Recently, two strains of a novel enterohepatic Helicobacter species, H. equorum, were isolated from fecal samples of two clinically healthy horses in Belgium. The purpose of the present study was to detect the presence of H. equorum infection in fecal samples of adult horses from Jeju Island using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A total of 86 fecal samples from 31 clinically healthy Thoroughbred horses and 55 horses native to the Jeju Island were evaluated. H. equorum DNA was detected in 10.9% (6/55) of the native-horses, while all the Thoroughbred horses showed negative PCR results. Ages of the H. equorum DNA-positive horses ranged from 2 to 4 years old. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of H. equorum detection in fecal samples from horses in Korea.

Lipoxygenase(LOX) 결여 콩으로 제조한 두부의 급이가 5주간의 고지방-콜레스테롤 식이성 흰쥐에서 간 조직과 분변 지질 함량 및 생체 내 항산화계에 미치는 영향을 평가하였다. 실험군은 정상군, 고지방-콜레스테롤 급이군(HFC), 고지방-콜레스테롤 식이+두부 급이군(태광 두부 급이군, HFC-T1; 개척#1 두부 급이군, HFC-T2; 진양 두부 급이군, HFC-T3)으로 구분하였다. 두부의 콜레스테롤 흡착활성은 개척#1 두부가 타 시료에 비해 유의적으로 높았다. 두부 급이군의 비만지수는 대조군에 비해 통계적인 유의차는 없었으나, 개척#1 두부 급이군(HFC-T2)의 비만지수가 가장 낮았다. 간 조직의 총 지질 함량은 정상군에 비해 대조군이 5.9배 증가되었으며, 개척#1 두부 급이군(HFC-T2)은 대조군에 비해 유의적으로 감소되었다. 대조군에 비해 중성지방 함량은 개척#1, 진양 두부 급이군에서 유의적으로 낮았으며, 총 콜레스테롤 함량은 두부 급이군에서 모두 유의적으로 감소되었다. 두부 급이군의 분변 중 총 지질 함량은 대조군에 비해 유의적으로 증가되었으나, 두부의 종류에 따른 유의차는 없었다. 중성지방 함량은 개척#1 두부 급이군에서 가장 많았고, 총 콜레스테롤의 배출량은 대조군에 비해 두부 급이군에서 다소 증가되었으나, 통계적인 유의차는 없었다. 지질과산화물 함량은 대조군에 비해 HFC-T2 및 HFC-T3군에서 유의적으로 감소되었다. DPPH 라디칼 소거활성은 HFC-T2군에서 정상군과 유사한 수준까지 상승하였다. 간 조직에서 SOD 활성은 대조군에 비해 두부 급이군에서 1.4~2.2배 증가되었으며, HFC-T3군에서 활성이 가장 높았다. Catalase, GSH-Px 및 UDPGT 활성은 개척#1 두부 급이군에서 유의적으로 높았다. LOX 결여 콩으로 제조한 두부의 섭취는 고지방-콜레스테롤 식이에 대해 체내 지질 수준 저하 및 항산화 활성에 긍정적인 효과를 가질 것으로 생각된다.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of natural fermented phytogenics on fecal odour and performance in laying hens. The natural fermented phytogenics (NFP) was prepared by the fermentation of probiotics with a mixed herb of ginkgo leaf, mandarin peel, wormwood, ginger, licorice and tangleweed (30:7:10:3:5:15), and fermented by Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus acidophillus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae for 4 days at room temperature. To evaluate the efficacy of fecal odour reduction by NFP, the experiment was carried out on layer's dropping by in vitro fermentation with a mix of feces and distilled water (6:2), and NH3 and H2S gas production during the fermentation was measured. The productions of NH3 and H2S gas were significantly lower in NFP treatment group than those of control during the in vitro fermentation (p<0.05). To measure the effects of NFP on laying performance, the experiment was carried out with a total of sixty, 46-wk-old Lohmann brown layers for 4 weeks after the pre-experiment periods of two weeks. They were randomly divided into 2 groups with 3 replicates of 10 birds each. The treatments were control group which fed basal diet, and NFP group which fed basal diet added with 0.1% NFP. Hen-day egg production of NFP group was significantly increased compared to control (p<0.05). Also, soft & broken egg production was apparently reduced by NFP addition (p<0.05). Egg weight was not different between two groups but trended to be higher in NFP group than the control. Eggshell thickness, eggshell strength, eggshell color, yolk color and Haugh unit were not different between NFP group and control group. Overall, the above results showed that natural fermented phytogenics, prepared by fermented functional herbs with probiotics, have ability for reducing fecal order and improving egg production in laying hens.

This study investigated the effects of the diet with Cucurbita moschata (CM), adlay seed (AS), and Cudrania tricuspidata leaf (CTL) mixed-powder on the visceral fat, fecal amount, and serum lipid profiles in rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD). The mixed ratio of CM, AS, and CTL as a functional food ingredient was 1:1:1 on a weight basis. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a high-fat diet (D12492; 45 kcal fat) for 5 weeks during the first phase. In the second phase, which lasted 5 weeks, the rats were divided into six experimental groups. The groups were: a high-fat diet group as a control during the 10 weeks of experimental period; and a high-fat diet with 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30% mixed powder supplement group. The adipose tissue (RFP, EFP) weights were significantly decreased in the 20% and 30% mixed powder supplement groups than in the HFD group (p<0.05). The fecal weight produced by the 15%, 20%, and 30% mixed powder supplement groups was significantly increased during the second phase compared to the first phase (p<0.05). In terms of serum lipids, TG (triglyceride) content was decreased in the 10% and 15% mixed-powder supplement groups. The blood glucose levels were significantly decreased in all experimental diet supplement groups than in the HFD group (p<0.05). The findings show that the high supplement groups could improve the visceral fat accumulation, fecal amount, and blood glucose content compared to the HFD group.

A study was investigated the effects of the probiotic mixture (PM) contained Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) SY-99 2.4×109 CFU/kg and Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) SJ-61 2.2×109 CFU/kg on growth performance and fecal microflora counts of broiler chickens. Referred to the previous studies, a total of 160 one-day-old male broiler chicken (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to four experimental groups, which were a basal diet alone (control) and supplemented with PM 0.1 g/kg feed (T1), PM 0.2 g/kg feed (T2), and PM 0.4 g/kg feed (T3). After 28 days of administration, the average daily feed intake of T1 and T3 was significantly different compared to that of control (p<0.05). In addition, the feed conversion ratio of T2 and T3 was significantly improved compared to that of control (p<0.05). On the 28th day after administration, all treatment groups were significantly increased fecal lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts and decreased fecal Enterobacteriaceae (ENT) counts compared to T1 (p<0.05). The results of this study indicated that the combination of L. plantarum and B. subtilis strains in the range of 0.2-0.4 g/kg feed could be used for the improvement of growth performance and fecal microflora in broiler chickens.

This study was carried out to investigate the antimicrobial resistance pattern and distribution of resistance gene determinants in fecal E. coli from chicken. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed on a total of 109 fecal E. coli isolates from chicken, collected in Gyeonggi, Chungbuk, Jeonnam and Jeonbuk province from March to November 2003, by the disk agar diffusion method. Eighteen commonly used antimicrobial agents approved in Korea as veterinary medicine were tested: ampicillin (AM), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (AMC), cephalothin (CF), cefozolin (CZ), cefoxitin (FOX), cefotaxime (CTX), cefepime (FEP), imipenem (IPM), streptomycin (S), gentamicin (GM), amikacin (AN), ciprofloxacin (CIP), enrofloxacin (ENO), norfloxacin (NOR), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (SXT), erythromycin (E), chloramphenicol (C) and tetracycline (TE). Higher resistance rates (≥50%) were observed against 9 antimicrobial agents including AM, CF, S, CIP, ENO, NOR, SXT, E and TE. Resistance was most frequent for TE in 105 E. coli isolates (96.3%). Twenty-two isolates (20.2%) of the isolates showed multiple antimicrobial resistance to 8, and 19 isolates (17.4%) showed to 7 antimicrobial agents. The distribution of the resistance gene determinants for S and TE was assessed by PCR in resistant isolates. Thirty isolates possessed the strA, strB, and aadA gene, 25 isolates possessed the strA and strB gene among the 66 streptomycin-resistant isolates. Fifty one isolates possessed only the tetA gene, 22 isolates possessed the tetA and tetB gene, 11 isolates possessed only the tetB gene among the tetracycline-resistant isolates.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary sericite(SC) on laying performance, feed conversion ratio, egg quality and fecal ammonium nitrogen. Three hundreds and sixty 92-wk-old, Lohman Lite layers were randomly divided into 20 groups of 18 birds each and assigned to five experiment for 4 weeks (72 birds per treatment). Dietary treatments were Control (control diet), SC 0.5 (control diet +0.5% sericite), SC 1.0 (control diet +1.0% sericite), SC 1.5 (control diet +1.5% sericite), and SC 2.0 (control diet +2.0% sericite). Hen-day egg production tended to increase by the SC 1.0%, SC 1.5% and SC 2.0% supplementation in the diets. Egg weight also tended to increase by the SC 1.0% addition in the diets. Feed intake was increased (p<0.05) in SC 1.5 and SC 2.0 but feed conversion was improved (p<0.05) only in SC 1.0 (p<0.05). Digestibility of nutrients were not linearly affected by dietary supplementation of sericite although there was an inconsistent difference. Egg shell strength, albumin height, yolk color, and egg shell thickness were not affected (p<0.05) by treatments. Fecal NH3-N concentration was decreased (p<0.05) by dietary sericite supplementation compared to control. This study showed that dietary 1.0% sericite supplementation can be beneficial to improve egg production, egg weight and feed conversion and to decrease fecal NH3-N concentration.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of wood vinegar (WV) on the fecal microbes and gas emission in weaned pigs. In Exp. 1, 224 weaned piglets (L×Y×D, 21 d-old, initial BW 6.02 ± 0.52 kg) were assigned to four treatments of different WV levels in randomized completely block design with four replicates (14 piglets/pen) for 28 days, including phases I (0-2 wk) and phase II (3-4 wk). The dietary treatments were 0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3% of WV added to a corn-soybean meal basal diet. The concentration of ammonia measured at 0 h and 24 h in feces did not differ among dietary treatments (p>0.05), but it was linearly decreased (p<0.05) in 0.2% and 0.3% addition level measured at 48 h and 72 h. The concentration of hydrogen sulfide had no significant change (p>0.05) within treatments measured at different time. The fecal total bacteria (TBC), Lactobacilli(LAB) and E. coli were measured on 14 d and 28 d. TBC were higher (p>0.05) in WV added treatments than the control. Similar results were obtained for LAB. But E. coli populations were decreased (p<0.05) in treatments added WV compared to control measured on 14 d and 35 d. In Exp. 2, 288 weaned piglets (L×Y×D, 21 d-old, initial BW 6.62 ± 0.31 kg) were assigned to four treatments in a randomized completely block design with four replicates (18 piglets/pen) for 28 days. The dietary treatments were basal diet (negative control, NC), 0.2% organic acid (positive control, PC), 0.2% antibiotic (AT) and 0.2% WV added to a corn-soybean meal basal diet. The fecal total bacteria (TBC), Lactobacilli(LAB) and E. coli were measured on 14 d and 28 d. TBC, LAB and E. coli showed lower counts in pigs fed AT diets than others. In conclusion, these results indicated that wood vinegar could reduce the NH3 concentration of feces and inhibited the growth of harmful bacteria.

본 연구는 경상남도 사천시 삼천포 항을 중심으로 인근의 40개의 조사정점을 선정하여 해수와 저질토에서 해양종속영양세균, E. coli, 그리고 Salmonella와 Shigella의 분포를 2003년 7월부터 12월가지 3차에 걸쳐 실시하였다. 본 연구의 조사기간(2003년 7~12월)중 삼천포만 인근해역의 조사정점에서 해양 종속영양세균의 분포는 1.7±0.9×103~2.4±0.9×105

The direct detection of intestinal pathogens and viruses often requires costly, tedious, and time-consuming procedures. These requirements developed a test to show that the water was contaminated with sewage-borne pathogens by assessing the hygienic quali

Surface swab samples from beef (188), pork (240) and chicken (95) carcasses were collected from slaughterhouse in Kangwon and Kyunggi areas from March through July 1996. The samples were examined on the level of E. coli biotype I relevant to fecal contamination due to unsanitary processing control and the existence of verocytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC). E. coli biotype I were confirmed from 38.8% of beef, 40.0% of pork, and 69.5% of chicken carcasses. Little variation was noted among three sampling points; rump, flank and neck of beef, ham, belly and jowls of pork. E. coli O157:H7 was only confirmed from 2 of 188 beef carcasses. E. coli O157 were isolated from 6.4% of beef, 2.5% of pork, and 1.1% of chicken carcasses among E. coli biotype I. All the isolated E. coli O157 showed positive for vero cell cytotoxicity test. Isolation rate of E. coli O157 in summer was higher than in spring. In case of pork and chicken carcasses, E. coli O157 was isolated in summer only.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary Ptecticus tenebrifer on the fecal microbiomes of bichon frise. A total of 16 bichon frise dogs (average weight, 2 kg) were randomly allotted to 4 dietary treatments (4 dogs/group): general pet food, two types of domestic pet food containing Ptecticus tenebrifer, and one imported pet food containing Ptecticus tenebrifer. In the controls, Firmicutes accounted for the highest proportion (82%) at the phylum level in the fecal microbiomes. The Tax4Fun2's functional prediction program indicated that the control groups showed a relatively high amount of obesity-related microorganisms; the pathways included three types of carbohydrate metabolism. Among the treatments, Firmicutes abundances was the least in the treatments with the two types of domestic pet food containing Ptecticus tenebrifer; this did not affect the functional prediction of Tax4Fun2. In conclusion, the two types of domestic feed with Ptecticus tenebrifer were healthy and suitable for bichon frise; they could be beneficial in terms of obesity.

As a herbal supplement, Dioscorea batatas Decne (DBD) presents potent antioxidant activity and diverse health benefits. In the present study, functions of a 30 kDa glycoprotein isolated from DBD (hereafter, DBD glycoprotein) in the regulation of feed efficiency and fecal malodor in mice were explored. DBD glycoprotein produced protective effect against cytotoxicity induced by the ecotoxicological endocrine-disrupting substance bisphenol A in gastrointestinal epithelial HT-29 cells. To investigate its potential roles in the regulation of feed efficiency and fecal malodor, mice were administered an oral injection of DBD glycoprotein for 2 weeks. Compared with the control values, the weight of internal organs (liver, heart, kidney, and spleen) and levels of glutamate pyruvate transaminase, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, and lactic dehydrogenase were not significantly changed during DBD glycoprotein administration for 2 weeks. Interestingly, DBD glycoprotein improved feed efficiency and reduced hydrogen sulfide concentration without altering the ammonia level in mouse feces. Collectively, these results indicate that DBD glycoprotein is a functional agent that exerts gastrointestinal protective effects against ecotoxicological substances, improves feed efficiency, and reduces fecal malodor.

Ulmus davidiana Nakai (UDN) has been traditionally used as a herbal medicine in Korea. In the present study, we investigated the anti-ecotoxic potential of a 116 kDa glycoprotein isolated from UDN (UDN glycoprot ein) in regulating fecal malodor and feed efficiency in mice. We found that UDN glycoprotein (200 μg/ml) has an inhibitory effect on the cell death induced by an ecotoxicological endocrine disrupting chemical, bisphenol A, in colon epithelial HT-29 cells. UDN glycoprotein did not show significant differences regarding the weight of ecotoxicity-related organs (liver, heart, kidneys, and spleen) and the levels of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, glutamate pyruvate transaminase, and lactate dehydrogenase in mice for 2 weeks, compared to the control. Additionally, UDN glycoprotein reduced the levels of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia as markers of fecal malodor in mice. Interestingly, UDN glycoprotein can improve the mouse feed efficiency. In conclusion, our data indicate that anti-ecotoxicological UDN glycoprotein has the ability to increase the feed efficiency and reduce the fecal malodor by maintaining the viability of colonic epithelial cells in mice.

Curcumin (C21H20O6) is a hydrophobic polyphenol found in turmeric. Although curcumin has been used as a natural medicine, its major limitation is related to poor absorption from the gut. Therefore, we developed a method for preparation of Curcumin Nanospheres (CN) to improve the aqueous-phase solubility of curcumin and investigate the functional role of CN in promoting feed efficiency and odor reduction in mice. CN showed inhibitory effects on actate dehydrogenase (LDH) cytotoxicity induced by ecotoxic substance toluene in gut epithelial HCT116 cells. In addition, the weights of internal organs (liver, heart, kidneys, and spleen) and the levels of serum Glutamate Oxaloacetate Transaminase (GOT), Glutamate Pyruvate Transaminase (GPT), and LDH did not show significant differences between mice administered oral CN for two weeks and compared to the control group. Interestingly, CN not only reduced hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and ammonia (NH3) levels and fecal odor, but also improved feed efficiency in mice. These results demonstrate that oral nano-delivery of anti-ecotoxicological CN is a functional system to deliver curcumin to the gut to improve feed efficiency and reduce fecal odor in mice.