Document Type : Full paper (Original article)
Authors
1
Ph.D. Student in Biochemistry, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Shiraz, Shiraz, Iran
2
Department of Poultry Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Shiraz, Shiraz, Iran
3
Department of Biochemistry, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Shiraz, Shiraz, Iran
4
MSc in Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Shiraz, Shiraz, Iran
Abstract
This investigation was designed to determine the effect of intact ovalbumin and mannose-conjugated
ovalbumin on the prevention of Salmonella typhimurium adherence to the epithelium of small intestine of
chickens. Mannose-conjugated ovalbumin was produced by Maillard-type reaction between chicken
ovalbumin and D-mannose at 60°C. The results revealed that incubation up to 96 hrs caused the highest
amount of covalent attachment of mannose to the ovalbumin. In order to determine the effect of native
ovalbumin and mannose-conjugated ovalbumin on the prevention of S. typhimurium adherence to chicken
small intestine, 60 one-day-old chicks were randomly assigned to 3 groups, with two replicates and ten
birds per pen. Groups 1, 2 and 3 received normal diet, diet containing 0.5% native ovalbumin and diet
containing 0.5% mannose-conjugated ovalbumin, respectively, for 12 days. On day 3, all groups received
1.3 × 106 CFU of S. typhimurium orally. On days 4, 7 and 10, two chicks from each group were killed and
mean log 10 of CFU (colony forming unit) of Salmonella per 1 g tissues of cecum, liver and spleen was
determined. Four chickens from each group were killed on day 12 and were examined as described above.
The results showed that in group 3, number of viable Salmonella in cecum, liver and spleen was lower than
groups 1 and 2. However, the difference was significant only in cecum on days 4 and 7 (P<0.05). These
preliminary results suggest that mannose-conjugated ovalbumin might be effective in prevention of
Salmonella colonization in the epithelium of small intestine if incorporated in the diet of chicks.
Keywords
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