Effects of Copper-bearing Montmorillonite (Cu-MMT) on Escherichia coli and Diarrhea on Weanling Pigs

Abstract

Copper-bearing montmorillonite (Cu-MMT) was produced by Cu 2+ cation exchange reaction. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that that the (001) basal spacing of the MMT crystal lattice increased from 1.544 to 1.588 nm after Cu 2+ exchange. This indicated that Cu 2+ entered into interlayer position of MMT as a hydrated cation or composite cation. In vitro results indicated that Cu-MMT had antibacterial activity on Escherichia coli K 88 . Cu-MMT had unbalanced positive charge after cation exchange. Its antibacterial activity resulted from two aspects, one was electrostatic attraction which made E. coli K 88 being adhered on the montmorillonite surface, the other was the Cu 2+ slowly released, which could kill bacteria. In an in vivo study, four replicates of eight weanling pigs were assigned to each of two dietary treatments to study the effects of Cu-MMT on diarrhea, E. coli in the lumen of the jejunum and morphology of jejunal mucosa. As compared to the control, supplementation of the diet with 0.2% Cu-MMT improved average daily gain by 12.50% (p<0.05) and decreased F/G by 9.42% (p<0.05). The mean diarrhrea incidence was decreased by 71.80% (p<0.05). The viable counts of Escherichia coli in jejunal contents were significantly reduced (p<0.05). Villus height and the villus height to crypt depth ratio at the jejunal mucosa were increased by 19.09% (p<0.05) and 37.10% (p<0.05), respectively.

The effect of kaolin feeding on efficiency, health status and course of diarrhoeal infections caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strains in weaned piglets

“…Montmorillonite added to a diet for pigs or broilers improved the morphology of small intestine mucosa (Xia et al, 2005;Ma and Guo, 2008). Long-term feeding resulted in an increased height of villi related to the depth of crypts in the pig jejunum (Xia et al, 2004(Xia et al, , 2005. Our experiments documented that a 20-day feeding of piglets with a diet supplemented with 1% kaolin did not cause any visible changes in histopathological features of mucosa in small and large intestines of piglets.…”

Alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters in prevention of diarrhoea in weaned piglets: a review

“…For example, Hu and Xia (2006) reported that whilst calcium MMT, sodium MMT and acid activated MMT showed some ability to reduce bacterial plate counts by 13 to 37 per cent, their modified cupric containing forms reduced this number by 96 to 99 per cent (Hu and Xia, 2006). Xia et al (2004) reported that Cu 2+ -enriched MMT significantly decreased the frequency of diarrhoea by up to 72 per cent and significantly increased the villus height and the villus height to crypt depth ratio in the jejunal mucosa by 19 and 37 per cent, respectively. Specific physical and chemical modifications -nanocomposites (Lin et al, 2004;Xu et al, 2004;Shi et al, 2005Shi et al, , 2007Yu et al, 2008), and complexes with organic materials (Xu et al, 1997;Herrera et al, 2000Herrera et al, , 2004Koh and Dixon, 2001), are characterized by much higher adsorptive abilities than other regular clay minerals.…”

“…The capacity of clay minerals to immobilize antinutritional components in feeds (Albengres et al, 1985;Ma and Guo, 2008), reduce the number of pathogenic microorganisms and depress the activity of bacterial enzymes in the small intestinal digesta (Gonzalez et al, 2004;Xia et al 2004Xia et al , 2005Trckova et al, 2009), prevents irritation and damage and improves the morphological characteristics of mucosa (Albengres et al, 1985;Xia et al 2004Xia et al , 2005Trckova et al, 2009).…”

“…Modification of clay minerals by the addition of Cu 2+ can improve their antibacterial activity (Ye et al, 2003;Zhou et al, 2004;Xia et al 2004;Hu and Xia, 2006), which is then a result of two mechanisms: one is electrostatic attraction which promotes the adherence of E. coli to the surface of clay minerals and the other is the slow release of Cu 2+ , which can kill bacteria . For example, Hu and Xia (2006) reported that whilst calcium MMT, sodium MMT and acid activated MMT showed some ability to reduce bacterial plate counts by 13 to 37 per cent, their modified cupric containing forms reduced this number by 96 to 99 per cent (Hu and Xia, 2006).…”

Interaction of Lactobacillus plantarum 337D UKM B-2627 strain cells with clay minerals in vitro

“…Було показано, що додавання глин у корм може впливати на склад мікрофлори кишечнику свійських тварин. Так, додавання монтморилоніту значно знижувало кількість E.coli і клостридій у кишечнику поросят [24,25]. У той же час дані щодо впливу глинистих мінералів на представників нормальної мікробіоти обмежені і дещо суперечливі.…”