Efficacy of Probiotics Supplementation on Growth Performance, Carcass Composition and Hematological Parameters of Cyprinus carpio Fingerlings Fed Corn Gluten Meal-Based Diet

Abstract Plant based protein sources are one of the best, cost effective and easily available protein sources being used in fish feed. But due to a lower number of micro-biota in fish gut plant meal based diets cannot be digested and absorbed well in fish body. Probiotics were supplemented at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 gkg-1 levels in fish feed for formulating one control and five test diets. In this study, three replicates of each treatment were used and number of fingerlings was 15 in each replicate. The C. carpio (common carp) fingerlings were fed at 5% of live wet weight on their prescribed diet twice daily. The results revealed that supplementation of probiotics in corn gluten meal based diets significantly (p<0.05) improved growth performance, carcass composition and hematological parameters. Most optimum values of growth performance parameters were noted at 2 gkg-1 level of probiotics supplemented diet. C. carpio fingerlings fed corn gluten meal based diet supplemented with 2 gkg-1 level of probiotics indicated significant (p<0.05) improvements in crude protein (17g) crude fat (9g) and gross energy (3 kcalg-1) whereas higher red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs) and hemoglobin (Hb) was also recorded in fish blood when fed 2 gkg-1 probiotics level diet. From these results, it was concluded that 2 gkg-1 probiotics supplementation in corn gluten meal based diet is optimum for improving growth performance, body composition and hematology of C. carpio fingerlings.

Determination of lytic enzyme activities of indigenous Trichoderma isolates from Pakistan

Abstract This study investigated lytic enzyme activities in three indigenous Trichoderma strains namely, Trichoderma asperellum, Trichoderma harzianum and Trichoderma sp. Native Trichoderma strains and a virulent strain of Rhizoctonia solani isolated from infected bean plants were also included in the study. Enzyme activities were determined by measuring sugar reduction by dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) method using suitable substrates. The antagonists were cultured in minimal salt medium with the following modifications: medium A (1 g of glucose), medium B (0.5 g of glucose + 0.5 g of deactivated R. solani mycelia), medium C (1.0 g of deactivated respective antagonist mycelium) and medium D (1 g of deactivated R. solani mycelia). T asperellum showed presence of higher amounts of chitinases, β-1, 3-glucanases and xylanases in extracellular protein extracts from medium D as compared to medium A. While, the higher activities of glucosidases and endoglucanses were shown in medium D extracts by T. harzianum. β-glucosidase activities were lower compared with other enzymes; however, activities of the extracts of medium D were significantly different. T. asperellum exhibited maximum inhibition (97.7%). On the other hand, Trichoderma sp. did not show any effect on mycelia growth of R. solani on crude extract.

Identification of differentially expressed genes in rat asthma model by suppression subtractive hybridization technology / 浙江大学学报·医学版

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To identify differentially expressed genes related to asthma by using a rat model.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Total RNA extracted from the asthmatic rats was taken as the tester and the total RNA from the control rats as the driver. Suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) was used to isolate the cDNA fragments of differentially expressed genes. The products of SSH were inserted into pGEM-T Easy vector to establish the subtractive library. The library was amplified through E.coli transformation and positive clones of the transformants were screened. The white clones in selective medium from cDNA library were isolated and digested by EcoR I restriction endonuclease. Thirty-six positive clones were chosen randomly and sequenced. Nucleic acid similarity was subsequently analyzed by comparing with the data from GenBank (NCBI).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were more than 300 white clones in the cDNA library. The clones were sequenced and similarity search (http://www.ncbi.hlm.nih.gov/BLAST) revealed 4 known genes, 2 ESTs without homologous genes and 3 potential new gene fragments.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The forward-subtracted cDNA library for differentially expressed in the lung of asthmatic rats has been successfully constructed and the interesting candidate genes related to asthma have been identified.</p>