In the present study, we analyzed the effects of Glycyrrhiza polysaccharide ( GCP ) on growth performance, serum antioxidant capacity, and biochemistry of broilers. A total of 600, one-day-old AA broilers randomly divided into 5 treatment groups with 6 replicate pens of 20 birds per cage received dietary supplementation with GCP (0, 200, 500, 1,000, and 1,500 mg/kg) for 42 d. The supplementation of GCP linearly decreased ( P < 0.05) feed conversion rate on day 22 to 42. Dietary supplementation with GCP reduced ( P < 0.05) serum total cholesterol on day 21 and 42 and linearly improved ( P < 0.05) albumin and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Dietary supplementation with 1,000 or 1,500 mg/kg GCP significantly increased ( P < 0.05) serum total superoxide dismutase ( T-SOD ) activity on day 21 and 42 and reduced ( P < 0.05) serum malondialdehyde content on 21 d. Dietary supplementation with 1,000 or 1,500 mg/kg GCP significantly improved ( P < 0.05) interleukin-1β ( IL-1β ) and interferon-γ ( IFN-γ ) expressions in liver on day 21 and 42. At the end of the experiment, we randomly selected 20 broilers from 3 treatment groups (0, 1,000, and 1,500 mg/kg), respectively, to perform an lipopolysaccharide ( LPS )-induced acute stress experiment. The 60 broilers were divided into 6 treatment groups with 10 birds per cage. The experiment was designed as a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement with GCP (0, 1,000, or 1,500 mg/kg) and LPS (injection of saline or 1 mg/kg body weight) levels as treatments. When the grouping was finished, the broilers were immediately intraperitoneally injected with LPS or normal saline. Six hours after challenged, serum antioxidant and liver immunity were analyzed. The results showed that dietary GCP prevented LPS-induced reductions in T-SOD activity and increases in malonaldehyde content ( P < 0.05). Also, dietary GCP supplementation mitigated the LPS-induced increase in IL-1β and IFN-γ in the liver. Supplementation with 1,500 mg/kg GCP showed the most optimal effect in broilers. GCP has the potential to be used as feed additive in broilers.

This study illustrates the novel roles of SodA in serum resistance and biofilm formation in Salm. typhimurium, which may provide a candidate for the biofilm eradication and prevention of infections.

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Ferrimagnetic spinel compounds AB2X4 (A and B are the magnetic transition elements) are considered to be promising candidates for multiferroics with large magnetization and polarization. In this work, we synthesize polycrystalline spinel MnCr2S4 and characterize the magnetic and ferroelectric properties. Two well-defined ferroelectric phase transitions are demonstrated. The first one occurs at the Cr3+ ferromagnetic phase transition temperature of TC = 65 K, and the other takes place at the Yafet–Kittel (YK) magnetic phase transition temperature of TYK ≈ 5 K. It is suggested that ferroelectricity in the YK phase is driven by the noncollinear triangular YK spin orders and can be greatly tuned by an external magnetic field. Between TYK and TC ranges, another opposite electric polarization sublattice appears, which is enhanced by the external magnetic field just near TC, revealing that this opposite electric polarization is likely related to magnetostriction and the magnetic field can enhance the lattice distortions near TC. Thus, this work paves the way for exploiting ferrimagnetic multiferroicity although more studies are needed to clarify the ferroelectricity mechanism in the Cr3+ ferromagnetic phase.