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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Food and Feed Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #335112
Research Project: Ecological Reservoirs and Intervention Strategies to Reduce Foodborne Pathogens in Cattle and Swine

Location: Food and Feed Safety Research

Title: Assessment of Nigella sativa extract as a potential antibiotic alternative feed supplement for weaned swine

Author
item PETRUJKIC, BRANKO - University Of Belgrade
item Beier, Ross
item He, Louis
item Genovese, Kenneth - Ken
item Swaggerty, Christina - Christi
item Hume, Michael
item Harvey, Roger
item Anderson, Robin
item Nisbet, David

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/30/2016
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: New technologies are needed to help livestock producers maintain health and wellbeing of their animals while minimizing risks of disseminating antimicrobial resistant bacteria to humans or animals. Nigella sativa (NS) is a plant containing bioactive constituents, such as thymoquinone. Extracts of NS enhance immune function, improve performance, and reduce enteropathogen colonization in poultry and small ruminants, but studies with swine are lacking. Presently, we assessed the effect of NS extracts on intestinal carriage of wildtype E. coli and Campylobacter and a challenge strain of Salmonella Typhimurium orally inoculated (109 colony forming units, CFU) into newly weaned piglets 6 to 18 h before initiation of treatment. In study one, treatments were administered via gavage of an aqueous NS extract at doses equivalent to 0, 0.15 or 0.45% diet dry matter (n = 6 pigs/treatment). In study two, equivalent doses were administered via supplementation of the pigs’ daily ration (n = 6 pens/treatment). Analysis of bacterial populations in gut samples collected 28 h or 9 days after initiation of treatment in studies one and two revealed tendencies of linear effects (P < 0.09) of treatment on E. coli, with populations recovered from NS extract-treated pigs being 0.7 to 1.8 log units lower than those recovered from jejunal, cecal, and rectal contents of controls (which ranged from 6.05 to 8.10 log10 CFU/g). Gut populations of Campylobacter and Typhimurium were unaffected (P > 0.10) by NS treatment in both studies. Feed intake and weight gain over the 9 days of study two were unaffected by treatment (P > 0.10), averaging 2.85 +/- 0.67 and 1.28 +/- 0.70 kg, respectively, but feed efficiency was improved linearly (P < 0.05), achieving 0.28 +/- 0.21, 0.46 +/- 0.11, and 0.54 +/- 0.16 kg body weight gain/kg dry matter intake in 0, 0.15 and 0.45% NS-treated pens, respectively.