• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.141-149
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• 2018

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of multi-enzyme on growth performance, intestinal morphology, and nutrient digestibility of weaned pigs. A total 36 weaned pigs ($5.92{\pm}0.48kg\;BW$; 28 d old) were randomly allotted to 2 dietary treatments (3 pigs/pen, 6 replicates/treatment) in a randomized complete block design. The dietary treatments were a typical diet based on corn and soybean meal (CON) and CON with 0.1% multi-enzyme (Multi; mixture of ${\beta}-mannanase$, xylanase, ${\alpha}-amylase$, protease, ${\beta}-glucanase$, and pectinase). Pigs were fed their respective diets for 6 wk. Measurements were growth performance, morphology of ileum, apparent ileal digestibility and apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, and energy of weaned pigs. There were no significant differences on growth performance during overall experimental period. No differences were found for the morphology of ileum and nutrient digestibility between CON and Multi groups. Therefore, the results in the current study indicated that multi-enzyme supplementation in diets had no effects on growth performance, intestinal morphology, and nutrient digestibility of weaned pigs.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• 제62권1호
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• pp.21-30
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• 2020

This study was conducted to evaluate effects of dietary protease (PR) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal morphology of weaned pigs. A total of 75 weaned pigs [7.06 ± 0.18 kg of average body weight (BW); 28 day old] were randomly allotted to 3 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design (blocks = BW and sex): a diet based on corn and soybean meal to meet the requirement of crude protein (CP) as a positive control (PC; CP = 24.49%), a low protein diet as a negative control (NC; CP = 22.51%), and NC + 0.02% PR. The PR used in this study was a commercial product containing 75,000 protease units/g derived from Nocardiopsis prasina produced in Bacillus licheniformis. Pigs were fed the dietary treatments for 6 weeks and the diets containing 0.2% chromic oxide for the last week of this study. Blood, feces, ileal digesta, and ileum samples were collected from randomly selected two pigs in each pen on respective time points. Measurements were growth performance, apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM), CP, and energy, frequency of diarrhea, packed cell volume (PCV), and ileal morphology of weaned pigs. Pigs fed PC and PR had higher (p < 0.05) final BW, average daily gain (ADG), and gain to feed ratio (G:F) during overall experimental period than those fed NC. Pigs fed PC and PR had higher (p < 0.05) AID or ATTD of DM, CP, or energy than those fed NC. Moreover, pigs fed PR had higher ratio between villus height and crypt depth (p < 0.05) and number of goblet cells (p < 0.05) than those fed NC. Addition of PR decreased (p < 0.05) frequency of diarrhea for the first two weeks after weaning compared with PC and NC. In addition, pigs fed PR had lower (p < 0.05) PCV on d 14 after weaning than those fed PC and NC. In conclusion, addition of PR in nursery diets with a low protein level significantly improved growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal morphology of weaned pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.64-70
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• 2017

Objective: In the present study, role of increasing levels of Ecklonia cava (seaweed) supplementation in diets was investigated on growth performance, coefficient of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of nutrients, serum immunoglobulins, cecal microflora and intestinal morphology of weanling pigs. Methods: A total of 200 weaned pigs (Landrace${\times}$Yorkshire${\times}$Duroc; initial body weight $7.08{\pm}0.15kg$) were randomly allotted to 4 treatments on the basis of body weight. There were 5 replicate pens in each treatment including 10 pigs of each. Treatments were divided by dietary Ecklonia cava supplementation levels (0%, 0.05%, 0.1%, or 0.15%) in growing-finishing diets. There were 2 diet formulation phases throughout the experiment. The pigs were offered the diets ad libitum for the entire period of experiment in meal form. Results: The pigs fed with increasing dietary concentrations of Ecklonia cava had linear increase (p<0.05) in the overall average daily gain, however, there were no significant differences in gain to feed ratio, CTTAD of dry matter and crude protein at both phase I and phase II. Digestibility of gross energy was linearly improved (p<0.05) in phase II. At day 28, pigs fed Ecklonia cava had greater (linear, p<0.05) Lactobacillus spp., fewer Escherichia coli (E. coli) spp. (linear, p<0.05) and a tendency to have fewer cecal Clostridium spp. (p = 0.077). The total anaerobic bacteria were not affected with supplementation of Ecklonia cava in diets. Polynomial contrasts analysis revealed that villus height of the ileum exhibited a linear increase (p<0.05) in response with the increase in the level of dietary Ecklonia cava. However, villus height of duodenum and jejunum, crypt depth, villus height to crypt depth ratio of different segments of the intestine were not affected. Conclusion: The results suggest that Ecklonia cava had beneficial effects on the growth performance, cecal microflora, and intestinal morphology of weanling pigs.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제35권11호
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• pp.1689-1697
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• 2022

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of three kinds of organic acid (OA) products on the growth performance, intestinal characteristics and morphology, and cecal microflora in broilers fed a corn-soybean meal meal diet. Methods: A total of 420 one-day-old male Cobb 500 broilers with an average initial body weight of 49.11±1.02 g were used in this 42-day experiment. Birds were randomly allotted to one of five treatments (7 replicates with 12 birds per replicate). Treatments consisted of negative control (NC), basal diet; positive control (PC), basal diet+100 mg/kg of Aviramycin; OA1, basal diet+500 mg/kg of OA product 1; OA2, basal diet+1,000 mg/kg of OA product 2; and OA3, basal diet+1,200 mg/kg of OA product 3. Results: The results indicated that OA product addition had no effect on growth performance parameters, such as body weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio, from days 1 to 14, 15 to 28, and 0 to 42, or on the pH values of the intestine, intestinal weight, or intestinal weight to body weight ratio. The intestinal morphology in terms of villus height and crypt depth were affected by dietary supplementation of OA products, respectively. Furthermore, dietary addition of OAs had positive influences on the maintenance of the cecal microflora based on the results of 16S rRNA analysis. Conclusion: Dietary inclusion of three kinds of OA products all benefit broilers, but the mode of action may be different. This study provides a basis for the application of OA products used in the poultry industry.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• 제46권2호
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• pp.285-292
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• 2019

This study was done to evaluate the effects of a mixture of essential oils and organic acid supplementation on growth performance, blood profiles, leg bone length and intestinal morphology in Ross broilers. A total of 40 Ross 308 broilers ($1140{\pm}80g$) were randomly allocated to 2 groups, a basal diet (CON) and a basal diet + 0.05% $Avi-protect^{(R)}$ (AVI, Mixture of 25% citric, 16.7 sorbic, 1.7% thymol, and 1.0% vanillin), with 20 replicates for every group and 1 chicken per replicate per cage. The broilers were raised in a temperature-controlled room maintained at $24{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ and $50{\pm}5%$ humidity. The body weight (p < 0.05) and weight gain (p < 0.05) of the broilers were increased in the AVI group compared with the CON group. The triglyceride (p < 0.05) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) (p < 0.05) contents were significantly decreased in the AVI group compared with the CON group. There was no significant difference in the leg bone length between the AVI and CON groups (p > 0.05). The villi height (p < 0.05) and goblet cell count (p < 0.05) were significantly increased in the AVI group compared with the CON group. In conclusion, $Avi-protect^{(R)}$ as a feed additive improved the growth performance and lipid metabolism and promoted the development of the intestinal morphology of broilers.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.858-868
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• 2022

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary yeast hydrolysate (YH) supplementation on intestinal morphology, barrier, and anti-inflammatory functions of broilers. Methods: A total of 320 one day old male broilers were randomly allocated into four groups with eight replicates of ten broilers each. The broilers were supplemented with a basal diet (the control group) or basal diets adding 50, 100, 150 mg/kg YH, respectively. This trial lasted for 42 days. The orthogonal polynomial contrasts were used to determine the linear and quadratic effects of increasing levels of YH. Results: In our previous research, supplementing YH improved growth performance by enhancing body weight gain but decreased feed-to-gain ratio. In this study, compared with the control group, dietary YH addition linearly and quadratically decreased serum diamine oxidase activity (p<0.05). Additionally, supplementing YH linearly and/or quadratically decreased jejunal crypt depth (CD), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) concentration as well as mucin 2, interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1β, TNF-α, nuclear factor kappa B, and myeloid differentiation factor 88 gene expression levels (p<0.05). Whereas the jejunal villus height (VH), VH/CD, IL-10 concentration as well as zonula occludens-1 and IL-10 gene expression levels were linearly and/or quadratically increased by YH supplementation (p<0.05). Conclusion: Dietary YH supplementation improved intestinal morphology, barrier and anti-inflammatory functions while decreased intestinal permeability of broilers, which might be related with altering pertinent genes expression. This study provides evidence of YH as a promising feed additive for broilers.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• 제42권4호
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• pp.339-349
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• 2017

Purpose: This review focuses on the major 3-D image reconstruction techniques and their applications in plant and animal morphological analysis. Methods & Results: This paper begins with an overview of major 3-D image reconstruction techniques and their basic principles. Subsequently, their applications in plant and animal morphological analysis are reviewed. A discussion on the limitations and future research direction of 3-D imaging techniques for accurate, fast measurements and modeling of plant and animal morphological analysis follows. Conclusions: Owing to the increasing demand for plant and animal morphological analysis, the application of 3-D imaging techniques will increase in popularity among researchers and the agricultural industry.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.263-271
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• 2010

This trial was conducted to determine the effects of feeding a diet containing solid-state fermented rapeseed meal on performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal ecology and intestinal morphology of broiler chickens. A mixed liquid culture, containing approximately 5 log cfu/ml Lactobacillus fermentum, Enterococcus faecium, Saccharomyces cerevisae and Bacillus subtilis was prepared in a 1:1:1:1 ratio. A basal substrate (BS) containing 75% rapeseed, 24% wheat bran and 1% brown sugar was mixed with the liquid culture in a ratio of 10:3. Over the 30-day fermentation, isothiocyanates were reduced from 119.6 to 14.7 mmol/kg. A total of 168, day-old male Arbor Acres broiler chicks were assigned to one of three dietary treatments including a corn-soybean meal based control diet as well as two experimental diets in which the control diet was supplemented with 10% of the BS containing unfermented rapeseed meal or 10% of the BS containing rapeseed meal subjected to solid state fermentation. There were 8 pens per treatment and 7 birds per pen. From days 19-21 and days 40-42, uncontaminated excreta were collected from each pen for digestibility determinations. In addition, digesta from the colon and ceca were collected to determine the number of lactobacilli, enterobacteria and total aerobes. The middle sections of the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum were collected for intestinal morphology. Over the entire experimental period (d 1-42), the weight gain and feed conversion of birds fed fermented rapeseed meal were superior (p<0.05) to that of birds fed nonfermented rapeseed meal and did not differ from the soybean control. On day 42, birds fed fermented rapeseed meal had higher (p<0.05) total tract apparent digestibility coefficients for dry matter, energy, and calcium than birds fed non-fermented rapeseed meal. Colon and ceca digesta from broilers fed the fermented feed had higher (p<0.05) lactobacilli counts than birds fed the control and non-fermented rapeseed meal diets on day 21 and 42. Fermentation also improved (p<0.05) villus height and the villus height:crypt depth ratio in the ileum and jejunum on day 21 and 42. The results indicate that solid-state fermentation of rapeseed meal enhanced performance and improved the intestinal morphology of broilers and may allow greater quantities of rapeseed meal to be fed to broilers potentially reducing the cost of broiler production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제19권10호
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• pp.1470-1477
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• 2006

One hundred and sixty crossbred pigs ($6.62{\pm}0.36kg$) weaned at day $18{\pm}1$ were used to investigate the effects of lactitol and tributyrin on performance, small intestinal morphology and enzyme activity. The pigs were assigned to one of five dietary groups (4 pens/diet with 8 pigs/pen) and were fed the negative control diet or the negative control diet supplemented with 10 g/kg glutamine (as a positive control), or 3 g/kg lactitol (${\beta}$-D-galactopyranosyl-($1{\rightarrow}4$)-D-sorbitol), or 5 g/kg tributyrin (butanoic acid 1,2,3-propanetriyl ester), or 3 g/kg lactitol+5 g/kg tributyrin. Body weight and feed intake were measured weekly during the 4-week study. On day 7, four pigs per dietary treatment were sacrificed to examine small intestinal morphology and enzyme activity. The results showed that: (1) Compared with the negative control diet, the positive control diet improved weight gain and feed efficiency during weeks 1-2 and over the entire study (p<0.05), and also decreased duodenal and ileal crypt depth (p<0.05), but did not alter intestinal enzyme activity (p>0.05). Lactitol improved feed efficiency during weeks 3-4 and over the entire study (p<0.05), but did not improve weight gain and feed intake, intestinal morphology or enzyme activity (p>0.05). Tributyrin improved weight gain and reduced feed/gain during weeks 3-4 and over the entire study. Tributyrin significantly decreased crypt depth in the duodenum and ileum, and increased duodenal lactase and ileal maltase activity (p<0.05). Lactitol+tributyrin increased weight gain during weeks 3-4 and over the entire study, and improved feed efficiency during weeks 1-2 and 3-4 and over the entire study (p<0.05). Lactitol+tributyrin increased the jejunal villus height, and decreased the duodenal and ileal crypt depth (p<0.05). Lactitol+tributyrin also increased jejunal lactase and sucrase activity (p<0.05). (2) Compared with the positive control, tributyrin improved weight gain and reduced feed/gain during weeks 3-4 (p<0.05), decreased the ileal crypt depth, and improved the duodenal lactase and sucrase activity (p<0.05). Lactitol+ tributyrin improved weight gain during weeks 3-4, improved feed efficiency during weeks 3-4 and over the entire study, increased the ileal villus height, and increased jejunal lactase, sucrase and maltase activity (p<0.05). These results showed that tributyrin improved performance, intestinal morphology and enzyme activity, while the effect of lactitol was very limited. These results also showed that, compared with glutamine, tributyrin was more effective in improving intestinal morphology and enzyme activity, and tributyrin exerted a superior effect in improving performance as weaning progressed. These observations suggest that, as a chemical for repairing intestinal atrophy, glutamine and tributyrin should be used in the first and second periods of the starter phase, respectively.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제15권11호
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• pp.1639-1645
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of aflatoxin $B_1$ ($AFB_1$) on the ultracellular morphology alteration, apoptosis induction and reactive nitrogen and oxygen intermediates production of peritoneal macrophages (DPM) from mule ducks. The ducklings were purchased from a commercial hatchery, and were fed a corn-soybean based diet. As the ducklings were grown up to 3 wk of age, the Sephadex-elicited peritoneal exudative cells (PEC) were used as the source for duck peritoneal macrophages. The ultracellular morphology study showed that significant number of cells shifted from category I (normal cell with ruffled membrane) and II (cell membrane blebbing) to category III (cell membrane blebbing and even rupture) after DPM were incubated with $AFB_1$ ($20{\mu}g/ml$) for 12 to 48 h. When DPM were exposed to $AFB_1$ in vitro, the production of NO, $H_2O_2$ and $O_2{^-}$ in macrophages was reduced after 12-48 h incubation with previous LPS stimulation. There was a DNA laddering pattern observed in DPM incubated with $AFB_1$ 5, 10, 20, 50 or $100{\mu}g/ml$ for 12 h. Evidence also revealed that the percentage of apoptotic cells was increased along with the elevation of $AFB_1$ concentration. The results suggest that $AFB_1$ exposure causes duck macrophages going on apoptotic pathway through evidence of ultracellular morphology alteration and DNA laddering in agarose electrophoresis. The production of reactive nitrogen and oxygen intermediates of duck macrophages also depressed after $AFB_1$ exposure, and this implied that $AFB_1$ could cause deteriorated functions of bacteriocidal and tumoricidal activity in duck macrophages.