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Lamb enteritis constitutes an economic burden on sheep production worldwide. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Salmonellae among diarrheic lambs at Kafrelsheikh Governorate, Egypt and to detect the associated clinical, hematologic, biochemical, and antioxidant parameters. Fifty diarrheic and twenty apparently healthy control lambs were examined clinically, and hematologically. Diarrheic lambs had a significant elevated body temperature, respiratory and pulse rate, most of hemogram parameters, total proteins and albumin, oxidative stress markers malonaldiahyde and nitric oxide levels, liver enzymes, urea and creatinine than control group. On the other hand, these diarrheic lambs had significant reduction in total leukocyte count and lymphocytes, antioxidant biomarkers super oxide dismutase activities and reduced glutathione than control lambs. E. coli and Salmonella spp. were isolated from 32.00% and 16.00% of diseased lambs, respectively. Serotyping and biochemical tests of examined samples identified 16 E. coli isolates belonged to 10 different serotypes; O6, O8, O26:H11, O75, O84:H21, O103:H2, O114:H4, O121:H7, O128:H2 and O163:H2. All isolates are STEC as they harbor either Shiga-toxin 1 or Shiga-toxin 2 genes or both. One isolate carries intimin gene (eaeA) and classified as EHEC; O26:H11. The obtained nine isolates of Salmonella carry enterotoxin (Stn) genes, eight of them carry hyper-invasive locus (hilA) gene, all isolates belonged to six serotypes; S. Enteritidis, S. Heidelberg, S. Tsevie, S. Typhimurium, S. Essen, and S. Infantis. Lamb diarrhea was prevalent in the studied area and might constitute a veterinary and public health threat. Alteration in hemato-biochemical parameters and oxidative-anti-oxidant balance could help adopt appropriate treatment regimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A six weeks feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacement of soybean meal (SBM) with cottonseed meal (CSM) with or without ferrous sulphate supplementation on the growth performance and hematobiochemical parameters of white Pekin ducks. One hundred, one-day old white Pekin ducks were randomly divided into five groups. The first group was fed standard basal diet (control group). The second group was fed diet where 20% of soybean meal was replaced with cottonseed meal (CSM20). The third group was fed diet where 20% of soybean meal was replaced with cottonseed meal and supplemented with ferrous sulphate (CSM20+). The fourth group was fed diet where 41% of soybean meal was replaced with cottonseed meal (CSM41). The fifth group was fed diet where 41% of soybean meal was replaced with cottonseed meal and supplemented with ferrous sulphate (CSM41+ On the 42 days of age, blood samples were collected from the different groups (6 birds randomly selected/each group). Dietary replacement of either 20% or 41% soybean meal with cottonseed meal had no encouraging effect on the growth performance and feed conversion rate from the 1st week to the end of the experiment. Furthermore, there was a significant decrease in red blood cells (RBCs) count, hemoglobin (Hb) level, packed cell volume% (PCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), and reduced glutathione (GSH) in CSM20 and CSM41 groups compared with control group. Meanwhile, there were a significant increase in the same two groups (CSM20 and CSM41) in serum alanine aminotransferase activity (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase activity (AST), creatinine (Cr), cholesterol, triacylglycerol (TG), and malondialdehyde (MDA) compared with control group. Addition of ferrous sulphate to diets of ducks in which soyabean protein replaced by 20% or 41% of cottonseed meal protein groups (CSM20+ and CSM41+ alleviate the adverse effect of gossypol on growth performance, blood picture and organ functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]