Browse Items: 301

Coccidiosis causes mucosal damage and predisposes birds to enteropathogen infection. In this study pyrosequencing was used to evaluate effects of coccidiosis on the intestinal microflora of broilers given diets without feed additives or supplemented with either a growth promotant antibiotic and an ionophore, or two essential oil blends. DNA samples…

Commercial producers and nutritionists have questioned the performance consequences of sulfur (S) from various dietary and water sources combined in current commercial production. The combination of high S containing feed ingredients, including dried distiller’s grains with solubles (DDGS) and dietary additives that contain S such as lysine sulfate…

The present study was conducted to evaluate the function of Bacillus subtilis-based direct-fed microbials (DFMs) on macrophage functions, i.e., nitric oxide (NO) production and phagocytosis in broiler chickens. DFMs used in this study were eight single strains designated as Bs2084, LSSAO1, 3AP4, Bs18, 15AP4, 22CP1, Bs27, and Bs278, and one multiple…

Broiler digestive tract fungal communities have gained far less scrutiny than that given corresponding bacterial communities. Attention given poultry-associated fungi have focused primarily on feed-associated toxinproducers, yeast, and yeast products. The current project focused on the use of pyrosequencing and denaturing gradient gel…

The present study reports the effects of various field anticoccidial programs on the distribution of Eimeria spp. in poultry litter and serum antibody titers against coccidia in broiler chickens raised on the used litters. The programs included in ovo vaccination and various medications with either chemicals, ionophores, or both. In general, serum…

Lysine is frequently a first- or second-limiting amino acid in poultry diets. Improving the efficiency of lysine use for protein synthesis would effectively lower the lysine requirement and decrease feed costs. Understanding how lysine is degraded and how the degradation is regulated would identify potential molecular targets for interventions to…

This guide was designed to provide useful information on biosecurity for poultry and bird owners. The United States works very hard to prevent infectious poultry diseases such as highly pathogenic avian influenza and exotic Newcastle disease from being introduced into the country. To accomplish this, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)…

Formalin-fixed suspect tumors were submitted to the Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center at the University of Georgia (Athens, GA) for diagnosis. Samples were from fancy breed chickens with a history of increased tumor prevalence in both hens and roosters. Microscopically, in all the samples, there were neoplastic proliferations of spindle-shaped…

This study was conducted to develop antimicrobial coatings to decontaminate and prevent cross-contamination of shell eggs. Egg shells were inoculated with nalidixic acid resistant Salmonella enterica Enteritidis strains OB030832, OB040159, and C405, and then treated with antimicrobial coatings. Polylactic acid (PLA) served as a non-edible polymer…

Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza viruses currently circulating in birds have caused hundreds of human infections, and pose a significant pandemic threat. Vaccines are a major component of the public health preparedness for this likely event. The rapid evolution of H5N1 viruses has resulted in the emergence of multiple clades with distinct…

Comparative sequence analysis of six independent chicken and turkey parvovirus nonstructural (NS) genes revealed specific genomic regions with 100% nucleotide sequence identity. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay with primers targeting these conserved genome sequences proved to be highly specific and sensitive to detecting parvoviruses in…

This study was conducted to compare the gene expression profiles, after Eimeria maxima infection, between 2 B-complex congenic lines of Fayoumi chickens that display differences in disease resistance and innate immunity against avian coccidiosis using cDNA microarray. When compared with uninfected controls using a cutoff of >2.0-fold alteration (P…

Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli are the most important human enteropathogens among the campylobacters. The objective of this study was to determine how diversity in Campylobacter populations found on chicken carcasses collected from 17 broiler processing plants in the United States is impacted by processing. Genetic diversity was…

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the most important causes of human diarrhea worldwide. In the present work, multilocus sequence typing was used to study the genotypic diversity of 145 C. jejuni isolates from 135 chicken meat preparations sampled across Belgium. Isolates were further typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and their…

A real-time reverse transcription PCR (RRT-PCR) targeting a highly conserved HA2 H7 region was developed for the detection of all H7 subtype avian influenza viruses (PanH7). The wide phylogenetic scope and analytical sensitivity and specificity were validated with the use of a panel of 56 diverse influenza A viruses. The detection limit was…

Cerebellar hypoplasia and hydrocephalus were identified in day old broiler chickens showing nervous signs, impaired mobility, and diarrhea. At postmortem examination, brains of chickens were misshapen and cerebellums were smaller than normal. Microscopically, cerebellar folia were reduced in size and irregularly shaped, and the ventricles were…

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are Select Agents in the United States and are required to be handled in bio-containment level-3 enhanced (BSL3+) facilities. Using a reverse genetics system, we attenuated a highly pathogenic virus, with the goal of making it low pathogenic and having it delisted as a Select Agent so that it could…

The Marek’s disease virus (MDV) induces T-cell tumors in susceptible chickens. Of the 80 to 100 known MDV genes, only the MDV MEQ gene was shown to have transforming properties. Further evidence that MEQ is probably the principal oncogene in MDV came when researchers used overlapping cosmid clones of MDV and demonstrated that deleting MEQ…

Low pathogenic avian influenza H6N2 viruses were biologically characterized by infecting chickens and ducks in order to compare adaptation of these viruses in these species. We examined the clinical signs, virus shedding, and immune response to infection in 4-wk-old white leghorn chickens and in 2-wk-old Pekin ducks. Five H6N2 viruses isolated…

Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is a leading cause of human bacterial enteritis worldwide with poultry products being a major source of C. jejuni contamination. The chicken is the natural reservoir of C. jejuni where bacteria colonize the digestive tract of poultry, but rarely cause symptoms of disease. To understand the systemic molecular…