Research of safety and toxicity of drug “Biozapin”

Modern animal husbandry and poultry farming is developing very rapidly compared to the possibilities of previous years. Obtaining high economic indicators is possible with balanced feeding and strict observance of veterinary and sanitary measures. Failure to comply with the technology of cultivation leads to the activation of opportunistic pathogens. During the industrial rearing of animals, microflora accumulates both indoors and in the environment. Fattening animals with pelleted feed indoors and the lack of contact with donors of typical microorganisms available in nature (soil, insects, plants) lead to the intestine's colonization by enterobacteria. As a result, probiotics have become very popular in animal husbandry and poultry to normalize the intestinal microflora and disinfect humus, treat animal housing, and eliminate odors: probiotics – microbial drugs which are stabilized cultures of microorganisms that have antagonistic activity against pathogenic microflora. Today, the sources of probiotic strains are nine species of microorganisms. However, probiotics' antimicrobial and stimulating potential based on safe and effective strains of B. subtilis and B. amyloliquefaciens bacilli is much higher than probiotics based on Lacto- and bifidobacteria. The study aimed to investigate the safety and cute toxicity of the probiotic drug “Biozapin” based on a mixture of probiotic bacteria Bacillus sybtilis, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and aluminosilicate with a single injection into animals and to establish the maximum therapeutic, toxic and lethal doses. The article presents information on the study results of acute toxicity and safety of the drug “Biozapin”. At intragastric administration of this drug to white mice at a dose of 5000 mg/kg of body weight, it does not cause their death; therefore, it is possible to draw a conclusion that this drug is nontoxic. Dilution of the drug “Biozapin” in various concentrations are harmless to the simplest tetrachimene piriformis. The increase in live weight of one head of mice with forced administration of the drug “Biozapin” intragastrically in different concentrations was: sample № 1 – 11.5 %, sample № 2 – 10.0 %, sample № 3 – 13.5 %, sample № 4 – 11.7 %, sample № 5 – 11.1 %, in the control group – 13.9 %. At pathological autopsy of animals, no visible pathological changes were found. The results of toxicological studies have shown that the drug “Biozapin” is harmless and non-toxic.

Cuprizone feed formulation influences the extent of demyelinating disease pathology

Cuprizone is a copper-chelating agent that induces pathology similar to that within some multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions. The reliability and reproducibility of cuprizone for inducing demyelinating disease pathology depends on the animals ingesting consistent doses of cuprizone. Cuprizone-containing pelleted feed is a convenient way of delivering cuprizone, but the efficacy of these pellets at inducing demyelination has been questioned. This study compared the degree of demyelinating disease pathology between mice fed cuprizone delivered in pellets to mice fed a powdered cuprizone formulation at an early 3 week demyelinating timepoint. Within rostral corpus callosum, cuprizone pellets were more effective than cuprizone powder at increasing astrogliosis, microglial activation, DNA damage, and decreasing the density of mature oligodendrocytes. However, cuprizone powder demonstrated greater protein nitration relative to controls. Furthermore, mice fed control powder had significantly fewer mature oligodendrocytes than those fed control pellets. In caudal corpus callosum, cuprizone pellets performed better than cuprizone powder relative to controls at increasing astrogliosis, microglial activation, protein nitration, DNA damage, tissue swelling, and reducing the density of mature oligodendrocytes. Importantly, only cuprizone pellets induced detectable demyelination compared to controls. The two feeds had similar effects on oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) dynamics. Taken together, these data suggest that demyelinating disease pathology is modelled more effectively with cuprizone pellets than powder at 3 weeks. Combined with the added convenience, cuprizone pellets are a suitable choice for inducing early demyelinating disease pathology.

Can Lambs in Pain Identify Medicated Feed?

Lambs in Australia undergo painful husbandry procedures as part of common husbandry. The magnitude and duration of pain are difficult to assess in lambs. Most currently used methods rely on behavioral expressions and physiological markers that may fail to detect the state of pain an animal experience. This study examined motivation of 12-week-old lambs experiencing chronic pain to self-medicate by consumption of feed containing an analgesic agent as an indicator of pain in lambs. In this study, 36 male Merino lambs were individually penned and acclimated to pelleted feed and two artificial odors: strawberry and banana. Once acclimated to odored feed, lambs were tested for their individual preference for the odors. Lambs were then assigned to one of two groups: Sham—sham handled day 0 and 7 or Ring—Ring castrated day 0 and tail docked day 7. To enable self-medication testing, lambs underwent a conditioning period (day 0–3) followed by the self-medication period (day 7–12). On day 0 lambs were castrated or sham handled, and then offered only medicated feed that contained an odor cue (either strawberry or banana). On day 7, lambs underwent tail-docking or sham handling and were offered both the conditioned medicated feed and non-medicated feed. Amount of each feed consumed was recorded 1 and 12 h after offer each day. Blood samples were taken for cortisol and white blood cell analysis and behavioral observations were recorded for 12 h following treatment. There was no difference in preference for medicated feed between Ring and Sham lambs during the self-medication phase (P = 0.18). Lambs in both groups displayed a significant preference for strawberry cued medicated feed during the self-medicated period when compared to the other testing periods (P = 0.05). Ring lambs displayed more active pain behaviors (mean = 15.1) than Sham (mean = 0.4, P < 0.05). Following castration, Ring lambs had a higher neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio at 6, 24, 48, and 72 h. This study was not able to demonstrate that lambs can self-medicate for a state of pain.

Assessing the Potential for Sustainable Aquaculture Development in Cambodia

Inland capture fisheries are central to livelihoods and food security in Cambodia, but are under threat from growing anthropogenic pressures. Policy discourse in Cambodia increasingly frames aquaculture as a viable alternative to capture fisheries, and seeks to promote its development. This paper presents results from the first comprehensive survey of Cambodia's aquaculture value chain. The study combines qualitative (46 Key Informant Interviews) and quantitative surveys (1,204 farmers and 191 other aquaculture value chain actors) to investigate potential for aquaculture in Cambodia to grow, support livelihoods, and contribute to food security. We found the following: (i) The fish farm sector in Cambodia is comprised mainly of small family farms raising carnivorous fish species or pangasius, using direct inputs of “trash fish” harvested from the wild; (ii) Most fish seed and pelleted feed are imported, and domestic producers of these inputs struggle to compete; (iii) Fish farmed in Cambodia is mostly sold live. Farm fish are more expensive than the main species harvested from inland capture fisheries, and struggle to compete with imported farmed fish; (iv) Capture fisheries employ many times more people than aquaculture; (v) Space for aquaculture is limited because few locations have both perennial access to water and protection from flooding. These findings raise questions about the potential of Cambodia's aquaculture sector, as currently organized, to contribute significantly to employment, food and nutrition security, and rural economic development. We propose actions to improve the sector's sustainability and contribute to desirable development outcomes.

PSIII-24 Poor gestational nutrition impacts sheep offspring growth but not feed efficiency

The objective was to determine the effects of poor maternal nutrition during gestation on growth and feed efficiency of offspring. We hypothesized that body weights (BW) would decrease and residual feed intake (RFI) would increase (reduced feed efficiency) in offspring of restricted- and over-fed ewes. Forty-six multiparous Dorset ewes pregnant with twins were fed 100%, 60% or 140% of NRC requirements from d 30 of gestation until parturition. Offspring are referred to as CON (n = 10 ewes; 12 rams), RES (n = 13 ewes; 21 rams), and OVER (n = 16 ewes; 13 rams), respectively. Lamb BW were measured weekly from birth to d 28 and biweekly until d 252 of age. Starting at d 167±13.6, daily intake of a complete pelleted feed was recorded using a Super SmartFeed (C-lock Inc., Rapid City, SD) over a 77 d- feeding period. Average BW were taken two days before, at mid-point, and two days after the feeding trial period and RFI was calculated for each animal. Rams were euthanized at d 284±12 and body morphometrics, loin eye area (LEA), back fat thickness, and organ weights were collected. From birth to d 252, ram lambs were 5.4 kg heavier (P < 0.001) than ewe lambs. Control ewe lambs were 4.3 kg heavier than RES and OVER (P < 0.05) from birth to 9 months and CON rams were 4.7 kg heavier (P < 0.01) than RES. Rams (-0.17) were more efficient than ewes (0.23; P < 0.01); however, no dietary treatment difference was observed (P ≥ 0.57). No differences in muscle mass, LEA, and adipose deposition were observed (P ≥ 0.41). These data indicate that poor maternal diet during gestation impacts offspring growth but not RFI. Further investigation is warranted to determine if differences in BW are a result of metabolic alterations impacted by poor maternal nutrition during gestation.

Growth and survival of transfection and non-transfection tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon Fabricius) broodstock candidate in pond cultivation

Tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon Fab.) is one of important commercial species in Indonesia. Low quality of shrimp fry due to the lack of good quality broodstock availability is shrimp cultivation problem that need to be solved. The study was aimed to evaluate growth and survival rate of broodstock candidate of transfection and non-transfection tiger shrimp. The study was conducted using four ponds with 2000 m2 in size in Takalar Regency. South Sulawesi. The treatment were A = transfection tiger shrimp broodstock candidate and B = non-transfection tiger shrimp broodstock candidate. Approximately 19.0-21.9 g/ind of shrimp were reared in 60 days in 0.25 individu/m2 (500 individu/2000 m2) stocking density. Commercial pelleted feed which content 38% of protein was fed three times a day in 5-3% of body weight dosage. Measured variables were growth performance, size distribution and survival rate. The result showed that shrimp growth were no significantly different (P>0.05), while survival rate and size distribution were significantly different (P<0.05). The dominant size of transfection shrimp was 41-50 g/ind. Whereas, non-transfection shrimp was dominated by 31-40 g/ind in size (48.39%). Survival rate of tiger shrimp broodstock candidate in this study ranged from 30.80 to 64.10%.

Analysis of aflatoxins and ergot alkaloids in feeds for adult equine

Mycotoxins are products resulting from fungi metabolism normally present in the environment and which can develop in food. The aim of this study was the fungi quantification, aflatoxin detection and investigation of ergot alkaloids occurrence in pelleted feed for adult equines during storage. The feed samples were collected from three rural properties with equideoculture activity in the city of Teresina, Piauí, Brazil. The results showed that was no significant difference (p<0.05) for the counting of colony-forming units (CFU/g) of filamentous fungi and yeasts in the samples. Aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 were found in acceptable amounts and the other fungal metabolites: ergometrine, griseofulvin, festuclavin, ergine and lysergol. Concluding, the results of this study demonstrate that amount of filamentous fungi and the water activity present in the original package remain constant after six days of storage. Four types of aflatoxins were found: AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2 and the Ergot alkaloids: ergine, ergometrine, festuclavine, griseofulvin and lisergol in amounts within acceptable limits. These groups of toxic compounds produced by fungi can be present in equine feed and may lead to a risk to their health.

The Dietary Risk Factors of Gastric Ulcers in Finishing Pigs from 16 Polish Farms

Sudden death caused by the acute form of gastric ulceration has developed into a widely recognised health and welfare problem. The importance of different triggering factors is poorly understood. The study was carried out on finishers slaughtered in Poland. The collected animal-level data were transformed to a herd-level dataset, which included 27 predictor variables. From a total of 32,264 pig stomachs examined, 23,188 (71.9%) had gastric lesions. Total of 17,703 organs (54.9%) had ulcers. Scores 1 (hyperkeratotic) and 2 (erosions) were observed in 2958 (9.2%) and 2527 (7.8%), respectively. A significant (p < 0.05) association of the ulcer prevalence was found for a number of variables. Raising the level of protein significantly (p = 0.04) increased (ρ = 0.22) the occurrence of gastric ulcers. The addition of wheat bran (p = 0.02) and its growing share in feed composition had the contrary effect (ρ = −0.27). Feeding pelleted feed was significantly associated (p = 0.001) with the higher prevalence of the disease, opposite to liquid feeding (p = 0.0002) and supplementation of a mycotoxin deactivator (p = 0.0008). Although, the immediate transition from one feeding system to another in most of the farms is impossible, the addition of materials such as wheat bran, and routine supplementation with mycotoxin deactivators may be a practical and relatively low-cost solution.

Sodium buffered formic acid concentration and feed pH is stable over a 3-month period

Promoting feed hygiene with organic acids is an effective method to prevent foodborne illnesses from bacterial infection. The stability and acidification of mash and pelleted feed with sodium buffered formic acid was investigated. The acid product was incorporated to reach total formate inclusion levels of 0, 6, or 12 g/kg for swine nursery feed; 0, 4, or 9 g/kg for swine finishing feed; and 0, 3, or 6 g/kg for broiler grower feed. Samples were analyzed for total formate and pH on d 4, 32, 60, or 88 post-manufacturing. The concentration of formate remained stable across an 88-d period (P &lt; 0.01). Treatment with the formic acid product decreased feed pH with increasing inclusion levels (all P &lt; 0.01). Within each inclusion level of acid and across time, pH tended to increase in pelleted feeds and decrease in mash feeds (all P &lt; 0.01); however, these changes were small (0.1 units pH). These data suggest that sodium buffered formic acid can be applied to both mash and pelleted feed to provide continuous acidification over a 3-month period.