Preparation, Antibacterial Potential, and Antibacterial Components of Fermented Compound Chinese Medicine Feed Additives

Traditional Chinese medicine residue enzymatic hydrolysates for production of polyhydroxyalkanoate by newly isolated Bacillus altitudinis

Traditional Chinese medicine residue (TCMR) was utilized as an inexpensive carbon source for the production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) using the newly isolated Bacillus altitudinis HBU-SI7. The results showed that Yu Ping Feng TCMR could be directly hydrolysed by cellulase to obtain a high proportion of glucose (99 % of total sugar) without pretreatment, achieving an enzymatic hydrolysis rate of up to 89.2 %. B. altitudinis could grow and produce PHB when using enzymatically hydrolysed TCMR in a 5-L fermenter. After 20 h of fermentation, the maximum concentration of PHB was 11.2 g/L, and the highest cell dry weight (CDW) was 15.4 g/L, with 72.7 % of the PHB fraction in CDW. Moreover, this strain could utilize enzymatic hydrolysates from various herbal formulas to produce high levels of PHB. This novel approach aims to accumulate PHB from TCMR hydrolysates, offering an effective and environmentally friendly method to reduce production costs and achieve mass production.

Use of fermented Chinese medicine residues as a feed additive and effects on growth performance, meat quality, and intestinal health of broilers

Introduction

The purpose of this research was to investigate how dietary supplementation with fermented herbal residues (FCMR) affected birds' development capacity, quality of meat, gut barrier, and cecum microbiota.

Methods

540 cyan-shank partridge birds aged 47 days were chosen and divided into two groups of six replicates each and 45 birds for each replicate. The control group (CON) received a basal diet, while the trial group decreased a basic diet containing 5% FCMR.

Results and discussion

The findings revealed that the addition of FCMR decreased FCR and increased ADG in broilers (P < 0.05). Adding FCMR increased steaming loss in broiler chicken breasts (p < 0.05). Supplementation with FCMR significantly enhanced VH/CD and VH in the bird's intestine (jejunum, duodenum, and ileum) (p < 0.05). In addition, the addition of FCMR significantly down-regulated mRNA expression of INF-γ, IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α and up-regulated mRNA expression of ZO-1, Occludin, and Claudin (P < 0.05). Microbial 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing study revealed that supplements with FCMR modified the cecum microbiota, and α-diversity analysis showed that supplementation with FCMR reduced the cecum bacterial abundance in broilers (P < 0.05). At the phylum level, the relative abundance of Spirochaetota increased considerably following FCMR supplementation (P < 0.05). The broiler cecum's close lot of Prevotellaceae_UCG-001 (P < 0.05), Desulfovibrio, Muribaculaceae, and Fusobacterium (p < 0.05) reduced when FCMR was supplemented. Supplementation with FCMR can promote growth capacity and maintain intestinal health in birds by enhancing gut barrier function and modulating the inflammatory response and microbial composition.

Preventive effect of Terminalia bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb. extract on mice infected with Salmonella Typhimurium

Terminalia bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb. (TB) is a traditional herbal combination used in Chinese medicine for the treatment of a broad range of diseases. In this study, thirty KM mice were randomly divided into control (N), infection group (NS), and the TB protection group (HS). Based on its digestive feature, intestinal physical barrier, immunological barrier and gut microbiota effects in vivo on challenged with S.typhimurium mice were investigated after oral administration of 600 mg/kg b.wt of TB for 13 days. The results show that the extract could improve the level of serum immunoglobulins (IgA and IgG), decrease the intestinal cytokine secretion to relieve intestinal cytokine storm, reinforce the intestinal biochemical barrier function by elevating the sIgA expression, and strengthen the intestinal physical barrier function. Simultaneously, based on the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA analyzed, the results of the taxonomic structure of the intestinal microbiota demonstrated that the TB prevention effect transformed the key phylotypes of the gut microbiota in S. Typhimurium-challenged mice and promoted the multiplication of beneficial bacteria. Furthermore, the abundance of Firmicutes and Deferribacteres increased, while that of Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria decreased. At the genus level, the abundance of Ruminococcus and Oscillospira was substantially enhanced, while the other dominant genera showed no significant change between the vehicle control groups and the TB prevention groups. In summary, these results provide evidence that the administration of TB extract can prevent S. Typhimurium infection by alleviating the intestinal physical and immunological barriers and normalizing the gut microbiota, highlighting a promising application in clinical treatment. Thus, our results provide new insights into the biological functions of TB for the preventive effect of intestinal inflammation.