d 21, 5 birds per treatment were euthanized and approximately 5-cm long duodenum, jejunum, and ileum segments were collected for intestinal morphology measurements. Cecal tonsils and spleen were collected to measure the gene expression of toll-like receptors TLR2b, TLR4, and TLR21, macrophage mannose receptor (MMR), and cytokines IFN-γ, IL-12, IL-10, and IL-4. No significant difference was observed for growth performance parameters. However, diets containing 0.05% of nucleotides and YCW significantly increased (P < 0.05) villus height in the jejunum. Furthermore, the number of the goblet cells per unit area in the ileum was increased (P < 0.05) in diets supplemented with yeast-derived products. The expression of TLR2b in the spleen was down-regulated for diets supplemented with nucleotides and antibiotic. In addition, lower expression of TLR21 and MMR was observed in the spleen of birds receiving yeast-derived products and antibiotic. However, expression of TLR4 in the spleen was up-regulated in diets supplemented with YCW and nucleotides. The expression of IFN-γ and IL-12 was down-regulated in the spleen of birds fed diets supplemented with yeast-derived products. In addition, inclusion of YCW, Maxi-Gen Plus, or 0.05% of nucleotides down-regulated the expression of IL-10 and IL-4 in the cecal tonsils. In conclusion, down-regulation of receptors and cytokines in spleen and cecal tonsils of birds fed diets supplemented with yeast-derived products may suggest that yeast products do not exert immune stimulating effect under normal health conditions.
Topics: Animal Feed; Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Animals; Avian Proteins; Chickens; Cytokines; Diet; Dietary Supplements; Gene Expression Regulation; Immunity, Innate; Intestine, Small; Receptors, Pattern Recognition; Yeast, Dried
PubMed: 26740130
DOI: 10.3382/ps/pev362 -
Animal Nutrition (Zhongguo Xu Mu Shou... Mar 2017Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the phosphorus (P) utilization responses of pigs and broiler chickens to dietary supplementation with antimicrobials and...
Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the phosphorus (P) utilization responses of pigs and broiler chickens to dietary supplementation with antimicrobials and phytase and to determine if P digestibility response to phytase is affected by supplementation with antimicrobials. Experiment 1 used 4 diets (a basal negative control formulated to contain 0.41% total P and 0.71% calcium [Ca] without added antimicrobials, basal negative control with added carbadox, basal negative control with added tylosin, or basal negative control with added virginiamycin) and six 18-kg barrows in individual metabolism crates per diet. There was no effect of antimicrobials on P and Ca digestibility or retention. Carbadox supplementation increased ( < 0.05) digestibility and retention of gross energy (GE) and supplementation with tylosin increased ( < 0.05) N retention relative to the basal negative control diet. Experiment 2 used eight 19-kg barrows in individual metabolism crates per treatment and 9 dietary treatments arranged in a 3 × 3 factorial of antimicrobials (none, tylosin, or virginiamycin) and phytase (0, 500, or 1,500 FTU/kg). Phytase addition to the diets linearly increased ( < 0.05) apparent total tract digestibility or retention of P, Ca, nitrogen (N) and GE. Supplementation with antimicrobials did not affect apparent total tract digestibility or retention of P, Ca, N or GE. There were linear effects ( < 0.01) of phytase on Ca utilization in diets that were not supplemented with antimicrobials but only tendencies ( < 0.10) in diets supplemented with tylosin or virginiamycin. Phytase linearly improved ( < 0.05) N utilization in diets supplemented with tylosin or virginiamycin but not in diets without added antimicrobials. Experiment 3 was a broiler chicken experiment with the same experimental design as Exp. 2 but feeding 8 birds per cage and 10 replicate cages per diet. Antimicrobial supplementation improved ( < 0.05) feed efficiency and adding tylosin improved ( < 0.05) tibia ash but did not affect nutrient utilization. Dietary phytase improved ( < 0.01) growth performance, tibia ash and apparent ileal digestibility and retention of P regardless of antimicrobial supplementation. Overall, phytase supplementation improved growth performance and nutrient digestibility and retention, regardless of supplementation of diets with antimicrobials. Supplementation of diets with antimicrobials did not affect P digestibility or retention because of a lack of interaction between antimicrobials and phytase, there was no evidence that P digestibility response to phytase is affected by supplementation with antimicrobials.
PubMed: 29767127
DOI: 10.1016/j.aninu.2016.11.004