Back to Journal

International Journal of Animal Science

Productive Performance and Economic Profitability of Weaned Lambs Supplemented with a Trichoderma longibrachiatum Strain Isolated from Sheep

[ ISSN : 2575-7806 ]

Abstract Citation Introduction Material and methods Results Discussion Conclusion Acknowledgments REFERENCES
Details

Received: 09-Jul-2020

Accepted: 27-Jul-2020

Published: 29-Jul-2020

Fernando Dos Santos Magaço¹*, Cláudio Eduardo Silva Freitas², Angélica Alves de Moura Freitas², Valdo Soares Martins Juniror², André Felipe Ferreira Dos Santos², Mara Lucia Albuquerque Pereira³, and Eduardo Robson Duarte²

¹Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agrarian Sciences – Universidade Zambeze, Mozambique

²Institute of Agrarian Sciences - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

³Department of Animal Sciences, Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, Brasil

Corresponding Author:

Fernando Dos Santos Magaço, Departament of Animal Production, Faculty of Agrarian Sciences – Universidade Zambeze, Mozambique, Email: fernandomagaco@gmail.com

Keywords

Autochthonous fungus, cellulolytic fungus, microbial additive, diet adaptation, Urochloa decumbens.

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the productive performance and economic profitably of weaned lambs fed low quality hay and supplemented with a Trichoderma longibrachiatum strain isolated from sheep (ICA/UFMG LT 001). Twelve early-weaned Santa Inês x Dooper lambs were housed in individual pens during 63 days, and randomly split into two groups: (1) lambs receiving the medium without the fungi and (2) lambs receiving 30 ml of culture medium containing the fungal strain. The average daily gain (ADG), dry matter intake (DMI), feed conversion (FC) and feed efficiency (FE) were analyzed in split plots of three periods of 21days and the total weight gain and final body weight were evaluated. The lambs fed the fungal strain showed higher ADG between 21 and 42 days of experiment for (P<0.05) and the increase in total weight gain (1.86 kg) comparing with untreated lambs. However, no significant differences were detected for the DMI, FC and FE. The fungal supplementation reduced into 13.35 % in the cost/kg of live weight and increased the gross and liquid profits by 9.28 % and 13.32 %, respectively. This study was aim evaluate the direct addition of a fungus isolated from the digestive tract of sheep in the diet of recently weaned lambs. We concluded that this supplementation improves the productive performance and economic feasibility until the 42 days of feedlot these young ruminants.

Citation

Santos Magaço FD, Silva Freitas CE, de Moura Freitas AA, Martins Juniror VS, Dos Santos AFF, et al. (2020) Productive performance and economic profitable of weaned lambs supplemented with a Trichoderma longibrachiatum strain isolated from sheep. Int J Anim Sci 4: 6.

Introduction

The low quality of the roughage tropical pastures results in lower nutrient utilization and lower productivity, generating high feeding costs [1,2]. Therefore, when considering this high cost, nutritional alternatives should be evaluated to improve the economic and productive efficiency of ruminants [3].

The use of fungi and their enzymes have been used as additives for ruminant diets improving the use of low-quality fiber and dry matter intake as well as performance and profitability [3-6]. However, there is inconsistency in the results with the use of these additives, especially because type of the fungus species or strains, characteristics of individual animals, ruminant species and age, characteristics of the diets and type of nutritional management [7,4,8].

Ruminants grown in tropical pastures have show a relevant diversity of facultative anaerobic fungi in the rumen [9], which may be important in the degradation of complex food structures by the production of enzymes [10,11]. In a previous study we reported the occurrence of the genera Aspergillus spp., Paecilomyces spp., Acremonium spp., and Trichoderma spp. isolated from the digestive tract of lambs raised on pasture Megathyrsus maximum cv. Tanzania. These fungi may be important in the normal microbiota of this ecosystem and show probiotic or biotechnological potentials [12].

The inclusion of selected fungi from the ruminal environment will improve the utilization of foods containing low quality fiber, resulting in increased economic profitable in the feedlot or pasture creation. In this study we analyzed the productive performance and economic profitable of lambs weaned and the supplemented with a selected fungal strain isolated of sheep raised in tropical pasture.

Material and methods

Location and animals

The trial was carried in north of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The climate of the region is classified as tropical (AW) according to the classification of Köppen [13], marked by a long dry season from April to October. Twelve lambs Santa Inês x Dooper crossbreed, males, uncastrated with 3.5 months and initial body weight (BW) of 18.80 ± 2.34 kg were used. After identification and weighing, the animals were dewormed with 1% ivermectina (0.5 ml / 25 kg bw, Vallée, Minas Gerais Brazil) and Albendazole (1 ml/10 kg bw by oral route, Vallée, Minas Gerais, Brazil), and vaccinated against Clostridiosis (2 ml/animal, Poli-Start Vallée, Minas Gerais, Brazil). The animals were housed in individual stalls with 1.20 m wide, 2 m long and 1.30 m high, equipped with water trough, and provided with troughs to provide the diet.

Experimental design

The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design to evaluate the groups of lambs fed with the fungi strain and another without the fungi (control) using six replicates (lambs). As a source of bulky food was used only U. decumbens hay wrapped after the seed drop during the dry season and ground (± 19 mm).

The composition of the diets was analyzed by the Combs - Goeser and CNF (NIRS) [14] and balanced for a gain of 200 g/day according to the NRC recommendations [15] in 70% concentrated and 30% voluminous (Table 1). The microbial additive used consisted of a fungi strain (ICA/UFMG LT 001), isolated from the digestive tract of sheep raised on pastures of Megathyrsus maximum cv. Tanzania. One strain of Trichoderma genus was selected because showed higher potential of degradation of crystalline cellulose (Avicel) as described by [12].

Table 1: Diet and nutritional composition feed to feedlot lambs supplemented with fungal strain ICA/UFMG LT 001 for 63 days.

Ingredient DM% EE% TDN% CP% NDF%
Maize 89 7.9 83.18 9 16.52
Soybean meal 88.8 1.76 80.68 46 15.54
Ureia + ammonuim sulfate 100 0 0 277 0
Minerals 100 0 0 0 0
Urochloa decumbens hay* 95.38 1.02 30.94 3.06 82.26
Inclusion %, dry matter
Maize 59.1 4.7 49.2 5.3 9.8
Soybean meal 8.3 0.1 6.7 3.8 1.3
Ureia + ammonuim sulfate 0.5 0 0 1.4 0
Minerals 2 0 0 0 0
Urochloa decumbens hay 30 0.3 30.9 3.1 24.7
* Additional bromatological composition: ADF = 53.04 % DM; Lignin = 7.50 % DM; Cellulose = 45.54 % DM; Hemicellulose = 29.22 % MS.

For identification, this strain was grown on Sabouraud agar for seven days, and DNA was extracted according to the method of [16]. The ITS region of rDNA was amplified from the extracted DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers ITS1 (TCCGTAGGTGAACCTGCGG) and ITS4 (TCCTCCGCTTATTGATATGC), according to the method of [17]. The amplified product was quantified with a NanoDrop 1000ND (NanoDrop Technologies), and the concentration was adjusted to 100 ng µL-1 for use in sequencing reactions.

Sequencing was performed with DYEnamicTM (Amersham Biosciences, USA) in a MegaBACETM 1000 automated sequencing system at the Genome Analysis Center and Gene Expression of UFMG. The obtained DNA sequences were analyzed using BLASTn (v.2.215) of BLAST 2.0 at the NCBI website [18]. The species Trichoderma longibrachiatum was identified with 100% sequence similarity (1136 dp evaluated, BLAST result, n° acc. GenBank KX463453.1 for T. longibrachiatum SKF-3).

Experimental management

The adaptation of the lambs to the environment and diet occurred in 15 days and 63 days were of data collection. Feeding was administrated at 7:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., adjusted to keep 15% of the offered. At the moment of feeding, a group of animals was supplemented with 30 ml of the culture medium containing the fungal strain (109 colony-forming unit (CFU)/ ml and mixed with 100 g of the concentrate, which allowed total intake of the supplement. The lambs of the control group received the same the culture medium without the fungal strain. Water was supplied ad libitum to animals in individual water trough.

The total food provided and the leftovers were weighed daily to evaluate the individual intake of the animals. Weight gain assessments were performed weekly by weighing in the morning before the first meal of the day.

Evaluation of dry matter intake and productive performance

The dry matter intake (DMI) g/animal/day was evaluated in three feeding periods with 21 days each (1st period of 0-21 days, 2nd period of 21-42 days and 3rd period of 42-63 days). The productive performance was evaluated by measuring the final body weight (FBW, kg), average daily gain (ADG) g/animal/ day considering the three periods of analysis and total weight gain (TWG, kg). The DMI/DWG ratio was calculated for feed conversion (FC g/g) evaluation.

Economic profitable

The economic profitable was expressed in gross profit (GP) and net profit (NP) according to [19]. The price of the stuffs used in the diets was used to estimate the cost of the diet (CD) based on the dry matter. Considering the dietary parameters, the costs of kg of live weight (CLW) = CD/total feedlot weight gain; gross profit (GP) = FBW x price of kg of live weight and net profit (NP) = GP – CD, were calculated.

Statistical analysis

After normality and homogeneity verification, the ADG, DMI, FC and FE characteristics were analyzed in a split plot considering the two treatments, 3 periods (as measures repeated in time) and the interaction between the treatments and periods, by the statistical model:

Yijk = m + Ai + Bj + Ck + (A x C) ik + ebijk

where: Yijk is the observation; m is the overall mean; Ai is the effect of treatments (i = 2); Bj is the random effect of the animals (n = 6); Ck is the effect of the periods (k = 3); (A x C) ik is the fixed effect of the interaction between treatments and periods and ebijk is the effect of experimental error.

The TWG and FBW characteristics were submitted to simple analysis of variance by the statistical model:

Yijk = m + Ai + eaij

where Yijk is the observation; m is the overall mean, Ai is the effect of the treatments, Bj is the random effect of the animals and eaij is the experimental error. Differences were considered significant statistically when (P<0.05) or with tendency when (P<0.1) by the t test. Regression analysis was promoted to model weight gain during the experimental period and, the determination coefficient were used to select the model. Descriptive statistics were applied for the economic profitable evaluation.

Results

Productive performance and dry matter intake

The initial body weight (IBW) for both groups was similar, but the final body weight (FBW) tended to be higher (6.8%) in animals supplemented with the fungal strain (P<0.1), which presented higher ADG (226.45 g/day x 196.82 g/day) (Table 2, P<0,001). However, no differences were observed between treatments for DMI, FC and FE (Table 2, P>0.05).

Table 2: Productive performance, dry matter intake and feed conversion for lambs weaned and supplemented or not with fungal strain ICA/UFMG LT 001.

  Treatments effects   P-value
Items Control Fungal strain Standard error Treat1 Per2 Interaction3
IBW (kg) 19.05 19.44 0.978 0.501 - -
ADG (g/day) 196.82 226.45 0.021 0.047 < 0.001 <0.031
DMI (g/day) 976.31 1036.14 44.14 0.362 < 0.001 0.319
FC 4.96 4.57 0.32 0.97 0.285 0.669
IBW = Initial body weight; ADG = Average daily gain; DMI = Dry matter intake; FC = Feed conversion. 1 Treatments; 2 Periods. 3 Treatments and periods interaction.

Significant interaction was observed between the treatments and the periods evaluated for ADG (P<0.031), with the hug growth observed in the period between 21 and 42 days of feedlot (Figure 1) for the group supplemented with the fungal strain (P<0.05).

Figure 1: Average daily gain in three periods of 21 day for lambs weaned and supplemented or not with fungal strain ICA/UFMG LT 001

Values with similar case-capitalized letters between the periods and lowercase between treatments within each period do not differ at P<0.05.

In the control group, the ADG did not present significant changes in the evaluated periods. For DMI, FC and FE, the interaction between the treatments and the periods evaluated was not significant, although it presented differences (P<0.05) between the periods evaluated for DMI and a tendency for better FE in the group supplemented with the fungal strain (P <0.1) (Table 2).

By regression analysis, the third-degree polynomial model explained 64.9% of the ADG variation for the group supplemented with the fungal strain during the evaluation period (*P <0.05, Y=361.28*-148.93xns + 40.83x2ns-3.03x3*)

However, none of the mathematical models evaluated explained the variation for ADG of the group that did not receive the fungal strain since it remained constant during the experiment.

Economic profitable

The group of animals supplemented with the fungal strain presented higher TWG (14.26 kg), which resulted in a reduction of cost/kg of weight produced and consequently, there was an increase of 9.28 % and 13.32 % in gross and net profit, respectively, of the animals supplemented with the fungal strain (Table 3).

Table 3: Cost of the diet, gross and net profit for lambs weaned and supplemented or not with fungal strain ICA/UFMG LT 001.

  Treatmentes effects  
Items Control Fungal strain SEMa
Cost of the diet 31.8 32.8 1.65
Seeling price (US$/kg) 2.61 2.61 --
Cost/kg of body weight 2.6 2.29 0.25
Gross profit (US$/animal) 80.3 87.75 7.67
Net profit (US$/animal) 48.49 54.95 6.17
a Standard error of mean

Discussion

Productive performance and dry matter intake The use of microbial and probiotic additives in the ruminant’s diet may improve feed utilization and consequently profit performance. In this study, the addition of the fungal strain promoted an increase at 15.05% for ADG, and this increase was not associated with a significant increase in DMI (Table 2). The addition of the fungi strain in the diet of the young lambs could improve the fibrolytic activity in the rumen. This may be justified by the ability of this fungal specie to produce cellulase, hemicellulase, xylanase, glucanase, important enzymes in the degradation of complex constituent of the vegetal cell wall [20-22].

The variation of ADG observed during the experimental period could be the result of the physiological and behavioral modifications in the young animals (Figure 1). The lowest ADG observed in the first experimental period (0-21 days) (Figure 1) could be justified because the animals were early weaned and therefore had a low capacity for eating fibrous food during this period. However, the addition of the fungal strain could have contributed to the improvement of the ruminal ecosystem and favored the fibrolytic microbiota and, consequently, the use of the low-quality hay. This improvement may have contributed to better nutrient supply to animals and increased ADG up to approximately four weeks of supplementation (Figure 1). During the end period (42-63 days), the ADG averages were similar between the two lamb groups. Possibly, after 42 days, the untreated lambs already could be adapted to the diet, and this fungi supplementation would not be more important.

The improvement in the ADG, without significant changes in DMI, observed in this research may be based on the improvement of the hydrolytic capacity of the rumen ecosystem as reported by [23] that showed enzyme cocktail produced by a fungal strain from South African soil improving lamb performance when used as a feed additive. However, this product showed limited potential in low forage diet. The better dry matter (DM) digestibility by producing fibrolytic enzymes may favor the growth of all fibrolytic microbiota [24] and increased production of volatile fatty acids in the rumen [25]. In dairy cow diets, the supplementation with fibrolytic enzymes from T. longibrachiatum may increase the population of rumen bacteria that utilize hemicelluloses and secondary products of cellulose digestion [26].

In another study, similar results were observed with the addition of commercial fibrolytic enzymes derived from Trichoderma longibrachiatum in lambs fed with Cenchrus ciliaris L. hay (300 g/kg DM). The authors observed increase of 8.80% in ADG and 12.6% in total weight gain for the group supplemented with these enzymes. This improvement resulted from better digestibility of the dry matter, NDF and ADF of hay, without significant effects on DMI [4].

The addition of xylanase and glucanase derived from Aspergillus spp. and Trichoderma spp. for goats fed rice straw (300 g/kg DM), resulted in improvement of fiber digestibility, providing substrates for growth and metabolism of rumen bacteria. These enzymes promoted a 34.70% increase in ADG without changes in DMI [8].

In another study evaluating buffalo performance, the addition of xylanase and cellulase derived from Trichoderma reesei, in the diet containing Avena sativa (50%) silage, resulted in significantly increase of DWG and FC without changes for DMI [27]. In calves, the increase in 15.37% of ADG with addition of the anaerobic fungus Orpinomyces sp. also was not related to increment in DMI in diets containing 50% of rice straw [28].

Changes in DMI were also not observed with the addition of enzymes derived from Aspergillus niger, Trichoderma longibrachiatum in diets (40 % voluminous) of cows [5] Mohamed et al., 2013), and for cows supplemented with enzymes derived from Trichoderma reesei and fed with 60% of voluminous [29]. The supplementation with enzymatic mixture produced by Aspergillus awamori in sheep fed with 50% of seed promoted a significant increase for ADG without significant changes in DMI [3], which was also found in the present study.

The low quality of the roughage as the used in this study is an important factor influencing the food passage rate in the rumen and the stimulus to intake. These factors may directly interfere with the effects of microbial additives on ruminal degradation and food passage rate [30,4]. In this research, high levels of NDF (82.26%), ADF (53.04%) and lignin (7.50%) of U. decumbens hay, used as an only roughage may have resulted in a longer stay period of its fiber in the rumen.

In contrast to that observed in this study, a study indicated a significant increase in DMI by the addition of 1 and 3 μl/g of dry matter of the commercial(xylanase in lambs fed with corn straw (30% in DM) [6]. In another research, an increase of 11% in DMI was observed in goats fed with corn straw (8% in DM), alfalfa hay (32% in DM) and supplemented with commercial cellulase [31]. However, the addition of increasing amounts of T. longibrachiatum enzyme complex in the diet of sheep fed with barley (62.9% in DM) promoted a quadratic response in DMI without significant changes to ADG [32].

In the present study, we used a (70:30) concentrate: voluminous ratio and even so it was observed an increase in ADG with the inclusion of the fungal strain in the supplementation of lambs. The dietary fiber content may also directly influence the action of fibrolytic enzymes or fungal cells in the ruminal environment [27]. Differently from that observed in this research, when using diet with 70 % of concentrate in DM, no significant increase was observed in ADG and DMI with the addition of cellulase produced by the fungus Trichoderma spp. in sheep [33]. However, high fiber diets in animals supplemented with enzymatic coquetel from the ABO 374 strain soil isolate resulted in a significant reduction in ADG, DMI and FC [23].

These divergent results among these studies could be related on the chemical and structural composition of the voluminous, the concentration of the form of microbial additive and the different ratios of concentrate: voluminous. These may represent important factors in the action of the fungi additives and in the composition of the ruminal ecosystem and, therefore, should be considered in future researches.

Economic profitable

The improvement of the productive indicators and the food efficiency result in the better economic efficiency. The increase in ADG for lambs fed with the fungi strain resulted in a reduction in 13.35% for cost/kg of BW produced and, therefore, provided higher gross and net profits with commercialization of the animals (Table 3).

Although significant differences for DMI, FC and FE between the lambs groups were not detected (Table 2), the animals supplemented with the fungal strain presented numerically higher DMI values, which may have promoted a small increase in cost of diet (Table 3). However, the addition of the fungal strain resulted in the improved economic profitable expressed in NP (Table 3). Further larger-scale studies and using other fungal additive inclusion strategies would determine better economic gains.

Few studies have reported the economic profitable of adding fungal strains and their enzymes to the diet of lambs. In the research that evaluated the diet containing seeds of crushed date pits supplemented with enzymes produced by Aspergillus awamori in substitution of barley in the diet of sheep, no differences were observed in the relative economic efficiency with the addition of up to 50% of the seed of date (99.73%) in relation to the control group (100%). However, a 14.25% reduction in cost/kg of body weight was observed [3], which was similar to that observed in this present study (13.35%).

Conclusion

Administration of autochthonous fungal strain ICA/UFMG LT 001 promotes better average daily gain of weaned lambs fed with low quality hay up to 42 days of feedlot. In addition, the use of this fungal strain results in a better economic profitable of the supplementation of weaned lambs.

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Ensino Superior (CAPES- funde 0001), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnológico (CNPq 308204/2015-8), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerias (FAPEMIG, PPM-00393-17), and Pro-reitoria de Pesquisa and Pós-graduação da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.

REFERENCES

1. Franco MO, Detemann E, Filho SCV, Batista ED, Rufino LMA, Barbosa MM, et al. Intake, digestibility, and rumen and metabolic characteristics of cattle fed low-quality tropical forage and supplements with nitrogen and different levels of starch. Asian-Australian Journal of Animal Science. 2017; 30: 797-803.

2. Raineri C, Stivari TSS and Gameiro AH. Lamb production costs: analyses of composition and elasticities analysis of lamb production Costs. Asian-Australian Journal of Animal Science. 2015; 28:1209 1215.

3. Abdelrahman M, Sami A, Suliman G and Abudabos A. Growth performance and economic efficiency of fattening Naimi lambs on unconventional ration enhanced with enzyme cocktail. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences. 2016; 53:467-471.

4. López-Aguirre D, Hernández-Meléndez J, Rojo R, Sánchez-Dávila F, López-Villalobos N et al. Effects of exogenous enzymes and application method on nutrient intake, digestibility and growth performance of Pelibuey lambs. Springer Plus. 2016; 1399:1-6.

5. Mohamed DEDA, Borhami BE, El-Shazly KA and Sallam SMA. Effect of dietary supplementation with fibrolytic enzymes on the productive performance of early lactating dairy cows. Journal of Agricultural Science. 2016; 5:146-155.

6. Vallejo LH, Salem AZM, Camacho LM, Kholif AM, Mariezcurrena MD, Cipriano M et al. Effects of xylanase supplementation on feed intake, digestibility and ruminal fermentation in Rambouillet sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science. 2016; 154:1110-1117.

7. Adesogan AT, Ma ZX, Romero JJ and Arriola KG. Improving cell wall digestion and animal performance with fibrolytic enzymes. Journal of Animal Science. 2014; 92:1317-1330.

8. Yuangklang C, Schonewille JTh, Alhaidary A, Vasupen K, Bureenok S, Seanmahayak B et al. Growth performance and macronutrient digestion in goats fed a rice straw based ration supplemented with fibrolytic enzymes. Small Ruminant Research. 2017; 154:20-22.

9. Abrão FO, Duarte ER, Freitas CES, Edvaldo AV, Gerassev LC, Hughes AFS et al. Characterization of fungi from ruminal fluid of beef cattle with different ages and raised in tropical lignified pastures. Current Microbiology. 2014; 69: 649-659.

10. Abrão FO, Duarte ER, Pessoa MS, Dos Santos VL, Freitas Júnior LF, Barros KO et al. Notable fibrolytic enzyme production by Aspergillus spp. isolates from the gastrointestinal tract of beef cattle fed in lignified pastures. Plos ONE. 2017; 12: 1-13.

11. Solomon KV, Haitjema CH, Henske JK, Gilmore SP, Borges-Rivera D, Lipzen A et al. Early-branching gut fungi possess a large, comprehensive array of biomass-degrading enzymes. Science. 2016; 351: 1192-1195.

12. Freitas CES, Abrão FO, Silva KL, Almeida PNM and Duarte ER. Fungos aeróbios no intestino grosso de borregos e de ovelhas criados em pastagens tropicais. Arquivo Brasileiro de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia. 2012; 64: 225-227.

13. Alvares CA, Stape JL, Sentelhas PC, Gonçalves JLM and Sparovek G. Köppen’s climate classification map for Brazil. Meteorologische Zeitschrift. 2014; 22: 711-728.

14. AOAC. Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Official Methods of Analysis, 19th edition. Gaithersburg, 2010

15. NRC. National Research Council. Nutrient requirements of Small Ruminants: Sheep, Goats, Cervids, and New World Camelids, 7th edition. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, USA, 2007.

16. Rosa LH, Vaz ABM, Caligiorne RB, Campolina S and Rosa CA. Endophytic fungi associated with the Antarctic grass Deschampsia antarctica Desv (Poaceae). Polar Biolology, 2009; 32: 161-167.

17. White TJ, Bruns T, Lee S and Taylor J. Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: Innis MA, Gelfand DH, Sninsky JJ, White TJ. (eds) PCR protocols, a guide to methods and applications. Academic Press San Diego. 1990: 315-322

18. Altschul SF, Madden TL, Schaffer AA, Zheng Zhang JZ, Miller W and Lipman DJ. Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST, a new generation of protein database search programs. Nucleic Acid Research. 1997; 25: 3389-402.

19. Gerassev LC, Moreira SJM, Alves DD, Aguiar ACR, Monção FP, Dos Santos ACR et al. Viabilidade econômica da utilização dos resíduos da bananicultura na alimentação de cordeiros confinados. Revista Brasileira de Saúde e Produção Animal. 2013; 14: 734-744.

20. Li C, Lin F, Li Y, Wei W, Wang H, Qin L et al. A β-glucosidase hyper production Trichoderma reesei mutant reveals a potential role of cel3D in cellulase production. Microbial Cell Factories. 2016; 15:1-13.

21. Schuster A and Schmoll M. Biology and biotechology of Trichoderma. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 2010; 87: 787-799.

22. Toth K, Van Gool MP, Schols HA, Samuels GJ, Gruppen H and Szakaes G. Diversity in production of xylan degrading enzymes among species belonging to the Trichoderma Section Longibrachiatum. Bioenergy Research. 2013; 6: 631-643.

23. Cruywagen CW and Van Zyl WH. Effects of a fungal enzyme cocktail treatment of high and low forage diets on lamb growth. Animal Feed Science and Technology. 2008; 145, 151-158.

24. Morgavi DP, Beauchemin KA, Nsereko VL, Rode LM, Iwaasa AD, Yang WZ et al. Synergy between ruminal fibrolytic enzymes and enzymes from Trichoderma longibrachiatum. Journal of Dairy Science. 2000; 83: 1310-1321.

25. Díaz A, Ranilla MJ, Giraldo LA, Tejido ML and Carro MD 2014. Treatment of tropical forages with exogenous fibrolytic enzymes: effects on chemical composition and in vitro rumen fermentation. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition 99, 345-355.

26. Nsereko VL, Beauchemin KA, Morgavi DP, Rode LM, Furtado AF, McAllister TA et al. Effect of a fibrolytic enzyme preparation from Trichoderma longibrachiatum on the rumen microbial population of dairy cows. Canadian Journal of Microbiology. 2002; 48: 14-20.

27. Nawaz H, Shahzad N, Saif-ur-Rehman M and Ali M. Effect of feeding xylanase and cellulose treated oat silage on nutrient digestibility, growth performance and blood metabolites of Nili Ravi buffalo calves. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences. 2016; 53: 999-1004.

28. Dey A, Sehgal JP, Puniya AK and Singh K. Influence of an anaerobic fungal culture (Orpinomyces sp.) administration on growth rate, ruminal fermentation and nutrient digestion in calves. Asian Australian Journal of Animal Science. 2004; 17: 820-824.

29. Peters A, Meyer U and Dänicke S. Effect of exogenous fibrolytic enzymes on performance and blood profile in early and mid-lactation Holstein cows. Animal Nutrition. 2015; 1: 229-238.

30. Martins AS, Vieira PF, Berchielli TT, Prado IN, Lempp B and Paula MC 2007. Degradabilidade in situ e observações microscópicas de volumosos em bovinos suplementados com enzimas fibrolíticas exógenas. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia 36, 1927-1936.

31. Rojo R, Kholif AM, Salem AZM, Elghandour MMY, Odongo NE, Montes de Oca R et al. Influence of cellulase addition to dairy goat diets on digestion and fermentation, milk production and fatty acid content. Journal of Agricultural Science. 2015; 153: 1514-1523.

32. Miller DR, Elliott R and Norton BW. Effects of an exogenous enzyme, Roxazyme® G2 Liquid, on digestion and utilization of barley and sorghum grain-based diets by ewe lambs. Animal Feed Science and Technology. 2008; 140: 90-109.

33. Muwalla MM, Haddad SG and Hijazeen MA. Effect of fibrolytic enzyme inclusion in high concentrate fattening diets on nutrient digestibility and growth performance of Awassi lambs. Livestock Science. 2007; 111: 255-258.

Other Articles

Article Image 1

Distinct MicroRNA Signatures for Mastitis Measured in Milk Following Natural Exposure in Dairy Herds

Mastitis, a global endemic disease in dairy cattle, not only adversely impact milk production/quality leading to increased economic loss to farmers, it poses a consumer health issue as the milk may be unfit for human consumption due to pathogen contamination. Use of Somatic Cell Count (SCC) as an indicator of mastitis may be insufficient for effective diagnosis of disease. MicroRNAs (MiRNAs) are increasingly recognised as promising alternative indicators of mastitis. In this study, we identified circulating miRNAs differentially expressed in milk of mastitic cows after ‘natural levels of exposures’ and in response to different causative agents ‘on farm’. Using a miRNA microarray based approach we found at least 26 miRNAs as generic indicators of clinical mastitis; 7 of which may also be early mastitis indicators. We further identified 27 miRNAs unique to S Uberispositive (SU) mastitis, including miR-320a/b which has been linked to modulation of trained immune activity. Three differentially expressed miRNAs were unique to mastitis positive for Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus (CNS), and a further 5 miRNAs were unique to SU and CNS mastitis group comparison. Our study design differs from the existing literature which reports the effects of either exogenous dosing with a singular agent or of dosed exposures in the context of single cell types (which individually contribute in only very minor ways to SCC) in an empirical ex vivo setting. Collectively, the differentially expressed miRNAs we have identified are high confidence biomarkers for detection of mastitis (even when asymptomatic), assessment of clinical status and identification of causative agent.

Sherry Ngo¹*, Stephanie Moloney¹, Xiaoling Li¹, Lorna McNaughton², Partridge A³, and Allan Michael Sheppard¹


Article Image 1

Study on Prevalence of Bovine Trypanosomosis in Dale Wabera District, Kellam Wollega Zone, Western Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2009 to April 2010 in Dale Wabera district, western Ethiopia. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis and to assess the apparent densities of vectors of the trypanosomosis. A parasitological study using convectional Buffy coat technique was employed for the determination of prevalence of trypanosomosis while baited traps were used for the vector survey. A total of 479 tsetse flies were collected and the density of Glossina species was 11.98 fly/trap/ day. Three species of tsetse fly including Glossina morsistans submorsistans, G. pallidipes and G. tachnoides were recorded from the area. The result of parasitological study revealed that the overall prevalence of trypanosomosis was found to be 12.28%, 95% CI.The prevalence for trypanosome species was 1.53%, 3.32% and 7.42% for Trypanosoma brucei, T. vivax and T. congolense, respectively. Highest trypanosome prevalence (16.42%) was seen in animals with poor condition than that of those with medium (10.27%) and good (9.91%) body condition for the concerned parasite, but no significant difference was observed among the body conditions of cattle considered and infection with trypanosomes (P>0.05). Higher infection rate without significant difference was occurred in male (13.02%) than female (10.77%) cattle. Infection rate was higher in adult (13.25%) than young cattle (8.11%), although the difference is not significant. The mean PCV values of parasitologically negative (26.80%) animals were higher than that of positive ones (20.00%). With 12.28% the highest prevalence in the present study revealed that trypanosomosis is causes significant loss of economy due to reduced production, cost of treatment and death of the animals is supposed to be significant. Therefore, trypanosomosis and its vector control and prevention strategies should be implemented in the area.

Taye Itefa Gemtessa¹ and Kumela Lelisa Dera²*


Article Image 1

Taking Gender Difference Seriously in Mouse Models of Depression

Depression as one of the most prevalent and life-threatening forms of mental illness affects more than 1/5 of the world’s population.

Chanyi Lu¹,²,⁵#, Yao-Yao Li¹,²#, Hua-Zhen Lin³,⁴#, and Yun-Feng Zhang¹,²,⁶*


Article Image 1

BAIF Experience in Field Data Collection

The increasing availability and capabilities of mobile phones make them a feasible means of data collection. Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) systems have been used widely for public health monitoring and surveillance activities, collecting survey data, clinical studies but documentation of their use in complicated research studies requiring multiple systems is limited. This paper shares our experiences of designing and implementing a complex multi-component system for a technical livestock community to help other researchers planning to use PDA for collecting technical data related to livestock studies. We designed and implemented different versions of mobile phone data collection systems to collect information related to bovine insemination through Cattle Development Centers (CDC) operated by BAIF.

There was improvement in collecting field data by updating data logger’s versions year by year. Following two to three days of training and piloting, data were collected from 170 field technicians over 5 years period from June 2010 to December 2015. Data logger was the one of easy solution for getting the technical, social and economic information of rural small farmer. Up to year 2015 project had collected the information enrolling of about 0.25 million families, out of that 95,000 families information about poverty index was collected and 0.67 million bovine insemination data, 0.46 insemination follow up records and information about 0.13 million female progeny born through the Project had collected. The PDAs were well accepted by technicians. The use of PDAs eliminated the usual time-consuming and error-prone process of data entry and validation. PDAs are a promising tool for field research in India.

Vinod V Potdar*, Bhave K, Gaundare YS, Khadse JR, and Pande AB


Article Image 1

Performances of Cold-Set Binders, Food Hydrocolloids, and Commercial Meat Binder on the Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Tilapia Fish Balls

The overall objective of this study is to determine the effect of hydrocolloid additives in reformed fish products and to compare the performances by testing chemical and physical properties of the restructured samples. There are nine treatments in this study including control samples. The eight types of meat binders include cornstarch, commercial meat-binder, carrageen an, methylcellulose, Activa® RM, plasma powder FG+, plasma powder FG and sodium alginate. The results showed that Activa® RM and FG+ and FG could provide satisfactory binding properties in fish balls. There was no significant difference among all cooked samples moisture (p<0.05). Raw treatments had slightly higher moisture than cooked treatments. Samples treated with Activa® RM had the highest WHC for cooked samples, while methylcellulose had the lowest WHC and cooking yield. All other binder treatments samples had higher cooking yield than that of the control. Samples treated with sodium alginate had the lowest pH values for both cooked and raw samples. There were no significant differences detected for water activity for both raw and cooked samples. Samples treated with Activa® RM, FG+ and FG treated samples had the best puncture, texture, hardness, springiness. In summary, Activa® RM, FG+ and FG treatments performed well for all parameters, and sodium alginate, methylcellulose, and meat binder treatment did not show advantages when compared with the control.

Huisuo Huang and Andrew D Clarke*


Article Image 1

Syncytiovascular Membranes in the Octodon Degus Placental Barrier: Morphological Evidence

Previous data indicates that placentation in the caviomorph rodent O. degus is similar to that in humans, regarding the migration of the Extra Sub Placental-Trophoblast (EST) to the uterine arteries to be remodeling. The aim of this paper was to determine the ultra structural morphological organization of the degu´s placental barrier, as part of a wider effort to understand their reproductive biology.

Four pregnant female Degus at 86 days of gestation, and their placentas were processed for histological analysis at electron microscopy levels. Our results demonstrate that at the pregnancy term, the placental barrier shows zone with presence of syncytial knots (defined as clusters of syncytiotrophoblast nuclei) in the fine syncytium or syncytiotrophoblast, zone with apoptotic knots evidenced by the accumulation of fragmented nuclei or apoptotic bodies with condensed chromatin, and the presence of zones with Syncytiovascular membranes (alpha zone). These Syncytiovascular membranes facilitate the exchange of metabolites between mother and fetus, and are exclusively observed in thin placental barrier zones where the syncytiotrophoblast nuclei are excluded. The presence of these Syncytiovascular membranes allowed us to conclude that they were formed as a consequence of the deportation of apoptotic bodies to the maternal blood, such as occurs in chinchilla, other caviomorph rodent. On the other hand, in human placental barrier several investigators have found that the syncytial apoptotic cascade is complete when apoptotic nuclei are deported to the maternal blood circulation and subsequently removed in the mother´s lung. Therefore, we concluded that the degu and human placentas share a number of structural and functional characteristics and this fact allows us to consider the degu as a potential animal model for studies related to human placental pathologies.

Bosco Cleofina* and Díaz Eugenia


Article Image 1

The Impact of Extension Programs to Increase the Productivity of the Small-Holder Dairyfarming Industry of Pakistan

Dairy farming operations with small animal numbers producing low volumes of around three litres per animal per day predominate in Pakistan’s dairy industry. Although much of this is consumed domestically, many farmers sell small volumes into traditional milk marketing chains which feed the product into urban retail outlets. Analysis of these marketing chains show that these farmers make a loss on every litre sold, while at the other end milk available to the consumer is of poor quality and often diluted as much as 1:2 with water. Small incremental profit margins are achieved by dilution and the use of distorted volume measures as the product is passed from small dealers to larger distributors and then to retail outlets. It is important that farmers are able to improve the efficiency of production by boosting the productivity of animals. This can be achieved through the adoption of better nutrition and animal husbandry practices. At the same time small scale local marketing chains require refinement to ensure profits generated from milk production stay with local communities. This paper reports on the development of effective extension strategies involving the whole family including the farmer, his wife and children. They have led to significant improvements in the profitability of small-holder dairy farming and a growing awareness of farmers of the commercial potential for their household cows and buffalo. The sustainability of these small-holder production systems in the face of changing consumer demands for higher quality products and world dairy product trade remains to be seen.

Wynn PC¹,²*, McGill DM², Aslam N¹, Tufail S¹, Latif S¹, Ishaq M³, Batool Z³, Bush RD⁴, Warriach HM²,³, and Godfrey SS¹


Article Image 1

Effect of Hops (Humulus lupulus) Supplementation on Growth Performance of Broiler Chickens

The hop plant contains flavonoids, bitter acids and essential oils that confer antibacterial properties. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the possibility of supplementing broiler chicken diets with hop pellets. Accordingly, growth performance response of broiler chickens given hops-supplemented diets was evaluated in a 49-day floor-pen trial. Day-old (320) male broiler chicks were commercially obtained and randomly assigned to 4 treatments. Treatment 1 (CX) consisted of chicks fed unmedicated corn-Soybean Meal (SBM) diet without hops pellets added. Treatment 2 (MX) consisted of chicks fed corn-SBM basal into which Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate (BMD) was added at 0.055g/kg. Treatment 3 (HL) consisted of chicks fed corn-SBM basal into which hops pellets were added at 1.0 % level. Treatment 4 (HH) consisted of chicks fed corn-SBM basal into which hops pellets were added at 2.0 % level. On d 21, 42, and 49, body weight, body weight gain, and Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) were evaluated. Transient benefits of hops supplementation in form of higher feed intake and body weight gain (P < 0.05) compared to other treatments were observed but were not sustained. The FCR of birds in the hops-supplemented treatments (HL and HH) were similar (P > 0.05) to those of birds in the BMD antibioticsupplemented treatment (MX) throughout the study. It was concluded that supplementation of hops pellets into broiler diets at 1% or 2% level of the diet had no detrimental effect on broiler growth performance. Therefore, future studies should be conducted to evaluate the efficacy of dietary hops in mitigating the colonization of poultry intestine by economically important zoonotic and/or disease pathogens.

Fasina YO* and Akinola OO


Article Image 1

Survey on Farmers Husbandry Practice for Dairy Cows in Alefa and Quara Districts of North Gondar Zone, Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia

The aim of the study was to describe the dairy cow’s husbandry practice of farmers in Alefa and Quara districts of North Gondar Zone Amhara National Regional State Ethiopia. Three Kebeles from each district, a total of six Kebeles were selected through purposive sampling procedure. Finally, 376 households (208 households from Quara and 168 households from Alefa) who had at least one lactating cow were selected through systematic random sampling procedure. Data were collected by using structured questionnaire and the collected data were analyzed by using statistical package for social science (SPSS Version 20). The main source of feed for Alefa district was, crop residue and private grazing land (36.7%), crop residue, communal and private grazing land (41.4%), while for Quara district, communal grazing land (49.8%) and private, communal and crop residue (39.6%)were the main feed sources. In respective order, about 70.8 and 81.3% of respondents for Alefa and Quara districts were confirmed that river water was the main source for dairy cows. Housing system in Alefa district was simple shied adjacent to farmer’s house (97.6%), but in Quara district, it was barn system (95.2%). Trypanosomiasis (58.7%), Lumpy skin disease (18.8%) and Babesiosis (8.7%) was the most challenging livestock disease in Quara district, while in Alefa district Blackleg (30.5%), Lumpy skin disease (21%) and Trypanosomiasis (20.4%) was challenging disease. The major livestock production constraint in Quara district was feed and disease with the same indices value of 0.32 and Water 0.20 were observed. Similarly, feed followed by disease was the major constraint in Alefa district with index value of 0.5 and 0.2, respectively.

Bernabas Ayeneshet¹*, Zewdu Wondifraw², and Michael Abera²


Article Image 1

Production Objectives, Breeding Practices and Rate of Inbreeding in Dairy Cows at Alefa and Quara Districts of North Gondar Zone, Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia

The aim of this study was to identify breeding practice, production objectives, selection and culling criterias of farmers for dairy cows in Alefa and Quara districts of North Gondar Zone Amhara National Regional State Ethiopia. 376 households (208 households from Quara and 168 households from Alefa) were selected by using systematic sampling procedure. Data were collected by using structured questionnaire and the collected data were analyzed by using statistical package for social science (SPSS Version 20). The main production objectives of farmers in Quara district were for milk production (0.43), draught purpose (0.32), and selling purpose (0.2). While in Alefa district it was 0.34, 0.36 and 0.27 for milk production, draught and selling purpose respectively. The main selection criteria for dam and sire in both districts were reproductive performance, body conformation and coat color. Most farmers in both districts were decided to cull the herd when they showed long AFS with index value of (0.38) and (0.3) for Quara and Alefa districts, respectively. About 208 (100%) of respondents in Quara were using natural breeding system. While bout 148 (88.1%), 11 (6.5%) and 9 (5.4%) of respondents in Alefa district were used natural, both natural and AI technology and AI only, respectively. About 44.4, 25, 23.2, and 7.7% of respondents in Alefa district were used breeding bull from a neighbor, communal grazing land, own and rent bull, respectively. While the majority (47.1%) of respondents in Quara district were used own bull. Under uncontrolled random mating effective population size and rate of inbreeding for Quara district was 9.0 and 0.05, respectively. While for Alefa district it was 3.2 and 0.15, respectively.

Bernabas Ayeneshet¹*, Zewdu Wondifraw², and Michael Abera²