The effects of continual consumption of origanum vulgare on liver transcriptomics

Pathogen control is re-emerging as a significant challenge to the health of both humans and animals. The livestock industry is in the process of massively replacing in-feed antibiotics with organic production friendly plant-based products. Nutrigenomics as a science of the effects of food constituents on gene expression is shedding more light on both benefits and detrimental side-effects of feed additive prolonged consumption on the host, indicating the need to understand the feed– host interactions and their influence on the host disease profile. In this study, we investigated the effects of 2% oregano powder supplementation on the liver gene expression in healthy male broilers from the hatch to 6 weeks of age. Deep RNAseq was performed on average 113.3 million paired and quality trimmed sequences per sample and four samples for the control and treatment each. The results demonstrate the severity of oregano effect on liver gene expression with substantial modifications in steroid hormone regulation, fat and carbohydrate metabolism alterations and strong influence on the host disease and function profile. Oregano supplementation was able to interfere with the transcriptional effects of a range of registered drugs and to significantly transcriptionally inhibit a range of cancer disease categories including liver cancer, and to modify fat and carbohydrate metabolism

Poultry feeds carry diverse microbial communities that influence chicken intestinal microbiota colonisation and maturation

Microbial colonisation of the gastrointestinal tract of newly hatched chicks starts at hatch, seeded from the immediate hatching environment, and quickly results in dense colonisation. The role of ecological factors in gut colonisation has been extensively investigated, as well as the role of micro- and macronutrients in supporting and selecting for bacterial species highly adapted for utilising those nutrients. However, the microbial community contained in poultry feed and its influence on colonisation and maturation of gut microbiota has not been directly addressed. In this study, we compared the microbiota found in poultry feed, with the microbiota of ileum, cecum and excreta, to identify substantial overlap in core microbiotas of the compared groups. We then investigated the microbiota present in raw feedstuffs: meat and bone meal, wheat, corn, canola, barley, soybean, millrun, sorghum, poultry oil, oats, limestone and bloodmeal from four geographically distinct feedstuff suppliers. Each of the feedstuffs had diverse microbial communities. The meat and bone meal and bloodmeal samples had the most complex and distinct microbial populations. There was substantial overlap in the phylogenetic composition found in the grain and seed samples: barley, canola, corn, millrun, oats, sorghum, soybean meal and wheat. Issues related to methodology, viability of microbial communities in the gut and feed, and the implications for biosecurity are discussed

Precision glycan supplementation improves gut microbiota diversity, performance, and disease outbreak resistance in broiler chickens

The poultry industry contributes significantly to the global meat industry but faces many production challenges like high-density housing, welfare issues, and pathogenic infections. While antibiotics have commonly been used to treat many of these issues, they are being removed from poultry production globally due to increased microbial resistance. Precision glycans offer a viable alternative to antibiotics by modulating microbial metabolic pathways. In this study, we investigated the effects of precision glycan supplementation on productivity and gut microbiota in broilers. The experiment was conducted in a commercial setting using 32,400 male Ross chickens randomly divided into three sheds with 10,800 birds each. One shed with 12 pen replicates of 900 birds was used as control, while the other two with an equal number of replicates and birds were assigned to precision glycan supplementation. The treatment significantly improved the average daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio, with a significant modification in the abundance of several bacterial taxa in the caecum, ileum, and ileum mucosa microbial communities. There was increased richness and diversity in the caecum, with a reduction in Proteobacteria and an increase in Firmicutes. Richness remained unchanged in the ileum, with an increase in diversity and reduction in pathogenic genera like Clostridium and Escherichia-Shigella. Ileum mucosa showed a lower abundance of mucin degraders and an increased presence of next-generation probiotics. Supplemented birds showed a high level of disease resistance when the farm experienced an outbreak of infectious bronchitis, evidenced by lower mortality. Histological analysis confirmed improvements in the ileum and liver health, where the precision glycan supplementation reduced the area of congested sinusoids compared to the control group in the liver and significantly improved ileum intestinal morphology by increasing crypt depth and surface area. These results collectively suggest that precision glycans offer substantial benefits in poultry production by improving productivity, gut health, and disease resistance

Cecal Microbiota of Free-Range Hens Varied With Different Rearing Enrichments and Ranging Patterns

Free-range pullets are reared indoors but the adult hens can go outside which is a mismatch that may reduce adaptation in the laying environment. Rearing enrichments might enhance pullet development and adaptations to subsequent free-range housing with impact on behavior and health measures including gut microbiota. Adult free-range hens vary in range use which may also be associated with microbiota composition. A total of 1,700 Hy-Line Brown® chicks were reared indoors across 16 weeks with three enrichment treatment groups: "control" with standard litter housing, "novelty" with weekly changed novel objects, and "structural" with custom-designed perching structures in the pens. At 15 weeks, 45 pullet cecal contents were sampled before moving 1,386 pullets to the free-range housing system. At 25 weeks, range access commenced, and movements were tracked via radio-frequency identification technology. At 65 weeks, 91 hens were selected based on range use patterns ("indoor": no ranging; "high outdoor": daily ranging) across all rearing enrichment groups and cecal contents were collected for microbiota analysis via 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing at V3-V4 regions. The most common bacteria in pullets were unclassified Barnesiellaceae, Prevotella, Blautia and Clostridium and in hens Unclassified, Ruminococcus, unclassified Lachnospiraceae, unclassified Bacteroidales, unclassified Paraprevotellaceae YRC22, and Blautia. The microbial alpha diversity was not significant within the enrichment/ranging groups (pullets: P ≥ 0.17, hen rearing enrichment groups: P ≥ 0.06, hen ranging groups: P ≥ 0.54), but beta diversity significantly varied between these groups (pullets: P ≤ 0.002, hen rearing enrichment groups: P ≤ 0.001, hen ranging groups: P ≤ 0.008). Among the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), the propionic acid content was higher (P = 0.03) in the novelty group of pullets than the control group. There were no other significant differences in the SCFA contents between the rearing enrichment groups (all P ≥ 0.10), and the ranging groups (all P ≥ 0.17). Most of the genera identified were more abundant in the indoor than high outdoor hens. Overall, rearing enrichments affected the cecal microbiota diversity of both pullets and adult hens and was able to distinguish hens that remained inside compared with hens that ranging daily for several hours

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens probiotics mix supplementation in a broiler leaky gut model

The supplementation of antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) has been banned in many countries because of the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens in poultry products and the environment. Probiotics have been broadly studied and demonstrated as a promising AGP substitute. Our study is centred on the effects of a multi-strain Bacillus-based probiotic product on broiler production performance and gut microbial profile in a dexamethasone-induced leaky gut challenge. Two hundred and fifty-six broiler chicks were hatched and randomly assigned into four groups (wheat-soybean meal basal diet (BD) = non-supplemented control (C), BD supplemented with dexamethasone in week 4 (CD), BD containing a probiotic from day one (P), and BD containing a probiotic from day one and supplemented with dexamethasone during challenge week 4 (PD)). The production performance and caecal, gizzard, jejunal lumen and jejunal mucosa swab microbiota were studied by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The Bacillus probiotic product significantly improved production performance and altered caecal gut microbiota (p ≤ 0.05), but no significant impact on microbiota was observed in other gut sections

Prolonged continual consumption of oregano herb interferes with the action of steroid hormones and several drugs, and effects signaling across the brain-gut axis

Herbs and spices have been used throughout human history for their medicinal qualities. The advent of cheap and readily available medicines have lessened the need for herbs and spices as traditional medicines, however, they are rapidly regaining popularity with rising interest of the general population in health, natural products and nutrition. The need for alternative medicines with antimicrobial properties, such as herbs and spices, has also come to the forefront in light of the recent bans of antibiotic use in the livestock industry, including the poultry industry. This large scale use presents an opportunity to observe nutrigenomic effects of prolonged use of herbs on a substantial number of birds fed high concentrations of these products throughout the production cycle. In this manuscript, we investigated the transcriptional effect of continual prolonged oregano supplementation on chicken ileum gene expression. Based on ileum transcriptomics, we report that continual supplementation with 2% oregano altered microbiota-gut-brain axis signalling, rearranged cancer susceptibility towards reduced steroid hormone-related cancers and altered expression of genes targeted by many registered drugs, thus likely affecting their efficiency and side effects. Transcriptional toxicology analysis indicated significant activation of Ventricular Septal Defect and Congenital Heart Disease categories. Our results, counter the notion that natural products such as oregano have the potential for little to no side-effects as they are “natural”. The nutrigenomic approach of understanding benefits and side effects of the food we eat, can revolutionize disease management and therapy and have special significance in designing the diets for individuals or livestock with known disease predispositions

The effects of continual consumption of origanum vulgare on liver transcriptomics

Pathogen control is re-emerging as a significant challenge to the health of both humans and animals. The livestock industry is in the process of massively replacing in-feed antibiotics with organic production friendly plant-based products. Nutrigenomics as a science of the effects of food constituents on gene expression is shedding more light on both benefits and detrimental side-effects of feed additive prolonged consumption on the host, indicating the need to understand the feed– host interactions and their influence on the host disease profile. In this study, we investigated the effects of 2% oregano powder supplementation on the liver gene expression in healthy male broilers from the hatch to 6 weeks of age. Deep RNAseq was performed on average 113.3 million paired and quality trimmed sequences per sample and four samples for the control and treatment each. The results demonstrate the severity of oregano effect on liver gene expression with substantial modifications in steroid hormone regulation, fat and carbohydrate metabolism alterations and strong influence on the host disease and function profile. Oregano supplementation was able to interfere with the transcriptional effects of a range of registered drugs and to significantly transcriptionally inhibit a range of cancer disease categories including liver cancer, and to modify fat and carbohydrate metabolism

Phytogenic products, used as alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters, modify the intestinal microbiota derived from a range of production systems:an in vitro model

Abstract: The removal of antibiotics from the feeds used in the livestock industry has resulted in the use of a wide range of alternative antimicrobial products that aim to deliver the productivity and health benefits that have traditionally been associated with antibiotics. Amongst the most popular alternatives are phytogenic product-based extracts from herbs and spices with known antimicrobial properties. Despite embracing such alternatives, the industry is still largely unaware of modes of action, their overall effects on animal health, and interactions with other feed additives such as probiotics. To address some of these issues, three phytogenic products were selected and their interactions with caecal microbiota of layers, grown under six different production systems, were investigated in vitro. Caecal microbiotas were grown with and without phytogenic products, and the changes in microbiota composition were monitored by sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons. Phytogenic products and production system both significantly influenced microbiota composition. The three phytogenic products all altered the relative abundance of species within the Lactobacillus genus, by promoting the growth of some and inhibiting other Lactobacillus species. There were also significant alterations in the Bacillus genus. This was further investigated by comparing the effects of the phytogenic products on the growth of a commercially used Bacillus-based probiotic. The phytogens affected the probiotic mix differently, with some promoting the growth of Bacillus sp. at lower phytogenic concentrations, and fully suppressing growth at higher concentrations, indicating the importance of finding an optimal concentration that can control pathogens while promoting beneficial bacteria. Key points: • After removal of antibiotics from animal feed, urgent solutions for pathogen control were needed. • Alternative products entered the market without much knowledge on their effects on animal health. • Probiotic products are used in combination with phytogens despite the possible incompatibility

Prolonged continual consumption of oregano herb interferes with the action of steroid hormones and several drugs, and effects signaling across the brain-gut axis

Herbs and spices have been used throughout human history for their medicinal qualities. The advent of cheap and readily available medicines have lessened the need for herbs and spices as traditional medicines, however, they are rapidly regaining popularity with rising interest of the general population in health, natural products and nutrition. The need for alternative medicines with antimicrobial properties, such as herbs and spices, has also come to the forefront in light of the recent bans of antibiotic use in the livestock industry, including the poultry industry. This large scale use presents an opportunity to observe nutrigenomic effects of prolonged use of herbs on a substantial number of birds fed high concentrations of these products throughout the production cycle. In this manuscript, we investigated the transcriptional effect of continual prolonged oregano supplementation on chicken ileum gene expression. Based on ileum transcriptomics, we report that continual supplementation with 2% oregano altered microbiota-gut-brain axis signalling, rearranged cancer susceptibility towards reduced steroid hormone-related cancers and altered expression of genes targeted by many registered drugs, thus likely affecting their efficiency and side effects. Transcriptional toxicology analysis indicated significant activation of Ventricular Septal Defect and Congenital Heart Disease categories. Our results, counter the notion that natural products such as oregano have the potential for little to no side-effects as they are “natural”. The nutrigenomic approach of understanding benefits and side effects of the food we eat, can revolutionize disease management and therapy and have special significance in designing the diets for individuals or livestock with known disease predispositions

Poultry feeds carry diverse microbial communities that influence chicken intestinal microbiota colonisation and maturation

Microbial colonisation of the gastrointestinal tract of newly hatched chicks starts at hatch, seeded from the immediate hatching environment, and quickly results in dense colonisation. The role of ecological factors in gut colonisation has been extensively investigated, as well as the role of micro- and macronutrients in supporting and selecting for bacterial species highly adapted for utilising those nutrients. However, the microbial community contained in poultry feed and its influence on colonisation and maturation of gut microbiota has not been directly addressed. In this study, we compared the microbiota found in poultry feed, with the microbiota of ileum, cecum and excreta, to identify substantial overlap in core microbiotas of the compared groups. We then investigated the microbiota present in raw feedstuffs: meat and bone meal, wheat, corn, canola, barley, soybean, millrun, sorghum, poultry oil, oats, limestone and bloodmeal from four geographically distinct feedstuff suppliers. Each of the feedstuffs had diverse microbial communities. The meat and bone meal and bloodmeal samples had the most complex and distinct microbial populations. There was substantial overlap in the phylogenetic composition found in the grain and seed samples: barley, canola, corn, millrun, oats, sorghum, soybean meal and wheat. Issues related to methodology, viability of microbial communities in the gut and feed, and the implications for biosecurity are discussed.[Figure not available: see fulltext.