No abstract

Neonatal calf diarrhea (NCD) is a major cause of morbidity, mortality and economic losses in the beef and dairy industries. This study was conducted to investigate the existence of enteric viruses in two Egyptian farms with a history of recurrent diarrhea. Fecal samples were collected from 25 diarrheic calves. RNA was extracted and tested by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the presence of rotavirus, norovirus, astrovirus, torovirus, coronavirus and bovine viral diarrhea virus. Overall, 76 % (19/25) of samples tested positive for one or more viruses. Rota-, noro- and astroviruses were detected in 48 %, 24 % and 32 % of tested samples, respectively. About 37 % (7/19) of positive samples had two different viruses. One-month-old calves were the group most vulnerable to infections. Based on phylogenetic analysis, bovine rotaviruses were of genotypes G6 and G10, bovine noroviruses were in GIII.2, and bovine astroviruses were in the BAstV lineage 1. Astrovirus sequences showed a high level nucleotide sequence similarity with the Brazilian BAstV sequences available in GenBank. We believe this is the first report of bovine norovirus and bovine astrovirus circulating among calves in Egypt. Further epidemiological studies are recommended to investigate their presence on a wider scale, to predict their association with NCD, and to design appropriate diagnostic and control methods.

In spite of the intensive vaccination policy against the Marek's disease virus (MDV) in Egypt, the Egyptian poultry flocks are still suffering from several tumor and paralysis cases. To investigate if MDV is the possible cause, feather follicle and tumor samples were collected during 2011 from 30 vaccinated chicken flocks experiencing nervous signs, emaciation, and tumor lesions. The samples were screened by PCR amplification of the meq full-length gene. Only five of 30 flocks were positive for MDV. Additionally, we sequenced meq from five samples and gL and gC from three samples. A phylogenetic tree was constructed using the deduced amino acid sequences of the meq gene. The sequence analysis revealed that most of the studied sequences showed > or = 98% identity to the very virulent European ATE and C12/130 isolates and the very virulent Chinese LMS, YA, WS03, and GX070060 MDV isolates. The two glycoproteins, gL and gC, displayed high similarity to the classical MDV strains published in the database regardless of their virulence.

No abstract

Zinc nanoparticles showed a great potential as mineral feed supplements in animals than the conventional sources. However, this potential has not been applied in rabbit nutrition. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the effects of dietary nano-zinc oxide on the growth performance, serum biochemical, economic parameters and gene expression of interleukin-6 in growing rabbits. A total of 120 male, five-week-old New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits were randomly distributed into four equal groups. The control group (Z 0) was fed on a basal diet with zinc free premix; the other three experimental groups received the basal diet supplemented with 60 mg zinc oxide/kg diet (Z 1), 60 mg nano-zinc oxide/kg diet (Z 2) and 30 mg nano-zinc oxide/kg diet (Z 3), respectively. The results revealed that rabbits in the groups Z 2 and Z 3 had higher body weight, daily weight gain, daily feed intake, serum total protein, globulin, IgG and SOD when compared with those of groups Z 0 and Z 1 (P<0.001). In addition, growth hormone level was higher in Z 3 group than in the other groups, whereas no significant differences were recorded among the treated groups in respect to serum TSH concentration (P>0.05). Hepatic and serum zinc contents were high in Z 2 and Z 3 groups, but the copper contents were decreased. Rabbits of group Z 3 yielded the highest gross margin with the lowest expenses to produce 1 kg of live weight compared with the others. The production of IL6 in spleen was increased in Z 3 group than that in the other groups. Thus, it can be concluded that nano-zinc oxide at a concentration of 30 mg/kg diet may be used instead of the traditional zinc sources in rabbit diets.