• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.746-757
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• 2020

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is the major pathogenic E. coli that causes diarrhea and edema in post-weaning piglets. In this study, we describe the morphology and characteristics of ØCJ19, a bacteriophage that infects ETEC, and performed genetic analysis. Phage ØCJ19 belongs to the family Myoviridae. One-step growth curve showed a latent phase of 5 min and burst size of approximately 20 phage particles/infected cell. Phage infectivity was stable for 2 h between 4℃ and 55℃, and the phage was stable between pH 3 and 11. Genetic analysis revealed that phage ØCJ19 has a total of 49,567 bases and 79 open reading frames (ORFs). The full genomic sequence of phage ØCJ19 showed the most similarity to an Escherichia phage, vB_EcoS_ESCO41. There were no genes encoding lysogeny, toxins, virulence factors, or antibiotic resistance in this phage, suggesting that this phage can be used safely as a biological agent to control ETEC. Comparative genomic analysis in terms of the tail fiber proteins could provide genetic insight into host recognition and the relationship with other coliphages. These results showed the possibility to improve food safety by applying phage ØCJ19 to foods of animal origin contaminated with ETEC and suggests that it could be the basis for establishing a safety management system in the animal husbandry.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.812-819
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• 2013

Forty two Malpura lambs (21 d old) were divided into three groups of 14 each consisting of 8 females and 6 males. Lambs were allowed to suckle their respective dams twice daily up to weaning (13 wks) and offered free choice concentrate and roughage in a cafeteria system. The lambs in control group were fed conventional concentrate mixture, in RBO group concentrate mixture fortified with 4% industrial grade rice bran oil and in Ca-soap rice bran oil (as in RBO group) was supplemented in the form of calcium soap. The concentrate intake decreased($p{\leq}0.05$) in RBO group as a result total dry matter, crude protein and metabolizable energy intake decreased compared to control whereas Ca-soap prepared from the same rice bran oil stimulated the concentrate intake leading to higher total dry matter, crude protein and energy intakes. The digestibility of dry matter ($p{\leq}0.05$), organic matter ($p{\leq}0.05$) and crude protein ($p{\leq}0.05$) was higher in RBO group followed by Ca-soap and control whereas no effect was observed for ether extract digestibility. Higher cholesterol ($p{\leq}0.05$) content was recorded in serum of oil supplemented groups (RBO and Ca-soap) while no effect was recorded for other blood parameters. Rice bran oil as such adversely affected and reduced the body weight gain ($p{\leq}0.001$) of lambs in comparison to control whereas the Ca-soap of rice bran oil improved body weight gain and feed conversion efficiency in lambs. Fat supplementation decreased total volatile fatty acids ($p{\leq}0.05$) and individual volatile fatty acid concentration which increased at 4 h post feeding. Fat supplementation also reduced ($p{\leq}0.05$) total protozoa count. Ca-soap of rice bran oil improved pre slaughter weight ($p{\leq}0.05$) and hot carcass weight ($p{\leq}0.05$). It is concluded from the study that rice bran oil in the form of calcium soap at 40 g/kg of concentrate improved growth, feed conversion efficiency and carcass quality as compared to rice bran oil as such and control groups.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.1752-1759
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• 2022

Objective: Effects of direct-fed Enterococcus faecium plus bacteriophages (EF-BP) were investigated as potential substitutes for pharmacological ZnO for weanling pigs. Methods: Dietary treatments were supplementations to a basal diet with none (NC), 3,000-ppm ZnO (PC), 1×10¹⁰ colony-forming units of E. faecium plus 1×10⁸ plaque-forming units (PFU) of anti-Salmonella typhimurium bacteriophages (ST) or 1×10⁶ PFU of each of anti-enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88 (F4)-, K99 (F5)-, and F18-type bacteriophages (EC) per kg diet. In Exp 1, twenty-eight 21-day-old crossbred weanling pigs were individually fed one of the experimental diets for 14 days and euthanized for histological examination on intestinal mucosal morphology. In Exp 2, 128 crossbred weanling pigs aged 24 days were group-fed the same experimental diets in 16 pens of 8 piglets on a farm with a high incidence of post-weaning diarrhea. Results: None of the diarrheal score or fecal consistency score (FCS), average daily gain (ADG), gain: feed ratio, structural variables of the intestinal villus, and goblet cell density, differed between the EF-BP (ST+EC) and NC groups, between EF-BP and PC, or between ST and EC, with the exception of greater gain: feed for EF-BP than for PC (p<0.05) during days 7 to 14 (Exp 1). In Exp 2, ADG was less for EF-BP vs PC during days 0 to 7 and greater for EF-BP vs NC during days 7 to 14. FCS peaked on day 7 and declined by day 14. Moreover, FCS was less for EF-BP vs NC, did not differ between EF-BP and PC, and tended to be greater for ST vs EC (p = 0.099). Collectively, EF-BP was comparable to or slightly less effective than PC in alleviating diarrhea and growth check of the weanling pigs, with ST almost as effective as PC, when they were group-fed. Conclusion: The E. faecium-bacteriophage recipe, especially E. faecium-anti-S. typhimurium, is promising as a potential substitute for pharmacological ZnO.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.1079-1088
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• 2003

This study was conducted to test the efficacy of the automatic liquid feeder(designated as NLRI) developed by National Livestock Research Institute, Korea for 7-day old early-weaning piglets. The other automatic liquid feeder imported from USA(designated as IALF) was used for a comparative purpose. A total of sixty piglets of 7 days of age were allotted to three treatments. The control group of 20 piglets was raised by their own sows until 21 days of age, while others were shifted to automatic liquid feeders of either NLRI or IALF on 7 days of age and reared during 14 days post-weaning. After then, all the piglets were fed nutritionally identical mash diets until 70 days of age. Compared with control group, body weight of piglets reared on automatic liquid feeders were lighter(P〈0.05) at 21 days of age [5.55kg (control) vs 4.97 (NLRI) and 4.98kg (IALF)], while heavier(P〈0.05) at 70 days of age(24.82kg vs 30.17 and 29.42kg). The results indicated that pigs reared on liquid feeding showed higher(P〈0.05) average daily gain than control pigs during the whole experimental period [346.7g (control) vs 425.8 (NLRI) and 416.1g (IALF)], while no difference was found in feed/gain (1.67 vs 1.78 and 1.84). There was no difference in growth performance and incidence of diarrhea between two automatic liquid feeders, NLRI and IALF. Compared with control group, intestinal villi tended to be shorter in liquid feeding group during the first week, but were recovered within two weeks. The results suggest that the automatic liquid feeder newly developed by National Livestock Research Institute, Korea can be successfully used for rearing young piglets weaned at very early age.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.849-856
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• 2018

Diarrhea is one of the main disorders which cause the highest level mortality of the post-weaning economic animal. Beech-wood creosote has been used as a traditional anti-diarrheic medicament for a long time. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of Beech-wood on growth performance and intestinal microbiota in rats. Twelve 4-week-old rats were randomly assigned to one of four dietary groups and fed a basal diet supplemented with none (CON), 0.5% apramycin (ANTI), 0.4% creosote (Creo 0.4), or 0.8% creosote (Creo 0.8) for 4 weeks following 1 week of adaptation period to the respective diet. Average daily gain was not influenced by the dietary treatment whereas average daily feed intake was greatest for the Creo 0.8 group. In the intestinal microbiota at the level of the phylum, the percentage of Firmicutes bacteria decreased but Bacteroidetes increased in the Creo 0.8 group vs. Control, which resulted in a decreased F/B ratio for the former (p<0.05). Moreover, the percentage of Lachnospiraceae was greater at the level of the family for the Creo 0.8 group than for Control, but the percentages of Turicibacter and Clostridium disporicum were less in the former (p<0.01) at the genus and species levels, respectively. Collectively, the present results indicate that dietary supplementation of creosote increases the feed intake and also influence the intestinal microbiota in rats.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1644-1655
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• 2019

Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) and glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) have been employed to improve the intestinal development of weaned animals. The goal of this study was to determine whether either exogenous S. cerevisiae or GLP-2 elicits major effects on fecal microbiotas and cytokine responses in weaned piglets. Ninety-six piglets weaned at 26 days were assigned to one of four groups: 1) Basal diet (Control), 2) empty vector-harboring S. cerevisiae (EV-SC), 3) GLP-2-expressing S. cerevisiae (GLP2-SC), and 4) recombinant human GLP-2 (rh-GLP2). At the start of the post-weaning period (day 0), and at day 28, fecal samples were collected to assess the bacterial communities via sequencing the V1-V2 region of the 16S-rRNA gene, and piglets' blood was also sampled to measure cytokine responses (i.e., IL-$1{\beta}$, TNF-${\alpha}$, and IFN-${\gamma}$). This study revealed that, on the one hand, although S. cerevisiae supplementation did not significantly alter the growth of weaned piglets, it induced increases in the relative abundances of two core genera (Ruminococcaceae_norank and Erysipelotrichaceae_norank) and decreases in the relative abundances of two other core genera (Lachnospiraceae_norank and Clostridiale_norank) and cytokine levels (IL-$1{\beta}$ and TNF-${\alpha}$) (p < 0.05, Control vs EV-SC; p < 0.05, rh-GLP2 vs GLP2-SC). On the other hand, GLP-2 supplementation had no significant influence on fecal bacterial communities and cytokine levels, but it produced better body weight and average daily gain (p < 0.05, Control vs EV-SC; p < 0.05, rh-GLP2 vs GLP2-SC). Therefore, altered fecal microbiotas and cytokine response effects in weaned piglets were due to S. cerevisiae rather than GLP-2.