The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of yeast glucomannan (YG) and sodium bentonite (SB) in reducing the toxicity in broilers fed a diet naturally contaminated with aflatoxin. Three hundred 7-day-old Ross 308 strain broilers were chosen and randomly assigned to 10 dietary treatments. Serum biochemical parameters and pathological changes in the liver were investigated at 42 d of age. Chickens fed a diet containing 250 ppb of aflatoxin displayed a decrease in uric acid, cholesterol, and triglycerides, and an increase in serum activities of AST and ALT when compared to control group. There were considerable gross and histopathological hepatic lesions (P < 0.05) in the form of small to moderate hydropic and/or fatty degeneration, bile duct hyperplasia, periportal fibrosis, cells infiltration, and congestion, in chickens fed the 250 ppb aflatoxincontaining diet. The addition of YG and SB to the aflatoxin-containing diet partially reduced the negative effects of aflatoxin. The 0.1% YG supplementation to the aflatoxin-contaminated diet significantly prevented the pathological effect of aflatoxin on serum biochemical parameters and liver, and was found to be more effective than other treatments.

This study was undertaken to investigate the clinical effects of ketamine, diazepam and a ketamine and diazepam combination in the general anaesthesia of pigeons. Thirty-two pigeons of both sexes with body weights ranging from 280 g to 300 g were allocated randomly to four groups comprising eight birds each. Group D received a 0.5 mL mixture of diazepam (0.2 mg/kg) and normal saline, group K a 0.5 mL mixture of ketamine 5% (30 mg/kg) and normal saline, group D, group KD a 0.5 mL mixture of ketamine 5% (10 mg/kg), diazepam (0.2 mg/kg) and normal saline, whilst group C (control) received 0.5 mL of normal saline only. Each mixture was administered intramuscularly.Under standard operating room conditions, general anaesthesia was not observed in group C (normal saline alone). In group D, sedation and muscle relaxation without complete loss of consciousness was observed. Induction time of anaesthesia in group KD was significantly quicker than group K (p < 0.05). Duration of anaesthesia in group KD was significantly longer than group K (p < 0.05). Recovery took longer in group KD in comparison with group K, but the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The birds in group KD were calm and sedated, with good muscle relaxation, whilst in group K the birds were excited and showed a drop in body temperature.According to the results of this study, the combination of low dose ketamine hydrochloride (HCL) and diazepam overcame the adverse effects of ketamine alone. This combination produced a more rapid induction of anaesthesia, as well as an increase in anaesthesia duration, with good muscle relaxation and a smooth and slow recovery. Use of a combination of ketamine HCL given at 10 mg/kg and diazepam given at 0.2 mg/kg for anaesthesia in pigeons is therefore recommended.

Introduction: Studies on bacterial resistance to common antibiotics are often based on bacteria isolated from patients, with less attention towards foodborne bacteria. This study aimed to investigate the antibiotic resistance pattern and the presence of metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) genes viz blaVIM, blaIMP, and blaSPM-1, in the Bacillus subtilis strains isolated from raw milk and cheese samples. Methods: A total of 100 raw milk and cheese samples (50 of each) were collected from the centers of production and distribution of dairy products in Ardabil city in 2017. Bacillus subtilis colonies susceptible to antibiotics were identified by conventional methods. Kirby-Bauer method was used to measure the antibiotic susceptibility and MBL E-test technique was used for detecting MBL enzymes. Presence of blaVIM, blaIMP, and blaSPM-1 MBL genes in the bacterial strains was investigated using PCR. Results: The results showed that 25 (59.52%) isolates from raw milk samples and 16 (43.24%) isolates from cheese samples produced MBL enzyme. The MBL-producing isolates exhibited high level (100%) of antibiotic resistance, except for cefixime (67.40%) and cefotaxime (64.60%). All MBL-producing isolates expressed blaVIM gene, while blaIMP and blaSPM-1 genes were not detected. Conclusion: Based on our results, molecular detection of MBL genes can be used as a complementary method along with common phenotypic diagnostic methods in the samples of dairy products, tested positive for MBL.

Background & objectives: Salmonellosis is an important zoonotic disease in worldwide that causes food-borne disease, gastroenteritis, enteric fever and bacteremia in humans. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of salmonella common serotypes in broiler flocks of Ardabil province and their antibiotics resistance rate to five antibacterial agents widely used in the Iranian medical field. Methods: One-hundred and eighty nine samples including 70 liver, 70 heart and 49 intestine were collected for identification of salmonella. After microbial culture and isolation, serotyping with O monovalent and H monovalent antisera was performed. The antibiotic resistance rate of isolates was determined by disc diffusion test. Results: 7.93% samples were positive to Salmonella spp. The most common serotypes isolated from positive samples were Salmonella enteritidis (86.6%), Salmonella typhimurium (6.7%) and Salmonella thompson (6.7%), respectively. The highest isolation of Salmonella was observed in liver (40.0%), then in intestine (33.4%) and heart (26.6%). In view of salmonella contamination in different seasons, the highest rate of prevalance was in winter (p<0.05). All isolates were resistant to tetracycline. The highest resistance was to cotrimoxazole (53.3%), amoxicillin (33.3%) and ciprofloxacin (13.3%). No salmonella isolates were resistant to ceftriaxone. Conclusion: The results of this study show the dominant serotype was Salmonella entritidis and the high frequency of resistance to the three drugs tetracycline, cotrimoxazole and amoxicillin widely used in the Iranian medical field. These findings are important for public health.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a yeast glucomannan (YG) and sodium bentonite (SB) in reducing the toxicity of aflatoxin for broilers fed a diet naturally contaminated with aflatoxin. In total, 300 7-day-old Ross 308 broilers were randomly assigned to 10 dietary treatments, consisting of a diet with no aflatoxin (positive control), a diet naturally contaminated with 250 ppb aflatoxin (negative control), and eight aflatoxin-contaminated diets supplemented with different SB and YG and their combinations. Serum biochemical parameters and liver pathological changes were investigated when broilers were 42 days old. The birds fed the negative control diet presented lower uric acid, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels and higher in AST and ALT activities compared with the positive control group. In addition, negative-control birds also showed significant histopathological changes (p<0.05), including slight to moderate hydropic degeneration and/or fatty changes (8 cases), bile-duct hyperplasia (7 cases), periportal fibrosis (5 cases), cells infiltration (4 cases), congestion (3 cases) as well gross pathological changes. The addition of YG and SB to the aflatoxin-contaminated diet partially alleviated the negative effects of aflatoxin. However, the supplementation 0.1% YG alone to the aflatoxin-contaminated diet significantly prevented the adverse effects of aflatoxin on serum biochemical parameters and pathological liver changes and was found to be more effective than other treatments.