-The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance of heifers fed sugarcane silages produced with and without additives. Thirty-two Holstein heifers were randomly assigned, in a block design, to evaluate rations (46% silage; 54% concentrate; 12% crude protein) containing silages treated with (fresh basis) urea (0.5%), sodium benzoate (0.1%) or Lactobacillus buchneri (3.64x10 5 cfu g -1 ). Inoculation with L. buchneri improved daily gain (1.24 vs. 0.94 kg day -1 ), and the addition of benzoate resulted in better feed conversion (7.6 vs. 9.4 kg of dry matter per kg of live weight), in relation to the untreated silage (control). Treatments did not affect dry matter intake (mean of 2.19% of live weight). Rations containing silages treated with benzoate or L. buchneri showed lower cost per kg of weight gain. Treatment with urea did not improve animal performance, but the cost per kg of weight gain was lower than that of the control ration.Index terms: additive, inoculant, nutritional value, weight gain. Desempenho de novilhas Holandesas alimentadas com silagens de cana-de-açúcar tratadas com uréia, benzoato de sódio ou Lactobacillus buchneriResumo -O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a performance de novilhas alimentadas com silagens de cana-deaçúcar tratadas com aditivos. Trinta e duas novilhas Holandesas foram aleatoriamente distribuídas em um delineamento em blocos, para avaliar rações (46% silagem; 54% concentrado; 12% proteína bruta) contendo silagem tratada com (base matéria verde) uréia (0,5%), benzoato de sódio (0,1%) ou Lactobacillus buchneri (3,64x10 5 ufc g -1 ). A inoculação de L. buchneri melhorou o ganho diário (1,24 vs. 0,94 kg dia -1 ) e a adição de benzoato melhorou a conversão alimentar (7,6 vs. 9,4 kg de matéria seca por kg de peso vivo), relativamente ao controle (silagem não tratada). Os tratamentos não afetaram o consumo de matéria seca (2,19% do peso vivo). As rações com silagens tratadas com benzoato ou L. buchneri mostraram menor custo por kg de ganho de peso. O tratamento com uréia não melhorou o desempenho animal, mas o custo por kg de ganho de peso foi menor do que na dieta controle.Termos para indexação: aditivo, inoculante, valor nutritivo, ganho de peso.

No abstract

Resistance of beef cattle heifers to the cattle tick Boophilus microplus was evaluated by artificial infestation of 66 beef cattle heifers of the following genetic groups: 16 Nelore (NE), 18 Canchim x Nelore (CN), 16 Angus x Nelore (AN) and 16 Simmental x Nelore (SN). The animals, with a mean age of 16.5 months, were maintained with no chemical tick control in a Brachiaria decumbens pasture. Four artificial infestations with 20,000 B. microplus larvae were carried out 14 days apart and from day 18 to day 22 of each infestation the number of engorged female ticks (≥ 4.5 mm) was counted on the left side of each heifer. Data were analyzed as the percentage of return (PR = percentage of ticks counted relative to the number infested), transformed to (PR) 1/4 , and as log 10 (C ij + 1), in which C ij is the number of ticks in each infestation, using the least squares method with a model that included the effects of genetic group (GG), animal within GG (error a), infestation number (I), GG x I and the residual (error b). Results indicated a significant GG x I interaction, because AN and SN heifers had a higher percentage of return than CN and NE heifers, while CN heifers showed a higher percentage of return than the NE heifers only in infestations 3 and 4. Transformed percentages of return were NE = 0.35 ± 0.06, AN = 0.89 ± 0.06, CN = 0.54 ± 0.05 and SN = 0.85 ± 0.06.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo determinar a prevalência de infecção urinária e da bactéria Actinomyces suis na urina de 1745 porcas gestantes da região Sul do Brasil e correlacionar essa prevalência com parâmetros físicos e químicos da urina. A prevalência de infecção urinária e de A. suis foi de 28,31% e 20,63%, respectivamente. Observou-se correlação negativa entre infecção urinária e A. suis, ou seja, as porcas que apresentaram infecção urinária tinham menor prevalência de A. suis (13,67%) do que as que não a apresentaram (23,12%). Da mesma forma, as porcas portadoras de A. suis, tinham menor prevalência de infecção urinária (17,43%) do que as não portadoras (28,62%). Apenas 3,60% das porcas examinadas eram positivas para infecção urinária e A. suis simultaneamente. A cor predominante da urina foi a amarelo claro, tanto para as porcas portadoras ou não portadoras de infecção urinária ou de A. suis. Constatou-se a presença de turbidez em 83,15% das amostras, sendo que em 96,18% das amostras turvas observou-se a presença de cristais. Finalmente, a cor, aspecto, densidade, pH e presença de cristais, foram considerados como parâmetros sem valor para o diagnóstico presuntivo de infecção urinária em porcas gestantes. Prevalence of urinary tract infections and of Actinomyces suis in urine from pregnant sows. Correlation with some urine’s physical and chemical parameters Abstract A survey has been carried out in urine samples from 1745 pregnant sows from Southern Brazil, in regard to the prevalence of urinary infections and of Actinomyces suis and its correlation with some of the urine physical and chemical parameters. Prevalence of urinary infections was of 28.31% and that of A. suis, 20.63%. However, a negative correlation has been found between the incidence of urinary infection and the presence of A. suis, the prevalence of the latter being lower in sows which are positive for urinary infections (13.67%) than in those without urinary infection (23.12%). At the same time, sows positive for A. suis display a lesser number of urinary infection (17.43%) than those negative for the bacteria (28.62%). Only in 3.60% of the sows, urinary infection and A. suis occurred simultaneously. Due to the presence of crystals, turbidity was frequently observed in sow’s urine (83.15%). Crystals were present in 96.18% of sow’s turbid urine samples. Furthermore, color, turbidity, density, pH and the presence of crystals were not considered of value for the presumptive diagnosis of urinary tract infections in pregnant sows.

The objective of this trial was to evaluate chemical additives and a bacterial inoculant on the inhibition of alcoholic fermentation and reduction of losses in sugarcane silages. Treatments were (doses on a fresh forage basis): without additive (control); urea (10 g/kg); urea (5 g/kg) + sodium benzoate (0.5 g/kg); sodium benzoate (1 g/kg); urea + ammonium sulfate in a 9:1 relation (10 g/kg); Lactobacillus buchneri (5 × 10(4) cfu/g). Silages were produced in 10.16- × 30-cm PVC tubes, provided with tight lids adapted with Bunsen valves for gas losses quantification. Minisilos were opened 139 days after ensiling. Ethanol content (227 g/kg dry matter - DM) and total DM loss (30%) were high in the control silage. All additives, except benzoate, decreased ethanol concentration in silages. Inoculation with L. buchneri increased acetic acid content in the silage, resulting in a 41% reduction in ethanol content and the lowest gas loss among treatments (15.2%). There was synergistic effect between additives for the combined use of urea and benzoate. Silage treated with urea + ammonium sulfate has higher content of total digestible nutrients than the silage treated with urea exclusively

There is no effective natural alternative control for gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) of small ruminants, with Haemonchus contortus being the most economically important GIN. Despite frequent reports of multidrug-resistant GIN, there is no new commercial anthelmintic to substitute failing ones. Although trematocidal activity of artemisinin analogs has been reported in sheep, neither artemisinin nor its plant source (Artemisia annua) has been evaluated for anthelmintic activity in ruminants. This study evaluated the anthelmintic activity of A. annua crude extracts in vitro and compared the most effective extract with artemisinin in sheep naturally infected with H. contortus. A. annua leaves extracted with water, aqueous 0.1% sodium bicarbonate, dichloromethane, and ethanol were evaluated in vitro by the egg hatch test (EHT) and with the bicarbonate extract only for the larval development test (LDT) using H. contortus. The A. annua water, sodium bicarbonate (SBE), ethanol, and dichloromethane extracts tested in vitro contained 0.3, 0.6, 4.4, and 9.8% of artemisinin, respectively. The sodium bicarbonate extract resulted in the lowest LC99 in the EHT (1.27 μg/mL) and in a LC99 of 23.8 μg/mL in the LDT. Following in vitro results, the SBE (2 g/kg body weight (BW)) and artemisinin (100 mg/kg BW) were evaluated as a single oral dose in naturally infected Santa Inês sheep. Speciation from stool cultures established that 84-91% of GIN were H. contortus, 8.4-15.6 % were Trichostrongylus sp., and 0.3-0.7% were Oesophagostomum sp. Packed-cell volume and eggs per gram (EPG) of feces were used to test treatment efficacy. The SBE tested in vivo contained no artemisinin, but had a high antioxidant capacity of 2,295 μmol of Trolox equivalents/g. Sheep dosed with artemisinin had maximum feces concentrations 24 h after treatment (126.5 μg/g artemisinin), which sharply decreased at 36 h. By day 15, only levamisole-treated sheep had a significant decrease of 97% in EPG. Artemisinin-treated and SBE-treated sheep had nonsignificant EPG reductions of 28 and 19%, respectively, while sheep in infected/untreated group had an average EPG increase of 95%. Sheep treated with artemisinin and A. annua SBE maintained blood hematocrits throughout the experiment, while untreated/infected controls had a significant reduction in hematocrit. This is the first time oral dose of artemisinin and an aqueous extract of A. annua are evaluated as anthelmintic in sheep. Although oral dose of artemisinin and SBE, at single doses, were ineffective natural anthelmintics, artemisinin analogs with better bioavailability than artemisinin should be tested in vivo, through different routes and in multiple doses. The maintenance of hematocrit provided by artemisinin and A. annua extract and the high antioxidant capacity of the latter suggest that they could be combined with commercial anthelmintics to improve the well-being of infected animals and to evaluate potential synergism.

Reducing Salmonella contamination in poultry is of major importance to prevent the introduction of this microorganism into the food chain. Salmonellae may spread during storage time (shelf life) whenever pre-harvest control fails or post-harvest contamination occurs. Therefore, preventive measures should also be used in the post-harvest level of poultry production in order to control salmonellae. Chicken skin samples were experimentally contaminated by immersing whole legs (thighs and drumsticks) in a suspension containing 10(6) colony forming units per milliliter (CFU/mL) of Salmonella Enteritidis phage type 4 (SE PT4) at the slaughter day. One day later, samples from one group were immersed in a suspension pool containing 10(9) CFU/mL of each of three wild salmonella-lytic bacteriophages previously isolated from feces of free-range chickens. Salmonella counting was performed at three-day intervals in the chicken legs stored at 5°C and showed a significant reduction (P<0.05) of SE PT4 in bacteriophage-treated cuts on days 3, 6 and 9 post-treatment. These findings suggest that the use of bacteriophages may reduce SE PT4 in chicken skin. Further studies are encouraged and might demonstrate the potential of this approach as an efficient and safe technique to be routinelly used for Salmonella control in chicken products

SUMMARY de amônia, 15 N,