-
Poultry Science May 2023Changle goose in Fujian, China is a rare genetic resource and in urgent need to be protected. Understanding the characteristics of digestive physiology and spatial...
Changle goose in Fujian, China is a rare genetic resource and in urgent need to be protected. Understanding the characteristics of digestive physiology and spatial variation of gastrointestinal microbiota is crucial for developing nutritional intervention strategies to improve intestinal health and production performance of goose. Hence, histomorphological assay was used for observing development status of proventriculus, jejunum, and cecum in 70-day-old Changle geese, whereas digesta from 6 alimentary canal locations (crop, proventriculus, gizzard, jejunum, cecum, and rectum) were collected for 16S rRNA gene sequencing and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) quantitative analysis. The histomorphological observation indicated that the jejunum and cecum of Changle goose were well developed. The alpha diversity analysis revealed that, except rectum, microbiota in other noncecum sections were in high diversity as cecum. The Nonmetric MultiDimensional Scaling (NMDS) analysis showed that microbial community of proventriculus, gizzard, and jejunum formed a cluster, which distinctly discrete with the microbiota of the other gastrointestinal locations. Additionally, the proportions of Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, and Campilobacterota at the phylum level and Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Helicobacter, and Subdoligranulum at the genus level exhibited tremendous alternations among different gastrointestinal locations. The characteristic bacterial composition in each section was further disclosed by analyzing the core and feature Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) and SCFAs pattern. Importantly, 7 body-weight-associated ASVs and 2 cecum-development-related ASVs were identified via correlation analysis. In a whole, our findings provided the first insights into the specialized digestive physiology of Changle geese and distinctive regional distribution of gastrointestinal microbiota, which laid the important foundation for improving growth performance through microbiota manipulation in geese.
Topics: Animals; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Geese; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Chickens; Digestive System Physiological Phenomena
PubMed: 36933526
DOI: 10.1016/j.psj.2023.102588 -
Journal of Hazardous Materials May 2023As biota are increasingly exposed to plastic pollution, there is a need to closely examine the sub-lethal 'hidden' impacts of plastic ingestion. This emerging field of...
As biota are increasingly exposed to plastic pollution, there is a need to closely examine the sub-lethal 'hidden' impacts of plastic ingestion. This emerging field of study has been limited to model species in controlled laboratory settings, with little data available for wild, free-living organisms. Highly impacted by plastic ingestion, Flesh-footed Shearwaters (Ardenna carneipes) are thus an apt species to examine these impacts in an environmentally relevant manner. A Masson's Trichrome stain was used to document any evidence of plastic-induced fibrosis, using collagen as a marker for scar tissue formation in the proventriculus (stomach) of 30 Flesh-footed Shearwater fledglings from Lord Howe Island, Australia. Plastic presence was highly associated with widespread scar tissue formation and extensive changes to, and even loss of, tissue structure within the mucosa and submucosa. Additionally, despite naturally occurring indigestible items, such as pumice, also being found in the gastrointestinal tract, this did not cause similar scarring. This highlights the unique pathological properties of plastics and raises concerns for other species impacted by plastic ingestion. Further, the extent and severity of fibrosis documented in this study gives support for a novel, plastic-induced fibrotic disease, which we define as 'Plasticosis,'.
Topics: Animals; Microplastics; Plastics; Environmental Monitoring; Cicatrix; Birds; Water Pollutants, Chemical
PubMed: 36867907
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131090 -
Viruses Feb 2023Chicken anemia virus (CAV) and Gyrovirus homsa 1 (GyH1) are members of the Gyrovirus genus. The two viruses cause similar clinical manifestations in chickens, aplastic...
Chicken anemia virus (CAV) and Gyrovirus homsa 1 (GyH1) are members of the Gyrovirus genus. The two viruses cause similar clinical manifestations in chickens, aplastic anemia and immunosuppression. Our previous investigation displays that CAV and GyH1 often co-infect chickens. However, whether they have synergistic pathogenicity in chickens remains elusive. Here, we established a co-infection model of CAV and GyH1 in specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens to explore the synergy between CAV and GyH1. We discovered that CAV and GyH1 significantly inhibited weight gain, increased mortality, and hindered erythropoiesis in co-infected chickens. Co-infected chickens exhibited severe immune organ atrophy and lymphocyte exhaustion. The proventriculus and gizzard had severe hemorrhagic necrosis and inflammation. We also discovered that the viral loads and shedding levels were higher and lasted longer in CAV and GyH1 co-infected chickens than in mono-infected chickens. Our results demonstrate that CAV and GyH1 synergistically promote immunosuppression, pathogenicity, and viral replication in co-infected chicken, highlighting the interaction between CAV and GyH1 in the disease process and increasing potential health risk in the poultry breeding industry, and needs further attention.
Topics: Animals; Chicken anemia virus; Gyrovirus; Chickens; Immunosuppression Therapy; Coinfection
PubMed: 36851729
DOI: 10.3390/v15020515 -
PeerJ 2023The Horned Screamer is an herbivorous bird that inhabits wetlands of the South American tropical region. We hypothesize that due to its herbivorous niche, its digestive...
BACKGROUND
The Horned Screamer is an herbivorous bird that inhabits wetlands of the South American tropical region. We hypothesize that due to its herbivorous niche, its digestive tract compartments may have bacteria specialized in fermenting complex plant carbohydrates. To test this hypothesis, we compared the bacterial communities along the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of a Horned Screamer captured in Venezuela.
METHODS
Samples were taken from tissues and content of the proventriculus and the small intestine (considered for this study as upper GIT), and the large intestine and cecum (lower GIT). The bacterial community was characterized by sequencing the V4 region of the gene. Bioinformatic analysis was performed using QIIME, QIITA and Microbiome Analyst. The association between microbial taxonomy and function was analyzed using their Greengenes OTU IDs and a custom KEGG BRITE hierarchical tree and visualized with BURRITO.
RESULTS
The Screamer's gastrointestinal microbiota was composed by seven phyla being Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes the most predominant. The dominant taxa in the upper GIT were and . The dominant taxa in the lower GIT were and . Complete degradation of cellulose to the end-products acetate, propanoate, butanoate and acetoacetate was found in the upper and lower GIT without significant differences.
CONCLUSION
Our study confirmed changes in bacterial community composition throughout the GIT of the Horned Screamer primarily associated with the production of metabolic end-products of carbohydrate digestion essential for the fermentation of the herbivorous diet.
Topics: Animals; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Gastrointestinal Tract; Bacteria; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Bacteroidetes; Birds; Anseriformes
PubMed: 36815987
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14805 -
The Journal of Poultry Science Jan 2023The aim of this study was to determine whether Newcastle disease/infectious bronchitis (ND/IB) vaccination and yeast product diet supplementation modulate the expression...
The aim of this study was to determine whether Newcastle disease/infectious bronchitis (ND/IB) vaccination and yeast product diet supplementation modulate the expression of innate immune molecules in the proventriculus and ileum of broiler chicks. One-day-old male broiler chicks were divided into four groups (V-Y- (control), V-Y+, V+Y-, and V+Y+ groups, where V and Y represent vaccination and yeast product supplementation, respectively). Chicks in the V+Y- and V+Y+ groups were immunized with the live ND/IB vaccine, whereas chicks in the V-Y- and V-Y+ groups were not. Chicks in the V-Y+ and V+Y+ groups received feed containing yeast products from day 4, whereas chicks in the V-Y- and V+Y- groups did not. The proventriculus and ileum were collected on day 7 to analyze the expression of seven Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and Dectin-1. In the proventriculus, compared with those of the V-Y- control group, the TLR7 and TLR21 expression levels were higher in the V+Y- group; however, there were no differences in the expression levels of any TLR or Dectin-1 in the ileum. There were also no differences in the expression of avian β-defensins and cathelicidin-1 in the proventriculus and ileum between the control and treatment groups. The expression of granzyme in cytotoxic cells and interleukin (IL)-1B was upregulated by ND/IB vaccination in the proventriculus. Supplementation with yeast products upregulated only granzyme expression in the ileum and downregulated IL-6 expression in the proventriculus in chicks immunized with the ND/IB vaccine. Thus, we concluded that ND/IB vaccination is effective at enhancing the innate immune system in the proventriculus of chicks, at least until day 7 post-hatching, whereas the effects of diet supplementation with yeast products may be limited, at least under the present study conditions.
PubMed: 36756044
DOI: 10.2141/jpsa.2023005 -
Animals : An Open Access Journal From... Jan 2023This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of organic acids (OAs) in starter broilers and to investigate whether supplemental OAs could alleviate the high stocking...
This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of organic acids (OAs) in starter broilers and to investigate whether supplemental OAs could alleviate the high stocking density (HSD) stress condition in grower broilers. A total of 408 1-day-old Arbor Acres broilers were assigned into two groups without or with liquid OAs in the starter phase. In the grower phase, each group in the starter phase was divided into a normal stocking density and an HSD. The OA dose was 0.16% at the starter and grower phases. The results showed that at the starter phase, OAs decreased the chyme pH in gizzard and duodenum and increased the activities of chymotrypsin and α-amylase in the duodenal chyme (p < 0.05). In the grower phase, an HSD decreased the growth performance and the ether extract digestibility (p < 0.01). The supplementation of OAs decreased the chyme pH in the gizzard, proventriculus, and duodenum and increased the lipase and α-amylase activities (p < 0.05). The supplemental OAs increased the dry matter and total phosphorous digestibility and the contents of acetic acids, butyric acids, isovaleric acids, and valeric acids (p < 0.05). For cecal microbial compositions at the genus level, an HSD decreased the relative abundance of Blautia, Norank_f__norank_o__RF39, and Alistipes, while supplemental OAs increased the relative abundance of Norank_f__norank_o__RF39 (p < 0.05). In conclusion, although there were no interaction effects between OAs and stocking densities in the present study, it was clear that the supplementation of OAs has beneficial effects on the chyme pH, enzymes activities, and nutrient digestibility in broilers, while an HSD existed adverse effects on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and gut microbiota balance in grower broilers.
PubMed: 36670796
DOI: 10.3390/ani13020257 -
Veterinary Medicine and Science May 2023In mynahs with foreign body ingestion, delayed diagnosis increases the risk of poor outcomes.
BACKGROUND
In mynahs with foreign body ingestion, delayed diagnosis increases the risk of poor outcomes.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate various radiologic features on plain and contrast radiographs in mynahs for assessing the presence of ingested foreign bodies.
METHODS
In our cross-sectional study, a total of 41 mynahs were included. The diagnosis was made by history, surgery, excision by forceps or excretion in the faeces. Overall, 21 mynahs were considered not to have a foreign body in their gastrointestinal tract. Plain and post-contrast [oral administration of barium sulphate colloidal suspension of 25% weight/volume (20 mg/kg)] lateral and ventrodorsal radiographs from the cervical and coelomic cavity were taken. Different parameters including oesophageal, proventricular, and small intestinal diameters and opacities were assessed. Image evaluation was performed by two national board-certified radiologists blinded to the final diagnoses.
RESULTS
The inter- and intra-observer reliabilities of the diagnostic features were significant (p < 0.001). The diagnosis of the foreign body was highly accurate [90.2% (95% CI: 76.9%, 92.3%)] with the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the representative characteristic curve of 90.0%, 90.5%, and 0.93%, respectively for plain radiographs. The size and opacity of the oesophagus, proventriculus, and intestinal loops as well as serosal details were significantly different between mynahs with and without foreign body intake (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
Lateral and ventrodorsal plain radiographs are highly reliable for diagnosing the presence of non-opaque obstructing objects in the gastrointestinal tract of mynahs. Attention should be paid to the size and opacity of the oesophagus, extension, and opacity of the proventriculus, segmental opacity of intestinal loops, and decrease in serosal details.
Topics: Animals; Starlings; Cross-Sectional Studies; Foreign Bodies; Eating
PubMed: 36626299
DOI: 10.1002/vms3.1079 -
Animals : An Open Access Journal From... Nov 2022The concept of designer microbiota in chicken is focused on early exposure of the hatchlings to pathogen-free microbiota inoculum, limiting the early access to harmful...
The concept of designer microbiota in chicken is focused on early exposure of the hatchlings to pathogen-free microbiota inoculum, limiting the early access to harmful and pathogenic microorganisms, thus promoting colonisation of the gut with beneficial and natural poultry microbiota. In this study, we controlled colonisation of the intestine in broiler chickens in a large-scale industrial setting via at-hatch administration of a commercial product containing a highly diverse microbiota originating from the chicken caecum. The treatment significantly transformed the microbiota membership in the crop, proventriculus, jejunum and caecum and significantly altered the taxa abundance in the jejunum, jejunum mucosa, and caecum estimated using PERMANOVA and unweighted and weighted UniFrac distances, respectively. The treatment also improved the growth rate in chickens with no significant alteration in feed conversion ratio. A comparison of inoculum product microbiota structure revealed that the inoculum had the highest Shannon diversity index compared to all investigated gut sections, and the number of Observed Species second only to the caecal community. PCoA plots using weighted or unweighted UniFrac placed the inoculum samples together with the samples from the caecal origin.
PubMed: 36496817
DOI: 10.3390/ani12233296 -
Marine Pollution Bulletin Dec 2022The northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis ingests a larger number of (micro)plastics than many other seabirds due to its feeding habits and gut morphology. Since 2002, they...
The northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis ingests a larger number of (micro)plastics than many other seabirds due to its feeding habits and gut morphology. Since 2002, they are bioindicators of marine plastics in the North Sea region, and data are needed to extend the programme to other parts of their distribution areas, such as the Arctic. In this study, we provide data on ingested plastics by fulmars collected in 1997 in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. An extraction protocol with KOH was used and for half of the birds, the gizzard and the proventricular contents were analysed separately. Ninety-one percent of the birds had ingested at least one piece of plastic with an average of 10.3 (±11.9 SD) pieces. The gizzards contained significantly more plastics than the proventriculus. Hard fragments and polyethylene were the most common characteristics. Twelve percent of the birds exceeded the EcoQO value of 0.1 g.
Topics: Animals; Plastics; Gastrointestinal Contents; Environmental Monitoring; Svalbard; Birds; Arctic Regions; Polyethylene
PubMed: 36372049
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114333 -
Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic... Jan 2023Four Indian ringneck parakeets (; syn. ringneck parrots or rose-ringed parakeets) were submitted by 2 private owners for autopsy following a history of dyspnea and...
Four Indian ringneck parakeets (; syn. ringneck parrots or rose-ringed parakeets) were submitted by 2 private owners for autopsy following a history of dyspnea and death. Gross findings were varied and included thickening of the left caudal thoracic air sac, white spots throughout the liver, mild dilation of the proventriculus, coelomic effusion, splenomegaly, and pulmonary congestion and edema. Microscopically, the submitted parakeets had significant lesions in the lower respiratory tract, including necrotizing bronchitis, parabronchitis, and interstitial pneumonia with numerous syncytia containing eosinophilic intranuclear inclusions. Electron microscopy of the lungs was compatible with a herpesviral infection and Psittacid alphaherpesvirus 5 (PsAHV5) was detected via PCR and sequencing. There has been inconsistent terminology used with Psittacid alphaherpesvirus 3 and PsAHV5; we attempt here to clarify the reported history of these viruses.
Topics: Animals; Alphaherpesvirinae; Herpesviridae Infections; Parakeets; Parrots; Psittacula
PubMed: 36366727
DOI: 10.1177/10406387221136568