The efficacies of 5 widely used dietary supplements were investigated on performance indices, fecal oocyst excretion, lesion score, and intestinal tract measurements in healthy and Eimeria spp.-infected birds by using a comparative model. This study included 2,400 sexed Ross 308 broiler chicks that were equally divided in 2 groups: the infected group, experimentally infected with oocysts of mixed Eimeria spp. at 14 d of age, and the healthy controls. The birds in both groups were further divided equally into 6 groups, of which one was fed a basal diet and served as control without treatment and the other 5 served as experimental treatments. These 5 groups were fed 5 diets containing preparations of 60 mg/kg of anticoccidial salinomycin (SAL), 1 g/kg of multienzyme (ENZ), 1 g/kg of probiotic (PRO), 1 g/kg of prebiotic (PRE), and 40 mg/kg of an herbal essential oil mixture (EOM). Body weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) showed significant improvement in the infected animals, which indicates that dietary supplemental regimens with SAL, ENZ, PRO, and PRE initiated in 1-d-old chicks reduced adverse effects after challenge with coccidiosis; however, chicks that were administered EOM failed to show such improvement. Uninfected chickens showed significant improvement in FCR with supplements SAL, PRE, and EOM, which signifies significant (P < 0.01) infection by supplement interactions for BW gain and FCR. In the infected group, all of the supplements reduced the severity of coccidiosis lesions (P < 0.01) induced by mixed Eimeria spp. through the middle and lower regions of the small intestines, whereas supplementation with SAL or EOM alone was effective (P < 0.01) in reducing oocyst excretion compared with the control treatment. The data indicated that use of these subtherapeutically efficacious supplements (except EOM) in broiler production can lessen the depression in growth due to coccidial challenge.

Essential oil of oregano ( OEO: ) has proven to be a potential candidate for controlling chicken coccidiosis. The aim of the current study is to determine whether OEO and an approved anticoccidial, monensin sodium ( MON: ), as in-feed supplements could create a synergism when combined at low dosages. Day-old broiler chickens were separated into six equal groups with six replicate pens of 36 birds. One of the groups was given a basal diet and served as the control ( CNT: ). The remaining groups received the basal diet supplemented with 100 mg/kg MON, 50 mg/kg MON, 24 mg/kg OEO, 12 mg/kg OEO, or 50 mg/kg MON + 12 mg/kg OEO. All of the chickens were challenged with field-type mixed Eimeria species at 12 d of age. Following the infection (i.e., d 13 to 42), the greatest growth gains and lowest feed conversion ratio values were recorded for the group of birds fed 100 mg/kg MON (P < 0.05), whereas results for the CNT treatment were inferior. Dietary OEO supplementations could not support growth to a level comparable with the MON (100 mg/kg). The MON programs were more efficacious in reducing fecal oocyst numbers compared to CNT and OEO treatments (P < 0.05). Serum malondialdehyde and nitric oxide concentrations were decreased (P < 0.01), whereas superoxide dismutase (P < 0.05) and total antioxidant status (P < 0.01) were increased in response to dietary medication with MON and OEO. All MON and OEO treatments conferred intestinal health benefits to chickens by improving their morphological development and enzymatic activities. The results suggest that OEO supported the intestinal absorptive capacity and antioxidant defense system during Eimeria infection; however, it displayed little direct activity on the reproductive capacity of Eimeria This might be the reason for inferior compensatory growth potential of OEO compared to that MON following the challenge. Combination MON with OEO was not considered to show promise for controlling chicken coccidiosis because of the lack of a synergistic or additive effect.

No abstract

The role of dietary supplemental mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) and an essential oil blend (EOB) on performance of laying hens, and susceptibility of egg yolk and hen liver to lipid oxidation were examined. Four hundred and thirty-two 52-week old Lohmann laying hens were divided into three groups and fed a basal diet containing no antioxidant as control (CNT), basal diet plus 1 g/kg MOS and basal diet with 24 mg/kg EOB, for a 10-week experimental period. Supplementation of diet with MOS and EOB improved egg production rate and eggshell weight, but did not influence other performance or egg quality traits. MOS and EOB provided higher antioxidant activity in egg yolk than the control regimen at all storage time periods. EOB also retained the oxidative stability of liver by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Liver antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathion peroxidase (GSH-Px), were higher in birds fed the additives. MOS and EOB tended to increase serum glucose concentration (6.2% and 8.8%, respectively) while they slightly decreased triglycerides (11.0% and 4.8%, respectively) without affecting cholesterol level. Relative weight of pancreas and spleen were not affected by dietary treatments whereas diet supplemented with EOB significantly increased liver weight. The findings of this study suggest that EOB and MOS could act as free radical scavengers that enhance performance and also increase eggshell weight.

IntroductionBluetongue (BT) is a non-contagious infectious disease of ruminants. The disease agent bluetongue virus (BTV) is classified in the Reoviridae family Orbivirus.Aims and objectivesThe aim of this study was to determine serum malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidative stres (TAS), total sialic acid (TSA), ceruloplasmin, triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT), cholesterol, creatinine, albumin, and total protein levels in sheep with and without bluetongue (BT).Materials and MethodsThe study included 13 Sakiz crossbreed sheep, aged 1–4 years and usually in the last stage of pregnancy, as the BT group and a control group consisting of 10 healthy sheep. All sheep were clinically examined before collecting blood samples. Serum ALT, AST, cholesterol, triglyceride, albumin, GGT, total protein, creatinine and TAS levels were measured using commercially available kits as per manufacturer's recommendations using a Biochemistry Auto Analyzer (Sinnowa D280, China). Serum lipid peroxidation was estimated through a previously described method in which MDA reacts with thiobarbituric acid (TBA) to form a coloured complex at a maximum absorbance of 535 nm. The TSA value was measured at 549 nm using the method described by Warren (1959): sialic acid was oxidised to formyl-pyruvic acid, which reacts with TBA to form a pink product. The ceruloplasmin concentration was measured according to Sunderman and Nomoto (1970): ceruloplasmin and p-phenylenediamine formed a coloured oxidation product that was proportional to the concentration of serum ceruloplasmin. Real time RT-PCR and conventional RT-PCR were performed as described by Shaw and others (2007).ResultsBiochemistry analysis of serum showed that in the BT group, TSA, MDA, triglyceride and ALT and AST were higher and that ceruloplasmin and TAS were lower than in the control group. Serum albumin, cholesterol, creatinine, total protein and GGT did not differ significantly between the two groups.ConclusionsSerum triglyceride, ceruloplasmin, TSA, MDA and TAS concentrations may prove beneficial to the diagnosis, prognosis and biochemical analysis of BT.

No abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of feed-grade preparations of mannan oligosaccharides ( MOS: ) and oregano essential oil ( OEO: ) in forced molted or fully fed 82-week-old, laying hens. A 2 × 3 factorial experiment investigated the influence of molting vs. full feeding and dietary supplements [i.e., unsupplemented control, MOS (1 g/kg) diet, and OEO (24 mg/kg) diet] on production parameters, egg quality, serum stress indicators, blood constituents, tibial characteristics, liver antioxidant status, and cecal microflora composition. A total of 864 Single Comb White Leghorn hens were randomly assigned to 6 treatments, each with 6 replicates of 24 hens each, and studied for 25 wk. Hens were fed a molt diet containing of 50% alfalfa and 50% wheat bran ( AA+WB: ) for 12 d, then returned to the laying ration. Results indicate that molt vs. full feed impacted more on most variables measured than supplementation or supplement type. Significant (P < 0.01) interactions between molting and diet were observed for the egg production, egg weight, egg mass, and feed conversion ratio ( FCR: ). In fully fed hens, MOS supplementation improved (P < 0.01) the egg production, egg weight, and FCR, and an OEO addition significantly improved the egg production and FCR in forced molted hens. Molting improved egg quality despite the significant regression in ovary and oviduct weight (P < 0.01), though supplements showed no influence. The bone ash (P < 0.01) and mineral content (P < 0.05) of molted hens were significantly lower than those of fully fed counterparts; however, poor mineralization was not reflected in the bones' mechanical properties. No significant differences were observed among treatments for hematological characteristics. Both the MOS and particularly the OEO supplementation improved (P < 0.01) liver antioxidant status and mitigated the significant increase in cecal pathogenic bacteria after molt. Our results indicate that full feeding with an aa+wb diet is an effective non-feed-removal method for molted hens, the benefit of which can be improved with MOS and OEO supplementation.

Fostamatinib reduced the inflammatory damage in the experimental colitis. This effect may be due to suppression of TNFα, T-lymphocytes, and neutrophils in colonic mucosa via suppression of Syk. Fostamatinib may be an appropriate treatment alternative for ulcerative colitis. Further clinical studies are required to support this.