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Probiotic Clostridium butyricum Improves the Growth Performance, Immune Function, and Gut Microbiota of Weaning Rex Rabbits

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Abstract

Probiotics could promote animal growth and enhance immune function. This study investigated the effects of Clostridium butyricum (CB) on the growth performance, intestinal immune, and gut microbiota of weaning rex rabbits. A total of 60 healthy female rabbits (5-month-old) were divided equally into four groups and mated on the same day: control group (CTRL, fed with basal feed), low-dose group (LDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 103 CFU/g CB), middle-dose group (MDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 104 CFU/g CB), and high-dose group (HDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 105 CFU/g CB). Then, 30 weaning rex rabbits (35-day-old) were collected from each group for this experiment, and they were offered the same feeds as their mother. The results demonstrated that high-dose CB treatment significantly increased average daily weight gain of weaning rex rabbits. Further studies suggested that CB enhanced small intestinal digestive enzyme activity and improved mucosal morphology and antioxidant status. Supplemented with CB, small intestinal barrier function was maintained with the upregulation of mRNA levels of ZO-1, claudin, and occludin as well as the increase of sIgA production. Moreover, the relative expressions of MyD88, TLR2, and TLR4 were elevated in HDG; simultaneously, pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-6, INF-γ, and TNF-α were decreased after CB administration. In addition, CB showed beneficial effects in improving weaning rex rabbit intestinal microflora via increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria. Therefore, our results indicated CB can promote rex rabbit growth, which is likely to the enhancement of immune function and the improvement of intestinal microbiota.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Natural Science project of Chengdu Technology Bureau, the Research on Key Technology Integration and Industrialization Demonstration of Modern Industrial Chain in Rabbit (15ZC0725), the 13th Five-year Livestock and poultry breeding Project “High Quality Characteristics of Rabbit Breeding Cross System and Breeding Material Innovation” (2016NYZ0046), and the Rabbit Industrial Technology of China Agriculture Research System (CARS-44-A-4).

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  1. Lei Liu, Dong Zeng, and Mingyue Yang contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Microecology Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, No. 211 Huimin Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China

    Lei Liu, Dong Zeng, Mingyue Yang, Jing Lai, Yi Zhou, Lvcheng Xiong, Jie Wang, Yicen Lin, Kangcheng Pan, Bo Jing & Xueqin Ni

  2. Key Laboratory of Animal Disease and Human Health of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China

    Dong Zeng & Xueqin Ni

  3. Sichuan Academy of Grassland Sciences, Chengdu, 611731, Sichuan, China

    Bin Wen & Ping Wang

  4. Ya’an City Bureau of Agriculture, Ya’an, 625099, Sichuan, China

    Hao Sun

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Liu, L., Zeng, D., Yang, M. et al. Probiotic Clostridium butyricum Improves the Growth Performance, Immune Function, and Gut Microbiota of Weaning Rex Rabbits. Probiotics & Antimicro. Prot. 11, 1278–1292 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12602-018-9476-x

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