apramycin and Weight-Gain

An in vivo experiment was conducted to study the potential prebiotic effects of mushroom and herb polysaccharide extracts, Lentinus edodes extract (LenE), Tremella fuciformis extract, and Astragalus membranaceus Radix extract, on chicken growth and the cecal microbial ecosystem, as compared with the antibiotic Apramycin (APR). This investigation was carried out in terms of a dose-response study. The chickens were naturally infected with avian Mycoplasma gallisepticum prior to the experiment. The BW gain, cecal pH, viscosity, and predominant microbial populations were measured 1 wk after the extract and APR treatments. The extracts and APR significantly stimulated growth of the chickens infected with avian Mycoplasma gallisepticum. The average BW gain of the groups fed with the extracts was significantly lower than that of the antibiotic group. The extracts had no significant effect on cecal pH. However, cecal viscosity and microbial populations were significantly affected by feeding extracts and antibiotic. In contrast to APR, the extracts stimulated the number of the potentially beneficial bacteria (bifidobacteria and lactobacilli), while reducing the number of the potentially harmful bacteria (Bacteroides spp. and Escherichia coli). Of the 3 extracts, LenE was associated with the most cecal bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. With each increase in the LenE dose, birds tended to have higher BW gain and total aerobe and anaerobe counts. Numbers of predominant cecal bacteria, in particular, E. coli, bifidobacteria, and lactobacilli, were significantly increased with increases in the LenE dose. It would seem that these specific mushroom and herb polysaccharide extracts hold some promise as potential modifiers of intestinal microbiota in diseased chickens.

Topics: Agaricales; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Cecum; Chickens; Female; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Nebramycin; Plant Extracts; Plants, Medicinal; Polysaccharides; Probiotics; Random Allocation; Viscosity; Weight Gain

Avilamycin, an oligosaccharide antibiotic with growth-promoting properties in pigs, has proved to be effective in controlling stress-induced post-weaning diarrhoea in piglets, caused mainly by Escherichia coli. The present study includes two trials, in which 400 newly-weaned piglets were used (200/trial). The following five different treatments were tested; 0, 40 and 80 p.p.m. avilamycin, 50 p.p.m. olaquindox and 100 p.p.m. apramycin. In each trial there were four pens (each with five females and five males) per treatment. Avilamycin when given at 80 p.p.m. reduced average daily diarrhoea score (ADDS) and mortality, and improved liveweight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR), compared with the untreated controls, the 40 p.p.m. avilamycin and the 50 p.p.m. olaquindox (P less than 0.05) treatments. The overall performance of 40 p.p.m. avilamycin and 50 p.p.m. olaquindox was similar. The results indicate that avilamycin at the dose level of 80 p.p.m. in the starter feed can control post-weaning diarrhoea of piglets and prevent loss of productivity. Nevertheless, the antibiotic apramycin, whose spectrum of activity is mainly against the Gram-negative bacteria, given at the therapeutic level of 100 p.p.m., was more effective than any other experimental treatment (P less than 0.05), except for ADDS and FCR which were not significantly different from that of avilamycin 80 p.p.m.

Topics: Animal Feed; Animals; Diarrhea; Eating; Female; Growth Substances; Male; Nebramycin; Quinoxalines; Random Allocation; Stress, Physiological; Swine; Swine Diseases; Weaning; Weight Gain