Promotion of Egg Production Rate and Quality Using Limosilactobacillus oris BSLO 1801, a Potential Probiotic Screened from Feces of Laying Hens with Higher Egg Productive Performance

Dietary silymarin improves performance by altering hepatic lipid metabolism and cecal microbiota function and its metabolites in late laying hens

BACKGROUND

Liver lipid dysregulation is one of the major factors in the decline of production performance in late-stage laying hens. Silymarin (SIL), a natural flavonolignan extracted from milk thistle, is known for its hepatoprotective and lipid-lowering properties in humans. This study evaluates whether SIL can provide similar benefits to late-stage laying hens. A total of 480 68-week-old Lohmann Pink laying hens were randomly assigned into 5 groups, each group consisting of 6 replicates with 16 hens each. The birds received a basal diet either without silymarin (control) or supplemented with silymarin at concentrations of 250, 500, 750, or 1,000 mg/kg (SIL250, SIL500, SIL750, SIL1000) over a 12-week period.

RESULTS

The CON group exhibited a significant decline in laying rates from weeks 9 to 12 compared to the initial 4 weeks (P = 0.042), while SIL supplementation maintained consistent laying rates throughout the study (P > 0.05). Notably, the SIL500 and SIL750 groups showed higher average egg weight than the CON group during weeks 5 to 8 (P = 0.049). The SIL750 group had a significantly higher average daily feed intake across the study period (P < 0.05), and the SIL500 group saw a marked decrease in the feed-to-egg ratio from weeks 5 to 8 (P = 0.003). Furthermore, the SIL500 group demonstrated significant reductions in serum ALT and AST levels (P < 0.05) and a significant decrease in serum triglycerides and total cholesterol at week 12 with increasing doses of SIL (P < 0.05). SIL also positively influenced liver enzyme expression (FASN, ACC, Apo-VLDL II, FXR, and CYP7A1; P < 0.05) and altered the cecal microbiota composition, enhancing species linked to secondary bile acid synthesis. Targeted metabolomics identified 9 metabolites predominantly involved in thiamin metabolism that were significantly different in the SIL groups (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrated that dietary SIL supplementation could ameliorate egg production rate in late stage laying hens, mechanistically, this effect was via improving hepatic lipid metabolism and cecal microbiota function to achieve. Revealed the potentially of SIL as a feed supplementation to regulate hepatic lipid metabolism dysregulation. Overall, dietary 500 mg/kg SIL had the best effects.

Feeding laying hens with lactobacilli improves internal egg quality and animal health

Feeding animals with lactobacilli strains is a biotechnological strategy to improve production, food quality, and animal health. Thus, this study aimed to select new lactic acid bacteria (LAB) able to improve laying hens health and egg production. Forty Bovans White layers (two days old) were randomly divided into four experimental groups that receive an oral gavage with saline solution (control group) or with one of the three lactobacilli selected (KEG3, TBB10, and KMG127) by their antagonistic activity against the foodborne pathogen Bacillus cereus GGD_EGG01. 16 S rRNA sequencing identified KEG3 as Lentilactobacillus sp., and TBB10 and KMG127 as Lactiplantibacillus sp. The data showed that feeding birds with LAB increased weight uniformity and improved the internal quality of the eggs (high yolk index and Haugh unit) compared with the control group (p < 0.05). Beta-diversity analysis showed that LAB supplementation modifies the cecal microbiota of laying hens. The prokaryotic families Bacteroidaceae, Ruminococcaceae, Rikenellaceae, and Lactobacillaceae were most important to the total dissimilarity of the cecal microbial community (calculated by SIMPER test). At end of in vivo experiments, it was possible to conclude that the feed of laying hens with Lentilactobacillus sp. TBB10 and Lentilactobacillus sp. KEG3 can be an important biotechnological tool for improving food quality and animal health.

Dietary Supplementation of Limosilactobacillus mucosae LM1 Enhances Immune Functions and Modulates Gut Microbiota Without Affecting the Growth Performance of Growing Pigs

Limosilactobacillus mucosae LM1 (LM1) is previously isolated from the intestine of piglets, but its potential as a probiotic supplement has not yet been assessed in growing pigs. In this study, we analyzed the probiotic effect of LM1 on the growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients, immune properties, intestinal morphology, and gut microbiota and their metabolites in growing pigs. The experiment included 145 Duroc × (Landrace × Yorkshire) pigs (average body weight: 21.21 ± 1.14 kg) distributed into five treatment groups. The pigs were fed either a control diet (CON), or the control diet supplemented with incremental doses of LM1, namely low-dose LM1 (LL, 8.3 × 108 CFU/kg), moderate-low dose LM1 (ML, 4.2 × 109 CFU/kg), moderate-high dose LM1 (MH, 8.3 × 109 CFU/kg), and high-dose LM1 (HH, 2.1 × 1010 CFU/kg) for 42 d. On d 42, 12 pigs from each of the CON and MH groups were slaughtered. The results indicated that the ATTD of nitrogen (N, P = 0.038) was improved with MH supplementation. In addition, increasing dose of LM1 improved the immune response in pigs by reducing serum pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-alpha) and increasing anti-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-10). Pigs fed with MH LM1 also had higher jejunal villus height and ileal villus height: crypt depth ratio, demonstrating improved intestinal morphology. Moreover, moderate-high LM1 supplementation enriched SCFA-producing taxa such as Lactobacillus, Holdemanella, Peptococcus, Bifidobacterium, Eubacterium_hallii_group, and Lachnospiraceae_AC2044_group, which correlated positively with increased fecal levels of butyrate and iso-valerate. These results strongly suggest the probiotic potential of LM1 on growing pigs. Overall, the current study provides insights on the use of L. mucosae LM1 as a novel livestock probiotic to improve pig gut health.