Academic literature on the topic 'Alimentazione animale'

La valorizzazione dei pascoli naturali attraverso il pascolamento può rappresentare un valore aggiunto negli allevamenti zootecnici sia in termini economici sia relativamente alla qualità dei prodotti che ne derivano. Tuttavia, la conoscenza e la comprensione delle strategie di pascolamento è fondamentale per un uso efficiente delle risorse naturali. Questo studio ha lo scopo di confrontare il comportamento alimentare di suini di due tipi genetici: la razza autoctona Cinta Senese e il suo incrocio con la Large White. I suini avevano a disposizione pascoli erbacei, tuttavia veniva distribuita un’integrazione di mangime. Osservazioni dirette sono state condotte sul comportamento di due gruppi di suini al pascolo durante il periodo compreso tra maggio e settembre, quando le risorse pascolive naturali sono maggiormente disponibili. Gli animali sono stati osservati attraverso la metodologia “scan sampling” ogni 15 minuti durante le ore diurne. I risultati dell’elaborazione statistica (ANOVA) hanno rivelato che durante le ore centrali della giornata entrambi i tipi genetici erano meno coinvolti in comportamenti attivi (alimentazione e movimento), mostrando maggiore propensione alle attività di riposo (posizione sdraiato e stazione). In particolare, il movimento ricorreva più frequentemente durante le ore del mattino in entrambi i tipi genetici. Il gruppo Cinta Senese trascorreva più tempo in attività di pascolamento, soprattutto nel grufolamento, durante la mattina rispetto alle ore centrali del giorno, rispetto ai suini Large White x Cinta Senese. Questi risultati confermano la spiccata attitudine della razza locale per la ricerca di alimenti naturali.

<p>The article presents informative and educational documents downloadable for free from the internet that consist of text, graphs, images, videos and a comic book. They can also be used in the school for teaching units. According to the World Health Organisation, antimicrobial resistance is among the top 10 global public health threats. Resistance to antimicrobials, which include antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics, results in the loss of their efficacy. In fact, germs that have antibiotic-resistance traits in their DNA can survive a treatment and reproduce, which leads to resistant strains. Antibiotics are often overprescribed, overused and misused. This contributes to accelerating the emergence of antimicrobial resistance, which results in prolonged illness, the need for more expensive and intensive care, and even disability or death. Hygiene and vaccines may reduce infections and consequent antibiotic use, while a healthy diet, physical activity, forest visits, yoga, qigong and other techniques may strengthen the immune system. Environmental release of antibiotics from urban sewage systems, hospitals, farms and the pharmaceutical industry may contribute to antibiotic resistance. The pharmaceutical industry can be encouraged to drive the change through labels that ensure compliance with standards for responsible production. Some documents report the results obtained in countries where antimicrobial resistance has been tackled in human and animal farming sectors. By 2050, inaction may result in 10 million deaths yearly and a cumulative cost of 100 trillion $US. The “One health” approach is a worldwide accepted concept by which the health of humans, animals and the environment are interconnected and interdependent. Several documents deal with the links between biodiversity loss and increased infection risk for humans. A war may intensify the problem as a consequence of, e.g. lack of hygiene, overcrowding and hindered contact tracing.</p><p> </p><p>L'articolo presenta documenti informativi ed educativi scaricabili gratuitamente da internet che consistono in testi, grafici, immagini, video ed un fumetto. Il testo è basato esclusivamente sui suddetti documenti, che possono essere utilizzati per attività didattiche. Secondo l'Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità, l’antimicrobico-resistenza è tra le prime 10 minacce per la salute pubblica globale. La resistenza agli antimicrobici, tra i quali sono compresi antibiotici, antivirali, antimicotici e antiparassitari, provoca la perdita della loro efficacia. Germi con caratteristiche genetiche che li rendono resistenti agli antibiotici possono sopravvivere a un trattamento e riprodursi; ciò porta alla formazione di ceppi resistenti. Gli antibiotici sono spesso prescritti con molta facilità, usati eccessivamente e male. Ciò contribuisce ad accelerare l'emergere della resistenza antimicrobica, che si traduce in malattie prolungate, necessità di cure più costose e intensive, persino disabilità o morte. Igiene e vaccini possono ridurre le infezioni e il conseguente uso di antibiotici; sana alimentazione, attività fisica, passeggiate nei boschi, yoga, qigong e altre tecniche possono rafforzare il sistema immunitario. Antibiotici provenienti da reti fognarie urbane, ospedali, fattorie e industrie farmaceutiche possono contribuire all’antibiotico-resistenza. L'industria farmaceutica può essere incoraggiata a guidare il cambiamento attraverso marchi che garantiscono una produzione rispettosa dell’ambiente. Alcuni documenti riportano i risultati ottenuti in paesi ove l’antimicrobico-resistenza è stata affrontata con successo, sia nel settore umano che nell'allevamento animale. Entro il 2050, in mancanza di iniziative utili, si prevedono 10 milioni di decessi l'anno e un costo cumulativo di 100 trilioni di dollari USA. L'approccio "One health" è un concetto accettato a livello mondiale in base al quale la salute degli esseri umani, degli animali e dell'ambiente sono interconnessi e interdipendenti. Vari documenti trattano i legami tra la perdita di biodiversità e l'aumento del rischio di infezioni per l'uomo. Le guerre possono intensificare il problema a causa di mancanza di igiene, sovraffollamento ed un tracciamento dei contatti ostacolato. </p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0444/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

World population growth is leading to an increase of the of food from animal origin demand. For the future of the planet and food-production system sustainability some important issues required to be faced. Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most important global concerns cause of thousands of deaths per year and livestock can contribute to the antimicrobial resistance spreading. In livestock, the highest use of antibiotic treatments is recorded in young animals, due to their immature immune system, and the presence of several stress sources that predispose young animals to develop multifactorial diseases, particularly from gastrointestinal origin, that causes important economic losses and antibiotic use. Nutrition is no longer considered as science that only satisfies nutritional requirements but is considered fundamental for its functionality through the supplementation of ingredients and additives which contain bioactive molecules that positively impact on health. Functional feed ingredients and additives possess bioactive characteristics, such as antibacterial and antioxidant activities, capable of contrasting infections and improving animal health or a particular organic function. Preserving intestinal health decreases the incidence of pathologies, optimises digestive processes, and promotes animal performance thus resulting in higher profitability for the farmers. The aim of the following project was to evaluate innovative functional feed additives for animal nutrition, in order to increase animal health, performance and reduce the use of antibiotics in farm animals. The attention was focused on the evaluation of algae, tannins extract, leonardite, tributyrin and probiotics as functional feed additives alternative to antibiotics. For reaching this goal different in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo approaches have been used. In vitro methods allowed to characterize functional feed additives for their antimicrobial and antioxidants effects and cell culture was useful to predict their interaction with the intestinal epithelium. In vivo zootechnical trials were conducted on young animals to assess dietary supplementation of functional additives on growth performance, prevention of gastroenteric disorders, metabolic status and microbiota modulation. Obtained results highlighted that functional additives were characterized by bioactive properties such as antioxidant and antimicrobial effects. Their supplementation showed a plethora of positive impacts including higher zootechnical performance, decreased diarrhoea occurrence, improved health status and microbiota modulation. A combined effect was also assessed in order to evaluate a possible synergistic of different additives. The combination resulted in a positive effect for diarrhoea prevention with a slight modulation for the gut microbial environment. Even if feed additives displayed different bioactivities in vitro, they did not always reveal a boosting effect on growth performance in vivo resulting less evident for farmer perception. However, the reduction of gastrointestinal disorders incidence could be considered the most interesting characteristic of functional feed additives which have shown to possibly reduce pathologies occurrence thus improving farm profitability. Lastly, due to the needing to decrease animal for experimental purposes an innovative ex vivo intestinal perfusion model was developed in order to study nutrient bioaccessibility for obtaining reliable science-based data in line with the 3R principles. In conclusion, tested compounds can not substitute the therapeutic treatment of antibiotics. However, the utilization dietary approaches supplementing functional feed additives can significantly contribute for decreasing pathology occurrence, boosting animal health and performance thus the antibiotics use. In line with the One Health principles, antibiotics reduction is a key point for the future sustainable development on the planet. The use of functional feed additives can be considered as interesting alternative to antibiotics due to their ability to prevent multifactorial disorders and thus reducing the antibiotic treatments in livestock farming.

Today’s pet food industry is growing rapidly, with pet owners demanding high-quality diets for their pets. The primary role of diet is to provide enough nutrients to meet metabolic requirements, while giving the consumer a feeling of well-being. Diet nutrient composition and digestibility are of crucial importance for health and well being of animals. A recent strategy to improve the quality of food is the use of “nutraceuticals” or “Functional foods”. At the moment, probiotics and prebiotics are among the most studied and frequently used functional food compounds in pet foods. The present thesis reported results from three different studies. The first study aimed to develop a simple laboratory method to predict pet foods digestibility. The developed method was based on the two-step multi-enzymatic incubation assay described by Vervaeke et al. (1989), with some modification in order to better represent the digestive physiology of dogs. A trial was then conducted to compare in vivo digestibility of pet-foods and in vitro digestibility using the newly developed method. Correlation coefficients showed a close correlation between digestibility data of total dry matter and crude protein obtained with in vivo and in vitro methods (0.9976 and 0.9957, respectively). Ether extract presented a lower correlation coefficient, although close to 1 (0.9098). Based on the present results, the new method could be considered as an alternative system of evaluation of dog foods digestibility, reducing the need for using experimental animals in digestibility trials. The second parte of the study aimed to isolate from dog faeces a Lactobacillus strain capable of exert a probiotic effect on dog intestinal microflora. A L. animalis strain was isolated from the faeces of 17 adult healthy dogs..The isolated strain was first studied in vitro when it was added to a canine faecal inoculum (at a final concentration of 6 Log CFU/mL) that was incubated in anaerobic serum bottles and syringes which simulated the large intestine of dogs. Samples of fermentation fluid were collected at 0, 4, 8, and 24 hours for analysis (ammonia, SCFA, pH, lactobacilli, enterococci, coliforms, clostridia). Consequently, the L. animalis strain was fed to nine dogs having lactobacilli counts lower than 4.5 Log CFU per g of faeces. The study indicated that the L animalis strain was able to survive gastrointestinal passage and transitorily colonize the dog intestine. Both in vitro and in vivo results showed that the L. animalis strain positively influenced composition and metabolism of the intestinal microflora of dogs. The third trail investigated in vitro the effects of several non-digestible oligosaccharides (NDO) on dog intestinal microflora composition and metabolism. Substrates were fermented using a canine faecal inoculum that was incubated in anaerobic serum bottles and syringes. Substrates were added at the final concentration of 1g/L (inulin, FOS, pectin, lactitol, gluconic acid) or 4g/L (chicory). Samples of fermentation fluid were collected at 0, 6, and 24 hours for analysis (ammonia, SCFA, pH, lactobacilli, enterococci, coliforms). Gas production was measured throughout the 24 h of the study. Among the tested NDO lactitol showed the best prebiotic properties. In fact, it reduced coliforms and increased lactobacilli counts, enhanced microbial fermentation and promoted the production of SCFA while decreasing BCFA. All the substrates that were investigated showed one or more positive effects on dog faecal microflora metabolism or composition. Further studies (in particular in vivo studies with dogs) will be needed to confirm the prebiotic properties of lactitol and evaluate its optimal level of inclusion in the diet.