This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of bee pollen (BP) levels on the IgG and IgM titers, weight of lymphoid organs, and on the tibia morphometric measures and mineralization in broilers at 21 and 42 days of age. Four hundred birds were used in an entirely randomized design with four treatments (0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5% of BP feed inclusion) and five replicates. At 21 and 42 days of rearing, blood samples were collected for IgG and IgM analysis, as well as lymphoid organs (bursa, thymus and spleen) and the tibiae. There was no effect (p>0.05) of the BP inclusion on IgG titers, bursa and spleen weights, tibia morphometric measures and mineralization at 21 and 42 days, IgM titer at 42 days or thymus weight at 21 days. However, IgM titers at 21 days and the thymus weight at 42 days linearly increased with BP dietary inclusion. It was concluded that up to 1.5% BP can be included in broiler feeds until 21 days of age to enhance bird immunity.

SummaryBackground: litter provides comfort to animals while improving productive performance and carcass quality. Objective: this study evaluated broiler performance, incidence of contact dermatitis, and quality of poultry litter of wood shavings and/or sugarcane bagasse (SB) after five consecutive flocks. Methods: two thousand birds were raised in five consecutive flocks composed of 400 chicks each. The experiment was set in a completely randomized design with five treatments and four repetitions. The treatments consisted of substituting wood shavings with different levels of SB (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100%). Results: litter density, pH, dry matter content, total nitrogen, and phosphorus did not vary between treatments. However, substituting wood shavings with SB increased moisture retention capacity of the litter and ammonia production. Neither carcass lesions nor productive performance, with the exception of weight gain and feed conversion ratio in the

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance, tibial density and mineral content, Na, K ,and Cl serum levels, and dry matter content of the litter of broilers fed diets with different levels of dietary electrolyte balances. Two experiments were carried out: during the starter phase (7 to 21 days of age, 960 broilers) and during the growe phase (22 to 38 days of age, 816 broilers). In both experiments, a completely randomized design with four treatments based on dietary electrolyte balance values (200, 240, 280 and 320 mEq/kg of diet) with four replicates was applied. Birds and diets were weighed when birds were seven, 14 and 21 days of age in the first experiment, and 22 and 38 days of age in the second experiment in order to determine weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion. Final body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion and mortality rate were evaluated. On days 21 and 38, the left tibia of two birds per replicate was collected to determine bone density and the serum was used for Na and K analysis. Litter dry matter content was also determined on days 21 and 38 . There was no effect of dietary electrolyte balance values on broilers performance between 7 and 14, 7 and 21, or 22 and 38 days of age, tibial bone density and mineral content, or on Na, K and Cl serum levels. Litter dry matter was linearly reduced as dietary electrolyte balance value increased. Diets with 200 mEq/kg may be recommended for broilers from 7 to 38 days of age with no negative influence on the evaluated parameters.

Development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with environmental factors and several studies show a connetion with diet. Recently, exosomes are identified in both bovine and human breast milk. Exosomes are small (30–200 nm) membrane-derived extracellular vesicles that carry immunoregulatory microRNAs, proteins and lipids, and mediate intercellular communication. In this study, we investigated the effect of oral intake of bovine milk-derived extracellular vesicles (BMEVs) on spontaneous polyarthritis in IL-1Ra deficient mice and on collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in DBA1/J mice. BMEVs were isolated from skimmed milk by ultracentrifugation and characterised by nanoparticle tracking analysis, electron microscopy, anti-CD63 staining, and PCR. BMEVs were labelled with PKH-67 to determined the uptake by cells using FACS and confocal microscopy. TGFb levels were measured with a CAGA-fLuc reporter construct. Naïve T cells were cultured for 5 days with an inflammatory cocktail in the presence of milk exosomes, to induce Th17 differentiation as assessed by RORgT and IL-17 mRNA expression. In IL-1Ra-/- mice, BMEVs were administered daily by oral gavage starting at week 5 till 15 after birth and arthritis was scored macroscopically. In CIA, mice received BMEVs via their drinking water starting 1 week before immunisation till day 40. Arthritis was scored macroscopically and on histology. To determine the effect on immunity, serum IgG levels were measured by ELISA, T-cell specific gene expression (T-bet, RORgT, GATA-3) in LPS stimulated splenocytes by Luminex and RT-qPCR. The BMEV particle size was around 120 nm and expressed the exosome markers tetraspanin CD63, miRNA’s (miR-let-7a, -16, -30a, -92a, -223), and milk specific beta-casein and beta-lactoglobulin mRNA. Acidification, up to gastric acid level (pH 2) left the BMEVs intact, and did not alter their inhibitory effect on NFkB-activation. Active TGFb was detected on BMEVs and incubation of naïve T cells with BMEVs induced significant Th17 differentiation to a similar extent as TGFb. However, BMEVs treatment of mice showed a delayed onset of arthritis in both the IL-1Ra-/- and CIA model. Diminished cartilage pathology and bone marrow inflammation was observed in both models. BMEVs also reduced the circulation levels of MCP1 and IL-6 levels and their production by splenic cells. In BMEV treated CIA, circulating anti-collagen type II IgGa level was reduced and this was accompanied by reduced splenic Th1 and Th17 numbers. Bovine milk-derived extracellular vesicles are bioactive, probably can withstand the harsh conditions of the gut, and oral delivery ameliorates disease in two RA models.