Effects of dicopper oxide and copper sulfate on growth performance and gut microbiota in broilers

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of two sources of copper (Cu) from copper sulfate (CuSO) and dicopper oxide (CuO, CoRouge) at three levels of inclusion (15, 75, and 150 mg/kg) on growth performance and gut microbiota of broilers. A total of 840 one-d-old male chickens (Ross 308) were weighed and randomly allocated to seven dietary treatments: negative control (NC, a basal diet without Cu addition), and the NC supplemented with 15, 75, or 150 mg Cu/kg from CuSO or CuO (12 replicate pens/treatment, 10 chicks per pen). Broilers were challenged by reusing an old litter with high concentrations in Clostridium perfringens to promote necrotic enteritis. Broiler performance was registered at d 21, 35, and 42. Excreta samples were collected at d 14, 28, and 42 for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) analyses. At d 43, one broiler per pen was euthanized to obtain ileal content for microbial characterization. Body weight d 35 and daily gain d 42 improved (P < 0.05) in CuO as Cu dose inclusion increased from 15 mg/kg to 150 mg/kg. Supplementation of 150 mg/kg of Cu from CuO decreased the abundance (P < 0.01) of some families such as Streptococcaceae and Corynebacteriaceae and increased the abundance (P < 0.05) of some commensal bacteria like Clostridiaceae and Peptostreptococcaceae. Phenotypic AMR was not different among treatments on d 14 and 28. Isolated Enterococcus spp. from broilers fed the NC diet on d 42 showed higher (P < 0.05) resistance to enrofloxacin, gentamicin, and chloramphenicol compared with Cu treatments. By contrast, the isolated Escherichia coli from broilers fed 150 mg/kg of Cu, either from CuSO or CuO, showed higher (P < 0.05) resistance to streptomycin and chloramphenicol compared to the NC. This study suggests that supplementing 150 mg/kg of Cu from CuO establishes changes in the gut microbiota by regulating the bacterial population in the ileum, which may explain the positive impact on broilers' growth performance

The source of performance and excretion data affects the environmental impact of pig rearing estimated by life cycle assessment

The objective of this study was to calculate the environmental impact of raising pigs fed diets with 192, 182, 172, or 162 g kg−1 crude protein (CP) from 15 to 30 kg live weight, using a life cycle assessment (LCA) based on either predicted or observed performance and excretion data. The predicted data were calculated for two animal profiles: one with feed intake and weight gain data being representative of the national Brazilian average (yp-AVG), and the other being representative of the specific experimental farm conditions (yp-SPC). Performance and excretion of pigs were either measured (yobs) or predicted (yp) for each CP scenario by using InraPorc® model and LCA impacts were calculated from these data. The yp and yobs data of performance, nutrient excretion, and LCA were then compared using a Bayesian paired approach. Whatever the calculation methods, the decrease in dietary CP reduced the environmental impacts per kilogram of weight gain on acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and land occupation. Predicted data from yp-SPC did not differ from yobs data except for nitrogen excretion and AP and EP impacts. Predicted data from yp-AVG differed from yobs for all criteria except for body weight gain, phosphorus excreted, and cumulative energy demand, mainly because of the lower feed conversion ratio for average data. It was concluded that the use of predicted data calculated from specific farm indicators could better explain the environmental impact of pig farming in Brazil compared with the use of national average indicators.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Environmental impacts of pig production systems using European local breeds: The contribution of carbon sequestration and emissions from grazing

Environmental assessment of pig production systems using local breeds remains poorly documented in the literature. So far, studies did not account for specificities of outdoor rearing which is quite common in such systems. The present study aimed at evaluating the environmental impacts of pig production systems using local breeds in Europe, while accounting for emissions associated to consumption of grass and mitigation of impacts through soil-C sequestration. Environmental impacts were estimated for 48 farms using local pig breeds: 25 in France (Gascon breed), eight in Italy (Mora Romagnola breed) and 15 in Slovenia (Kr\u161kopolje breed). Assessment was performed with and without accounting for pasture-intake emissions and potential soil-C sequestration. The data were obtained from on-farm surveys. Systems with Gascon pigs had the lowest impacts per kg of live weight for global warming and cumulative energy demand, due to lower impacts of feeds. Acidification potential was higher for Kr\u161kopolje pigs due to high dietary crude protein content and high AP of feeds, while eutrophication potential was higher for Gascon pigs due to higher phosphorus content of feeds (28% higher than the mean of the other farms). When impacts were expressed per ha of land use, pig production in Gascon farms had the lowest impacts due to more available area per pig, except for eutrophication. Low contribution of soil-C sequestration to climate change mitigation was observed (4.7% on average). However, it may have a substantial contribution for the most extensive pig systems using large land surfaces. Emissions resulting from grazing had a rather low contribution to Global Warming Potential (4%) and Eutrophication (3%), but a substantial one to Acidification impact (9% on average). In the frame of our study, the contribution of emissions related to grazing is moderate because commercial feed supply for outdoor pigs was higher than in extensive systems studied in literature. This study highlighted that main hotspots include feed composition and supply and the origin of feed ingredients. It also suggests that future assessments of extensive pig systems relying on pig foraging on grasslands or rangelands should account for soil-C sequestration and emissions associated to grazing and foraging

Effects of dicopper oxide and copper sulfate on growth performance and gut microbiota in broilers

ABSTRACT: An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of two sources of copper (Cu) from copper sulfate (CuSO4) and dicopper oxide (Cu2O, CoRouge) at three levels of inclusion (15, 75, and 150 mg/kg) on growth performance and gut microbiota of broilers. A total of 840 one-d-old male chickens (Ross 308) were weighed and randomly allocated to seven dietary treatments: negative control (NC, a basal diet without Cu addition), and the NC supplemented with 15, 75, or 150 mg Cu/kg from CuSO4 or Cu2O (12 replicate pens/treatment, 10 chicks per pen). Broilers were challenged by reusing an old litter with high concentrations in Clostridium perfringens to promote necrotic enteritis. Broiler performance was registered at d 21, 35, and 42. Excreta samples were collected at d 14, 28, and 42 for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) analyses. At d 43, one broiler per pen was euthanized to obtain ileal content for microbial characterization. Body weight d 35 and daily gain d 42 improved (P < 0.05) in Cu2O as Cu dose inclusion increased from 15 mg/kg to 150 mg/kg. Supplementation of 150 mg/kg of Cu from Cu2O decreased the abundance (P < 0.01) of some families such as Streptococcaceae and Corynebacteriaceae and increased the abundance (P < 0.05) of some commensal bacteria like Clostridiaceae and Peptostreptococcaceae. Phenotypic AMR was not different among treatments on d 14 and 28. Isolated Enterococcus spp. from broilers fed the NC diet on d 42 showed higher (P < 0.05) resistance to enrofloxacin, gentamicin, and chloramphenicol compared with Cu treatments. By contrast, the isolated Escherichia coli from broilers fed 150 mg/kg of Cu, either from CuSO4 or Cu2O, showed higher (P < 0.05) resistance to streptomycin and chloramphenicol compared to the NC. This study suggests that supplementing 150 mg/kg of Cu from Cu2O establishes changes in the gut microbiota by regulating the bacterial population in the ileum, which may explain the positive impact on broilers' growth performance