Effect of substitution of medium-chain organic acids for zinc bacitracin in a diet containing colistin on performance and development of intestinal lymphoid tissues in growing rabbits experimentally infected with Escherichia coli O103 and Clostridium perfringens toxinotype A

This work tested the effect of replacing zinc bacitracin with a blend of caproic and caprylic acids in a diet including colistin on growth performance, mortality, gut histology and development of intestinal lymphoid tissues in rabbits experimentally infected with Escherichia coli and Clostridium per...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animal feed science and technology 2012-06, Vol.174 (3-4), p.174-181
Main Authors: Romero, C., Rebollar, P.G., Moscati, L., Dal Bosco, A., Castellini, C., Cardinali, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acids
age at slaughter
bacitracin
Caproic and caprylic acids
Clostridium perfringens
colistin
digestive system
drug therapy
Escherichia coli
experimental diets
Fattening rabbits
follicular development
growth performance
Gut histology
Health status
histology
hypertrophy
Lymphoid tissue
mortality
organic acids and salts
rabbits
villi
zinc
Zinc bacitracin
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Summary:This work tested the effect of replacing zinc bacitracin with a blend of caproic and caprylic acids in a diet including colistin on growth performance, mortality, gut histology and development of intestinal lymphoid tissues in rabbits experimentally infected with Escherichia coli and Clostridium perfringens. Three experimental diets were formulated: a control non-medicated diet (diet C), diet C medicated with 150mg zinc bacitracin and 120mgcolistin/kg (diet B) and diet C supplemented with a 4-g mixture of the acids and 120mgcolistin/kg (diet A). Forty rabbits weaned at 28days of age and housed individually were assigned to each diet. At 35days of age, rabbits were orally infected with 109cfu of E. coli and 109cfu of C. perfringens. At 35 and 56days of age, five rabbits per diet and age were slaughtered to assess caecal traits, jejunal histology and follicular development in the caudal ileal Peyer's patch and the appendix. No significant differences were reported on growth performance. Mortality rate reached 60.0% for control rabbits whereas no mortality occurred in rabbits fed the supplemented diets. Caecal pH was not influenced by diet but was lower at 56 than at 35days (6.20 vs. 6.49, P
ISSN:0377-8401
1873-2216
DOI:10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2012.03.012