• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.1109-1120
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• 2022

Antibiotics used to be supplemented to animal feeds as growth promoter and as an effective strategy to reduce the burden of pathogenic bacteria present in the gastro-intestinal tract. However, in-feed antibiotics also kill bacteria that may be beneficial to the animal. Secondly, unrestricted use of antibiotics enhanced the antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria. To overcome above problems, scientists are taking a great deal of measures to develop alternatives of antibiotics. There is convincing evidence that probiotics could replace in-feed antibiotics in poultry production. Because they have beneficial effects on growth performance, meat quality, bone health and eggshell quality in poultry. Better immune responses, healthier intestinal microflora and morphology which help the birds to resist against disease attack were also identified with the supplementation of probiotics. Probiotics establish cross-feeding between different bacterial strains of gut ecosystem and reduce the blood cholesterol level via bile salt hydrolase activity. The action mode of probiotics was also updated according to recently published literatures, i.e antimicrobial substances generation or toxin reduction. This comprehensive review of probiotics is aimed to highlight the beneficial effects of probiotics as a potential alternative strategy to replace the antibiotics in poultry.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1738-1745
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• 2007

A growth trial and a digestibility trial were conducted to examine the effect of feed particle size on the performance, nutrient digestibility, gastric ulceration and intestinal morphology in pigs fed barley-based diets. Barley was processed through a hammer mill to achieve four diets varying in particle size (average particle $size{\pm}standard $deviation): coarse ($1,100{\pm}2.19\;{\mu}m$), medium ($785{\pm}2.23\;{\mu}m$), fine ($434{\pm}1.70\;{\mu}m$) and mixed (1/3 of coarse, medium and fine) ($789{\pm}2.45\;{\mu}m$). Sixty-four entire male pigs were used in the growth trial and the diets were fed ad libitum between 31 kg and 87 kg live weight. Following slaughter, stomach and ileal tissues were scored for integrity (ulceration or damage) and histological measurements taken. Twenty-four entire male pigs were used in the digestibility trial, which involved total faecal collection. Over the entire growth phase, there were no differences (p>0.05) in average daily gain and feed conversion ratio between pigs fed diets of different particle size. Pigs fed the coarse and medium diets had lower (p<0.05) stomach ulceration scores (0.20 and 0.25, respectively, on a scale from 0 to 3) than those fed the mixed (0.69) or the fine diets (1.87). The stomachs of all animals fed the fine diet had lesions and stomach ulcerations were present only in this group. Pigs fed the fine diet had thicker (p<0.001) ileal epithelial cell layer with no differences (p>0.05) being observed for villous height or crypt depth. Faecal digestibility coefficients of neutral and acid detergent fibre were the highest (p<0.05) for the mixed diet, intermediate for the fine and coarse diets and the lowest for the medium diet. A similar numerical trend (p = 0.103) was observed for the apparent faecal energy digestibility coefficient. It is concluded that, with barley based diets, a variation in average particle size between $400{\mu}m$ and $1,100{\mu}m$ had no effect on pig performance but the fine dietary particle size affected the integrity of the stomach, as well as the structure of the small intestine, thus compromising overall gut health. Our data also demonstrate that changes in particle size distribution during the digestion process, rather than average particle size or particle size variation, are related to apparent faecal digestibility.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1742-1750
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• 2015

As a novel approach for disease control and prevention, nutritional modulation of the intestinal health has been proved. However, It is still unknown whether branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) is needed to maintain intestinal immune-related function. The objective of this study was to determine whether BCAA supplementation in protein restricted diet affects growth performance, intestinal barrier function and modulates post-weaning gut disorders. One hundred and eight weaned piglets ($7.96{\pm}0.26kg$) were randomly fed one of the three diets including a control diet (21% crude protein [CP], CON), a protein restricted diet (17% CP, PR) and a BCAA diet (BCAA supplementation in the PR diet) for 14 d. The growth performance, plasma amino acid concentrations, small intestinal morphology and intestinal immunoglobulins were tested. First, average daily gain (ADG) (p<0.05) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) (p<0.05) of weaned pigs in PR group were lower, while gain:feed ratio was lower than the CON group (p<0.05). Compared with PR group, BCAA group improved ADG (p<0.05), ADFI (p<0.05) and feed:gain ratio (p<0.05) of piglets. The growth performance data between CON and BCAA groups was not different (p>0.05). The PR and BCAA treatments had a higher (p<0.05) plasma concentration of methionine and threonine than the CON treatment. The level of some essential and functional amino acids (such as arginine, phenylalanine, histidine, glutamine etc.) in plasma of the PR group was lower (p<0.05) than that of the CON group. Compared with CON group, BCAA supplementation significantly increased BCAA concentrations (p<0.01) and decreased urea concentration (p<0.01) in pig plasma indicating that the efficiency of dietary nitrogen utilization was increased. Compared with CON group, the small intestine of piglets fed PR diet showed villous atrophy, increasing of intra-epithelial lymphocytes (IELs) number (p<0.05) and declining of the immunoglobulin concentration, including jejunal immunoglobulin A (IgA) (p = 0.04), secreted IgA (sIgA) (p = 0.03) and immunoglobulin M (p = 0.08), and ileal IgA (p = 0.01) and immunoglobulin G (p = 0.08). The BCAA supplementation increased villous height in the duodenum (p<0.01), reversed the trend of an increasing IELs number. Notably, BCAA supplementation increased levels of jejunal and ileal immunoglobulin mentioned above. In conclusion, BCAA supplementation to protein restricted diet improved intestinal immune defense function by protecting villous morphology and by increasing levels of intestinal immunoglobulins in weaned piglets. Our finding has the important implication that BCAA may be used to reduce the negative effects of a protein restricted diet on growth performance and intestinal immunity in weaned piglets.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.761-767
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• 2023

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether dietary supplementation with a functional fatty acid blend (FA) that contains 31.4% butyric acid and 4.99% medium-chain FA improve growth performance, antioxidant capacity, immunity status, and anti-inflammatory ability in weaned piglets. Methods: One hundred and forty-four healthy piglets (Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire) with an average body weight (BW) of 7.98±3.43 kg were randomly divided into three groups with six replicate pens and eight piglets per pen: Normal control (NC): a corn-soybean basal diet; FA1: a basal diet supplemented with 1,000 mg/kg of a functional FA; FA2: a basal diet supplemented with 2,000 mg/kg of a functional FA. The experiment lasted for 28 d. On d 14 and 28, one piglet in each pen from NC and FA2 groups was randomly selected for antioxidative index and immunoglobulins. On d 28, one piglet in each pen from NC and FA2 groups was randomly selected for intestinal morphology and inflammatory factor. Results: We observed that FA supplementation linearly increased (p<0.05) average daily gain and the final BW. There was higher (p<0.05) catalase on d 14, and immunoglobulin (Ig) A and IgM on d 28 in piglets supplemented with FA2 than in the NC group. Moreover, dietary FA2 reduced (p<0.05) crypt depth of ileum in piglets. The concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-8, and IL-10 in jejunum were lower (p<0.05) in the FA2 group compared with the NC group. Conclusion: Therefore, the overall results suggests that the FA may help to improve gut health, antioxidant status, and immune parameters resulting in the improvement of growth performance.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.311-323
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• 2023

This study aimed to investigate the impact of Bacillus subtilis-based probiotics and oregano essential oil on the production performance, egg quality, and intestinal morphology of late-phase laying hens (69-weeks). A total of 150 laying hens of 69-week-old were randomly allotted into 6 treatment groups with 5 replicates of 5 birds in each replicate. Laying hens were divided into high (H) and average (A) egg production groups prior to the trial. The hens in each group were supplemented with Bacillus subtilis, or oregano essential oil: CON, a basal diet; BS, basal diet plus 3 × 10⁸ CFU/kg feed Bacillus subtilis; OEO, basal diet plus 0.3 g/kg feed oregano essential oil. Egg performance, blood characteristics, egg quality, and intestinal morphology of the late-phase laying hens were evaluated. Both BS and OEO significantly enhanced (P<0.05) egg production compared to CON in high egg production. The blood characteristics indicated no significant differences based on the egg production and the supplementation of BS and OEO in the late-phase laying hens. The eggshell strength was significantly improved (P<0.05) in both OEO compared to both CON. A significantly decreased (P<0.05) the villus height to crypt depth ratio (VH/CD) in the ileum compared to H, and in the treatment groups supplemented with BS and OEO, VH/CD showed a significant increase (P<0.05) compared to both CON. These results suggest that the supplementation of Bacillus subtilis and oregano essential oil in the diet of late-phase laying hens could serve as a potential strategy to enhance egg production, egg quality, and gut health.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2002

The study was conducted to isolate and identify insecticidal bacteria for biological control of larvae of mushroom fly, Lycoriella mali, which is one of serious pests to oyster mushrooms during its cultivation period. Among eight bacteria isolated from the soil in the oyster mushroom beds and the dead body of L. mali, two bacteria, Bti-D and Bti-U showed more toxicity with mortality rate than other six-bacteria isolates. The two bacteria showed more toxicity in three instar of the period of development of the mushroom fly than in other instar. Symptoms of the larvae of L. mali infected by the two bacteria developed as follows: at the early infection, the front middle gut changed color to light brown, the middle gut to brown, whole body to black brown, and eventually, the fly died. For the identification of these isolates, cultural and biochemical characteristics by Bergey's manual and Biolog system, cell morphology by TEM, endospore and endotoxin by phase-contrast microscope, and test using 33H antisera were examined. According to the results, these two isolates, Bti-D and Bti-U were identified as Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis respectively.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.138-148
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• 1990

The influence of starvation on morphological change of the red sea bream larvae was examined at Song-ji fish hatchery, Tongyong-Gun, Kyongnam Provice in July 1988. The results obtained are as follows: 1) The larvae of red sea bream began to feed on rotifers in 2 days after hatching. In case of non-feeding, all of the larvae died in 5 days after hatching and the larvae which feeding delayed 1 and 2 days from normal first feeding schedule also died 100 in 6 days after hatching. 2) With the exhaustion of the yolk, the total length, body length, myotome height and gut height of unfed larvae decreased. 3) The ratio of height to myotome height in unfed larvae has declined most rapidly compare to other demensions while starving. At 5 days after hatching, the ratios of these of starving larvae and fed larvae were 0.306 and 0.010, respectively. 4) The morphology of starving larvae at 6 days after hatching are characterized as sharpened jaw, projected edge of lower part of clavicle and slender gut.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.263-274
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• 2015

Change in morphological and biological characteristics of Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica, by maturation were determined by examination of 182 individuals collected in Korea waters from September to December 2014. Eels were classified into four stages based on the silvering index. The proportion of silver eels collected from streams and estuaries (34.6%) was higher than that from the freshwater reservoirs (3.8%). The sex ratio between female and male was 1:0.11 (n=182). Mean total length and weight were positively related to the silvering process. The ratios of head and pectoral lengths to total length and the ratio of horizontal and vertical orbital diameters to head length were significantly different between the maturation stages. However the ratio of pre-dorsal and pre-anal lengths to total length were not significantly different between the maturation stages. The gonado-somatic index was the single character that could identify the whole four stages among the indices examined: gonado-somatic index (GSI), condition factor (K), gut index (GI) and eye index (EI) but hepato-somatic index (HSI). One pseudo-silver eel collected. looked like a late silver eel in the S2 stage according to its external body color and morphology, but most of other characteristics suggested that it might be in Y1 (yellow eel) or Y2 stage (late yellow eel).

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.3_spc
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• pp.417-426
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• 2021

Objective: Effects of inulin supplementation in diet of Haidong chicks under hypoxic conditions on production performance, intestinal morphologic change, microflora contents and the incidence of ascites were studied. Methods: Commercial male chicks (360) were randomly divided into 6 groups and were fed diets supplemented with 0, 0.05, 0.075, 0.1, 0.125, and 0.15 g/kg of inulin, respectively. Results: The body weight gain and feed intake were improved in chicks fed the diets supplemented with 0.1 and 0.125 g/kg of inulin, from d 1 to d 42 (p<0.05); moreover, blood parameters were positively affected when inulin was included in the diets and the thickness of the intestinal wall and muscle tissue in duodenum, jejunum, and ileum tended to increase (p<0.05), and the villi height and crypt depth in duodenum, jejunum, and ileum (p<0.05). Regarding the number of goblet cells in duodenum, jejunum and ileum tended to increase when chicks were fed the diets supplemented with 0.075, 0.1, 0.125, and 0.15 g/kg (p<0.05) of inulin. When chicks were fed diets supplemented with 0.75 or 0.1 g/kg of inulin, a significant reduction of Escherichia coli counts in the cecum was observed; for a contrary, a significant increment of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus was observed in cecum and ileum. Finally, supplementing the feed with inulin determined an overall reduction of ascites incidences in comparison to the control group. Conclusion: Thus, the results observed in the present study clearly suggest that the diet supplementation with a quantity of inulin ranging between 0.1 and 0.125 g/kg, can improve growth performances, intestinal morphology, internal microbial balance and ascites incidence, in broiler chicks raised at high altitude area. Even though these findings may be of interest for the poultry industry, they may particularly be relevant in those areas characterized by high altitude such as Northwest China regions.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.902-915
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• 2022

Objective: Diet acidification supplementation is known to influence intestinal morphology, gut microbiota, and on phosphorus (P) utilization of broilers. Alterations in intestinal barrier and microbiota have been associated with systemic inflammation and thus regulating bone turnover. Hence the effect of acidifier addition to drinking water on tibia mass and the linkages between intestinal integrity and bone were studied. Methods: One-d-old male broilers were randomly assigned to normal water (control) or continuous supply of acidified water (2% the blend of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyric acid, lactic, and phosphoric acid) group with 5 replicates of 10 chicks per replicate for 42 d. Results: Acidification of drinking water improved the ash percentage and calcium content of tibia at 42 d. Broilers receiving acidified water had increased serum P concentration compared to control birds. The acidified group showed improved intestinal barrier, evidenced by increased wall thickness, villus height, the villus height to crypt depth ratio, and upregulated mucin-2 expression in ileum. Broilers receiving drinking water containing mixed organic acids had a higher proportion of Firmicutes and the ratio of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, as well as a lower population of Proteobacteria. Meanwhile, the addition of acidifier to drinking water resulted in declined ileal and serum proinflammatory factors level and increased immunoglobulin concentrations in serum. Concerning bone remodeling, acidifier addition was linked to a decrease in serum C-terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase reflecting bone resorption, whereas it did not apparently change serum alkaline phosphatase activity that is a bone formation marker. Conclusion: Acidified drinking water increased tibia mineral deposition of broilers, which was probably linked with higher P utilization and decreased bone resorption through improved intestinal integrity and gut microbiota and through decreased systemic inflammation.