Productive response, cecal fermentation and diarrheic morbidity in rabbits fed with bacterial supplements of Clostridium sordellii or Peptostreptococcus tetradius

Abstract

A BACTERIAL STRAIN OF CLOSTRIDIUM SORDELLII AND ANOTHER ONE OF PEPTOSTREPTOCOCCUS TETRADIUS (ISOLATED IN A PREVIOUS STUDY, FROM THE CECUM OF FATTENING RABBITS) WERE EVALUATED AS SUPPLEMENTS, ADMINISTERED BY MEANS OF FOOD ASPERSION ON A COMMERCIAL FEED FOR WEANED FATTENING WHITE NEW ZEALAND RABBITS. THE STUDY WAS CARRIED OUT IN A RABBIT FATTENING FARM WITH 60% MORBIDITY AND 50% MORTALITY DUE TO UNSPECIFIC DIARRHEAS. THREE EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS WERE FORMED: THE FIRST GROUP WAS FED NORMAL COMMERCIAL FEED, THE SECOND COMMERCIAL FEED INOCULATED WITH C. SORDELLII AND THE THIRD, INOCULATED WITH P. TETRADIUS. DAILY WEIGHT GAIN, FEED CONSUMPTION AND FEED EFFICACY WERE EVALUATED DURING FIVE WEEKS, AND THREE TESTS OF APPARENT DIGESTIBILITY WERE MADE. IN ADDITION, THE MORTALITY AND THE MORBIDITY CAUSED BY UNSPECIFIC DIARRHEAS DURING THE SAME PERIOD WERE QUANTIFIED. AFTER THE RABBITS WERE EUTHANIZED, TOTAL AND CELLULOLYTIC BACTERIA CONCENTRATION, PH AND AMMONIUM CONCENTRATION WERE MEASURED FROM SAMPLES TAKEN FROM THE CECAL APPENDIX, THIRTEENTH CECAL LOOP AND COLON. THE RESULTS DID NOT SHOW SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE (P > 0.05) BETWEEN THE TREATMENTS FOR ANY OF THE PRODUCTION VARIABLES MEASURED. STATISTICAL DIFFERENCES (P < 0.05) WERE FOUND IN PH AND AMMONIUM CONCENTRATION IN THE CECAL APPENDIX BETWEEN THE GROUP WITH C. SORDELLII AND THE OTHER TWO GROUPS, WHILE IN THE THIRTEENTH CECAL LOOP DIFFERENCES WERE FOUND (P < 0.05) IN AMMONIUM CONCENTRATION BETWEEN THE GROUP WITH P. TETRADIUS AND THE OTHER TWO GROUPS. IN REGARD TO TOTAL BACTERIA, DIFFERENCES (P < 0.05) WERE FOUND AT THE CECAL APPENDIX LEVEL BETWEEN THE CONTROL GROUP AND THE ONE THAT RECEIVED P. TETRADIUS, AND AT THE COLON LEVEL BETWEEN THE GROUP THAT RECEIVED P. TETRADIUS AND THE ONE THAT RECEIVED C. SORDELLI. C. SORDELLII SUPPLEMENTATION WAS ASSOCIATED WITH LOWER DIARRHEAL MORBIDITY (35%), AS COMPARED WITH THAT OBSERVED IN THE CONTROL GROUP (80%), AND THAT OF THE GROUP RECEIVING THE P. TETRADIUS SUPPLEMENT (80%) (P < 0.05).