Effect of Tiamulin or Rescue-kit(R) on diet utilisation, growth and carcass yield of growing rabbits

[EN] A total of 192 CalifornianxNew Zealand rabbits weaned at 33 d old were used in this experiment. Animals were allocated at weaning to three homogenous treatment groups based on litter size and live weight. Rabbits in control treatment (C) were offered a standard feed (SF) containing Robenidin and Flavomycin. Rabbits in TI treatment were fed SF diet and supplemented between days 33 and 62 with Tiamulin. The third group of rabbits (RK treatment) were fed SF diet and supplemented with Rescue-Kit(R) (containing B. licheniformis and B. subtilis (1600x10(9) CFU), betain, vitamins and oligo-elements) in the drinking water from 41 to 50 d of age. Digestibility of the experimental diets was recorded from 47 to 50 d of age, growth performance from weaning to 77 d old and carcass performance at 77 d of age. In the second week after weaning, between days 41 and 50, average daily gain (ADG) and feed intake for the regime including Tiamulin increased by 19 and 7.5% (P<=0.051) compared to those fed C and RK treatments. In this period, animals supplemented with Tiamulin obtained the best feed conversion ratio (FCR) and the highest DM digestibility (P=0.023). Rabbits from RK treatment showed the same DM digestibility than those from the C group, but an intermediate FCR between TI and C rabbits. The retrieval of Tiamulin from the diet after day 62 and until day 77 led to a decrease in ADG of the rabbits, which was lower than for animals receiving RK (P=0.007), while C animals had intermediate growth traits. It resulted that for the whole fattening period, treatments had no effect on ADG, feed intake and FCR (32.1 and 143 g/d and 4.13 g/g, respectively). Overall mortality rates and dressing out percentage were also similar among treatments (26.6 and 59.8%, respectively).Haj Ayed, M.; Ben Saïd, B. (2008). Effect of Tiamulin or Rescue-kit(R) on diet utilisation, growth and carcass yield of growing rabbits. World Rabbit Science. 16(3). doi:10.4995/wrs.2008.62716

[Antimicrobial susceptibility and frequency of occurrence of clinical blood isolates in Sfax-Tunisia (1993-1998)].

&lt;p&gt;Antimicrobial susceptibility and frequency of occurrence of clinical blood isolates in Sfax-Tunisia (1993-1998). The choice of antimicrobial therapy for the treatment of bacteremia is often empirical and based on the knowledge of susceptibility profiles of the most common bacteria causing such infections. This study determines the bacterial etiology of bacteremic episodes and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns recorded at a teaching hospital, from January 1993 to December 1998. We collected 2979 strains responsible for bacteremia. Gram negative bacteria were predominant (60%). The organisms recovered most frequently were Staphylococcus aureus (18.9%), Escherichia coli (14.7%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (14%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (7.6%). The incidence of resistance to methicillin were 17.4% for Staphylococcus aureus and 26.8% for coagulase negative Staphylococcus. No resistance to glycopeptides was observed among the enterococci and staphylococci studied. 27.7% of enterobacteriaceae were resistant to third generation cephalosporins. Imipenem was the most active agent against gram negative bacteria. To carry out a surveillance of bacteremic episodes occurring at every hospital, it is necessary to provide valuable information which should be the basis for effective empiric therapy.&lt;/p&gt;</p

Metals in urban soils of Sevilla: seasonal changes and relations with other soil components and plant contents

Soils of the urban area of Sevilla have been scarcely studied, especially concerning their concentrations of potentially toxic metals. A previous paper has shown that moderate pollution exists in soils from some public green areas of the city, and a common pattern was found in the distribution of the concentrations of some particular metals. The present paper is aimed at (i) determining possible seasonal changes in the measured concentrations; (ii) checking possible effects of the observed pollution on plant metal contents, and (iii) finding possible relations between metals by statistical techniques. Samples of 35 soils from the urban area of Sevilla were studied. Comparison with previous data shows that samples from a depth of 0-20 cm are representative of the measured soil properties for the city. We show that in most cases differences in the EDTA- and aqua regia-extractable metal contents between autumn 2000 and summer 2001 are not significant. Only Zn shows significant decreases (P < 0.05), probably because it is more mobile than the other metals studied. Electrical conductivity and pH also show significant changes related to leaching of soluble salts. We found a strong association between 'urban' metals (as defined in the literature) and organic matter, as shown by factor analysis, whereas 'non-urban' metals could be related to clay and carbonate contents, perhaps coming from the soil parent materials. The behaviour of the urban metals means that organic matter contributes to their accumulation, either by retention of the incoming metals from the atmosphere, dust or various human activities, or from addition of organic amendments that might provide significant amounts of such metals. Although concentrations of Cu, Pb and Zn at several sites exceeded the limits established elsewhere as acceptable in residential areas, the values in the grass were less than those considered as normal in the literature. This implies that fairly large concentrations in the soil do not necessarily make metals more available.We acknowledge the financial support of the European Commission to the project URBSOIL under contract no EVK4-CT-2001-00053.Peer Reviewe