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Effects of Bacillus subtilis on Production Performance, Bone Physiological Property, and Hematology Indexes in Laying Hens.

ABSTRACT: This study was to investigate the effects of Bacillus subtilis on production performance and bone pathophysiological characteristics of layers. Twenty-four 48-week-old Lohmann Pink-shell laying hens were randomly divided into two groups: a basic diet (control) and the basic diet mixed with Bacillus subtilis (0.5 g/kg) for a 60-day trial. Statistically, independent-sample t-test was used to assess the treatment differences. The results showed that Bacillus subtilis supplementation improved the percent of marketable eggs (p < 0.05) with reduced numbers of broken and soft-shelled eggs but had no effects on egg weight, height of albumen, yolk color, and Haugh unit (p > 0.05). Bacillus subtilis supplement also elevated maximum load (p = 0.06), maximum stress (p = 0.01), stiffness (p < 0.01), and Young's modulus (p < 0.01) but suppressed maximum strain (p = 0.06) in the femur. In addition, compared with control birds, phosphorous concentration (p < 0.01) was reduced in serum at day 61 but increased in the femur (p < 0.05) in Bacillus subtilis fed birds. Bacillus subtilis fed birds also had lower magnesium concentrations in both femur (p = 0.04) and feces (p = 0.09). Furthermore, Bacillus subtilis increased plasma estrogen concentration (p = 0.01) and femur TNF receptor superfamily member 11b (OPG) expression (p < 0.05) but reduced plasma IL-1 (p < 0.01) and TNF-α (p < 0.01) concentrations. These results indicate that Bacillus subtilis could be used as a health promotor to reduce overproduction-induced inflammation and associated bone damage and to increase marketable egg production. The data provide evidence for developing a management strategy to use Bacillus subtilis as a feed additive to improve marketable egg production and health and welfare status of laying hens.

SUBMITTER: Zou X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8300237 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Automated monitoring of behaviour can offer a wealth of information in circumstances where observing behaviour is difficult or time consuming. However, this often requires attaching monitoring devices to the animal which can alter behaviour, potentially invalidating any data collected. Birds often show increased preening and energy expenditure when wearing devices and, especially in laying hens, there is a risk that individuals wearing devices will attract aggression from conspecifics. We studied the behavioural and physiological response of 20 laying hens to backpacks containing monitoring devices fastened with elastic loops around the wing base. We hypothesised that backpacks would lead to a stress-induced decrease in peripheral temperature, increased preening, more aggression from conspecifics, and reduced bodyweights. This was evaluated by thermography of the eye and comb (when isolated after fitting backpacks), direct observations of behaviour (when isolated, when placed back into the group, and on later days), and weighing (before and after each 7-day experimental period). Each hen wore a backpack during one of the two experimental periods only and was used as her own control. Contrary to our hypothesis, eye temperature was higher when hens wore a backpack (No backpack: 30.2 °C (IQR: 29.0-30.6) vs. Backpack: 30.9 °C (IQR: 30.0-32.0), P < 0.001). Eye temperature of hens wearing a backpack was strongly correlated to the time spent preening (rs = 0.8, P < 0.001), suggesting that the higher temperatures may have been due to preening itself, or to a low head position or decreased heat dissipation when preening under the wings. Aggressive behaviour was very rare and no effect of the backpacks was found. In line with our hypothesis, backpacks increased preening on the day of fitting, both when isolated (No backpack: 0% (IQR: 0-1) vs. Backpack: 22% (IQR: 1-43), P < 0.01) and when back in the group (No backpack: 0% (IQR: 0-27) vs. Backpack: 43% (IQR: 5-77), P < 0.001). However, no effect on preening was observed 2-7 days afterwards. Other behavioural changes suggested that on the day of fitting hens prioritized attempts to (re)move the backpack and were less attentive to their surroundings. However, only equipment pecking (i.e., pecking the backpack or leg rings) was still affected 2-7 days after fitting (No backpack: 0 pecks/hen/minute (IQR: 0-0), vs. Backpack: 0 (IQR: 0-0.07), P < 0.05). We found no effect of our backpacks on bodyweight. In conclusion, our backpacks seem suitable to attach monitoring equipment to hens with only a very minor effect on their behaviour after a short acclimation period (?2 days).

Project description:BackgroundSoya saponin (SS), an active compound in soybean meals, has been widely studied in the medical field. However, it was considered as an anti-nutritional factor in poultry diets. The objective of this experiment was to measure the effects of dietary SS using three dietary treatments on egg-laying performance and immune function of laying hens. Birds were fed a low soybean meal basal diet (CON), a low-SS diet (50 SS) containing 50 mg/kg SS, or a high-SS diet (500 SS) containing 500 mg/kg SS for 10 weeks. At the end of the 5th and 10th week of the trial, samples were collected for analysis.ResultsResults showed that with 50 mg/kg SS supplementation, the egg production rate, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and eggshell quality tended to be improved. Serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and Interleukin-4 (IL-4) levels were also elevated as well as the peripheral blood LPS stimulation index, the proportion of B lymphocytes, and antibody titer of bovine serum albumin (BSA). We also found that mRNA levels of follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) in ovarian, nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NF-κB), Transforming growth factor (TGF-β) and interferon γ (IFN-γ) in spleen were up-regulated at the end of the trial. Additionally, dietary 50 mg/kg SS improved the ileal flora via up-regulating the relative abundance of Lactobacillus, Romboutsia and Lactobacillus delbrueckii. Although the immune related indicators were improved with 500 mg/kg SS supplemented, it seemed to have a negative influence on the laying-performance. Specifically, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and the ratio of IFN-γ to IL-4 were increased in the 500 SS group at the end of the trial. The mRNA levels of gonadotropin releasing hormone 1 (GnRH1) in Hypothalamus, the estrogen related receptor (ERR) in ovaries were downregulated as well as the egg production rate during the trial with 500 mg/kg SS supplemented.ConclusionsThe egg production performance was improved by dietary supplemented with 50 mg/kg SS via increasing ovarian FSHR transcription level and serum estrogen level. A beneficial shift in intestinal microflora was recorded, and the immune function of laying hens was also improved with 50 mg/kg SS supplementation. Surprisingly, the long-term supplementation of 500 mg/kg SS exerted a negative impact on the laying performance and physiological functions of the liver of laying hens.

Project description:In this study, RNA-Seq technology was adopted to investigate the differences in expression profiles of the hepatic lipid metabolism-related genes and the associated pathways between juvenile and laying hens. RNA-Seq analysis was carried out to estimate total RNA harvested from the liver of juvenile hens (n = 3) and laying hens (n = 3). Compared with juvenile hens, 2574 differentially expressed (DE) genes (1487 down and 1087 up) with P â¤ 0.05 were obtained, and 955 of these genes were significantly DE (SDE) at a false discovery rate (FDR) of 0.05 and fold-change â¥ 2 in laying hens. There were 198 SDE novel genes (107 down-regulated and 91 up-regulated) (FDR â¤ 0.05) that were obtained from the transcriptome, and most of them were highly expressed. Moreover, 332 SDE isoforms were identified. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathway analysis showed that SDE genes were significantly associated with steroid biosynthesis, PPAR signaling pathway, biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, glycerophospholipid metabolism, three amino acid pathways, and pyruvate metabolism (P â¤ 0.05). The top significantly enriched GO terms included lipid biosynthesis, cholesterol and sterol metabolic, and oxidation reduction suggesting the principal lipogenesis in the liver of laying hens. This study suggests that the major changes at the level of transcriptome in laying hen liver are closely related to fat metabolism. Some highly differentially expressed uncharacterized novel genes and alternative splicing isoforms detected might also take part in lipid metabolism, though it needs investigation. Therefore, this study provides valuable information of mRNA of chicken liver, and deeper functional investigations on the mRNAs could help explore or provide new insights into molecular networks of lipid metabolism in chicken liver. The liver expression profile of juvenile hens and laying hens were generated by RNA-seq.

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Effects of Bacillus subtilis on Production Performance, Bone Physiological Property, and Hematology Indexes in Laying Hens.

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