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Background High concentrate (HC) diet-induced oxidative stress causes gut epithelial damages associated with apoptosis. Selenium (Se) being an integral component of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) plays an important role in antioxidant defense system. Therefore, increasing dietary Se level would alleviate HC diet-induced injuries in gut mucosa. The present study investigated eighteen cross-bred goats, randomly divided into three groups (n = 6/group) fed either low concentrate (LC, roughage: concentrate ratio 65:35), high concentrate (HC, 35:65) or HC plus Se (HC-SY) diets for 10 weeks. Se was supplemented at the dose rate of 0.5 mg Se kg− 1 diet in the form of selenium yeast. The background Se level in HC and LC diets were 0.15 and 0.035 mg.kg− 1 diet, respectively. The Se at the dose of 0.115 mg.kg− 1 diet was added in LC diet to make its concentration equivalent to HC diet and with the supplementation of 0.5 mg Se kg− 1, the goats in group HC-SY received total Se by 0.65 mg.kg− 1 diet. Results The molar concentrations of individual and total short chain fatty acids (TSCFA) significantly increased (P < 0.05) with simultaneous decrease in pH of colonic fluid in goats of HC and HC-SY groups compared with LC goats. HC diet induced loss of epithelial integrity, inflammation and loss of goblet cells in colonic mucosa associated with higher lipopolysaccharide (LPS) concentrations in colonic fluid whereas, the addition of SY in HC diet alleviated such damaging changes. Compared with LC, the HC diet elevated malondialdehyde (MDA) level with concurrent decrease in GSH-Px and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, while SY supplementation attenuated these changes and improved antioxidant status in colonic epithelium. Moreover, epithelial injury and oxidative stress in colon of HC goats were associated with increased apoptosis as evidenced by downregulation of bcl2 and upregulation of bax, caspases 3 and 8 mRNA expressions compared with LC goats. On contrary, addition of SY in HC (HC-SY) diet alleviated these changes by modulating expression of apoptotic genes in colonic epithelium. Conclusions Our data suggest that supranutritional level of Se attenuates HC diet-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis and thereby minimizes the epithelial injury in colon of goats.

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Poultry is a major meat and eggs producing sector that generates high income throughout the world. Despite worldwide growth of poultry, it is influenced by various infectious pathogens especially infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). As a result of heavy economic losses through high morbidity, mortality, deficient performance, low weight gain, abnormal colour and misshapen eggs, this study is designed on identification and quantification of infectious bronchitis virus. A total 4000 tissue specimen (trachea, kidney and swabs) were collected from flocks with respiratory illness, from various areas of Sindh. The specimens were cultured in 10 days old specific pathogen free (SPF) embryonated chicken eggs and amnio-allantoic fluid (AAF) was harvested. Hemagglutination assay (HA) with trypsin showed slightly higher prevalence of IBV in layers (≥61.2%) than in broilers (≥ 52%). ELISA revealed that 84.4% samples were positive, while 14.6% samples were negative for IBV. It is concluded that IBV is highly prevalent in various parts of Sindh province of Pakistan, therefore time to time vaccination is required to prevent heavy economic losses.

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Background Tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) is a bone disorder in which dead chondrocytes accumulate as a result of apoptosis and non-vascularization in the tibial bone of broiler chickens. The pathogenicity of TD is under extensive research but is yet not fully understood. Several studies have linked it to apoptosis and non-vascularization in the tibial growth plate (GP). We conceived the idea to find the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in chicken erythrocytes which vary in expression over time using a likelihood-ratio test (LRT). Thiram was used to induce TD in chickens, and then injected Ex-FABP protein at 0, 20, and 50 μg.kg-1 to evaluate its therapeutic effect on 30 screened immunity and angiogenesis-related genes using quantitative PCR (qPCR). The histopathology was also performed in TD chickens to explore the shape, circularity, arrangements of chondrocytes and blood vessels. Results Clinical lameness was observed in TD chickens, which decreased with the injection of Ex-FABP. Histopathological findings support Ex-FABP as a therapeutic agent for the morphology and vascularization of affected chondrocytes in TD chickens. qPCR results of 10 immunity (TLR2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR5, TLR7, TLR15, IL-7, MyD88, MHCII, and TRAF6) and 20 angiogenesis-related genes (ITGAV, ITGA2, ITGB2, ITGB3, ITGA5, IL1R1, TBXA2R, RPL17, F13A1, CLU, RAC2, RAP1B, GIT1, FYN, IQGAP2, PTCH1, NCOR2, VAV-like, PTPN11, MAML3) regulated when Ex-FABP is injected to TD chickens. Conclusion Immunity and angiogenesis-related genes can be responsible for apoptosis of chondrocytes and vascularization in tibial GP. Injection of Ex-FABP protein to thiram induced TD chickens decrease the chondrocytes damage and improves vascularization.