Influence of Pichia pastoris X-33 produced in industrial residues on productive performance, egg quality, immunity, and intestinal morphometry in quails

Effects of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LPJZ-658 Supplementation on the Production, Meat Quality, Intestinal Morphology, and Cecal Microbiota of Broilers Chickens

This study aimed to investigate the effects of L. plantarum LPJZ-658 on the production, meat quality, intestinal morphology, and cecal microbiota of broilers. White-feathered broilers (1 day old, n = 600) were randomly assigned to two groups and raised for six weeks. The individuals in the LPJZ-658 group were supplemented with 2.6 × 10⁹ cfu/g LPJZ-658. The growth performance, meat quality, intestinal epithelium morphology, and cecal microbiota were observed. The results showed that the average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed conversion ratio of broilers in the LPJZ-658 group were significantly improved. In addition, the LPJZ-658 groups had a higher thigh muscle (TM) yield, TM color, TM_pH24h, breast muscle (BM) pH_24h, and BM color_24h, while the BM cooking loss was significantly lower than the CON group. Moreover, supplementation with LPJZ-658 increased ileum and cecum length, duodenum and ileum villus height, and ileum villus height/crypt depth ratio. Furthermore, 16S rRNA sequencing revealed the dietary LPJZ-658 supplementation modulated the diversity and composition of cecal microflora. At the phylum level, the relative abundances of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Verrucomicrobiota, and Acidobacteriota were significantly higher. In addition, LPJZ-658 substantially decreased the genus relative abundances of Streptococcus, Veillonella, Neisseria, and Haemophilus compared with the CON group and facilitated the growth and colonization of beneficial cecal bacteria, such as OBacteroides, Phascolarctobacterium, Bacillus, and Akkermansia. It was concluded that LPJZ-658 supplementation significantly increased growth production, improved meat quality and intestinal status, and modulated the intestinal microbiota in the broilers.

Diversity analysis of leaf endophytic fungi and rhizosphere soil fungi of Korean Epimedium at different growth stages

BACKGROUND

Rhizosphere fungi and endophytic fungi play key roles in plant growth and development; however, their role in the growth of Epimedium koreanum Nakai at different stages remains unclear. Here, we used the Illumina MiSeq system, a high-throughput sequencing technology, to study the endophytic fungi and rhizosphere microbiome of Korean Epimedium.

RESULTS

Epimedium koreanum Nakai rhizosphere soil and leaves had highly diverse fungal communities during the growth process. The relative abundance of soil fungi in the rhizosphere stage was higher than that of leaf endophytic fungi in the early growth stage, but the overall abundance was basically equal. Sebacina is a significantly divergent fungal genera, and Sebacina sp. are present among leaf fungi species in the rhizosphere soil of Epimedium koreanum Nakai. Sebacina sp. can move to each other in rhizosphere soil fungi and leaf endophytes. VIF (variance inflation factor) analysis showed that soluble salt, whole nitrogen, alkaline lysis nitrogen, whole phosphorus, total potassium, and fast-acting potassium are useful environmental factors for rhizosphere soil and leaf endophytic fungi: potassium, total nitrogen, whole phosphorus, and three environmental factors were significantly and positively associated with the relative abundance of Sebacina sp.

CONCLUSIONS

(1) This study is the first to clarify the species diversity of fungi in Epimedium koreanum Nakai leaf and rhizosphere soil. (2) Different fungal communities of rhizosphere soil fungi and leaf endophytic fungi at different growth stages of Epimedium koreanum Nakai were examined. (3) Sebacina sp. can move to each other between rhizosphere soil fungi and leaf endophytic fungi. (4) Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium elements in the environment have a significant positive effect on the relative abundance of Sebacina sp.

Yeast Culture Improves Egg Quality and Reproductive Performance of Aged Breeder Layers by Regulating Gut Microbes

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary yeast culture (YC) supplementation on egg production, egg quality, reproductive performance, immune functions, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal microbial structure of aged hens. A total of 224 Hy-Line Brown layers (54 weeks old) were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments. The control group was fed a basal diet and the YC group was supplemented with YC at 2.0 g/kg of their diet. Each group had seven replicates with 16 hens each. The study was conducted over a period of 8 weeks. Results indicated that YC addition had no significant effect on laying performance. However, it significantly improved egg quality and hatching rate, enhanced ileum crude fat digestibility, increased the serum parameters of lysozyme (LZM) and total antioxidation capacity (T-AOC) (P < 0.05), and reduced serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels (P < 0.05). Using 16S rRNA analysis, we found that addition of YC significantly altered ileum microbial composition. Linear discriminant analysis of effect size (LEfSe) showed significant enrichment of Bacilli and Lactobacilli in the YC group. PICRUSt analysis of the ileal microbiota found that glutathione metabolism, ubiquinone, and other terpenoid-quinone biosynthesis and lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis protein pathways were highly enriched in the YC group compared with the basal diet group. In summary, the addition of YC can improve egg quality, immune functions, antioxidant capacity, reproduction efficiency, and digestive absorption by increasing the abundance of Lactobacilli and Bacilli. Furthermore, it also improves the biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide proteins, glutathione metabolism, and the synthesis of ubiquinone and other terpenoid-quinone metabolic pathways.