Probiotic Clostridium butyricum Improves the Growth Performance, Immune Function, and Gut Microbiota of Weaning Rex Rabb
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Probiotic Clostridium butyricum Improves the Growth Performance, Immune Function, and Gut Microbiota of Weaning Rex Rabbits Lei Liu 1 & Dong Zeng 1,2 & Mingyue Yang 1 & Bin Wen 3 & Jing Lai 1 & Yi Zhou 1 & Hao Sun 4 & Lvcheng Xiong 1 & Jie Wang 1 & Yicen Lin 1 & Kangcheng Pan 1 & Bo Jing 1 & Ping Wang 3 & Xueqin Ni 1,2 Published online: 15 October 2018 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract Probiotics could promote animal growth and enhance immune function. This study investigated the effects of Clostridium butyricum (CB) on the growth performance, intestinal immune, and gut microbiota of weaning rex rabbits. A total of 60 healthy female rabbits (5-month-old) were divided equally into four groups and mated on the same day: control group (CTRL, fed with basal feed), low-dose group (LDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 103 CFU/g CB), middle-dose group (MDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 104 CFU/g CB), and high-dose group (HDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 105 CFU/g CB). Then, 30 weaning rex rabbits (35day-old) were collected from each group for this experiment, and they were offered the same feeds as their mother. The results demonstrated that high-dose CB treatment significantly increased average daily weight gain of weaning rex rabbits. Further studies suggested that CB enhanced small intestinal digestive enzyme activity and improved mucosal morphology and antioxidant status. Supplemented with CB, small intestinal barrier function was maintained with the upregulation of mRNA levels of ZO-1, claudin, and occludin as well as the increase of sIgA production. Moreover, the relative expressions of MyD88, TLR2, and TLR4 were elevated in HDG; simultaneously, pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-6, INF-γ, and TNF-α were decreased after CB administration. In addition, CB showed beneficial effects in improving weaning rex rabbit intestinal microflora via increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria. Therefore, our results indicated CB can promote rex rabbit growth, which is likely to the enhancement of immune function and the improvement of intestinal microbiota. Keywords Clostridium butyricum . Growth performance . Immune . Gut microbiota . Weaning rex rabbit
Introduction Rex rabbit is a small herbivore bred for meat and fur production. However, rabbits easily suffer from gastrointestinal diseases due to the fragility of their digestive system [1]. Thus, more and more antibiotics are added to fodder since they are
Lei Liu, Dong Zeng, and Mingyue Yang contributed equally to this work * Xueqin Ni [email protected] 1
Animal Microecology Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, No. 211 Huimin Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China
2
Key Laboratory of Animal Disease and Human Health of Sichuan Province, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China
3
Sichuan Academy of Grassland Sciences, Chengdu 611731, Sichuan, China
4
Ya’an City Bureau of Agriculture, Ya’an 625099, Sichuan, China
found that they can promote animal growth and prevent disease
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