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Descripción
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| Two experiments were conducted to investigate the use of Clostridium perfringens concentration in soft faeces (CPsf) as predictor of Clostridium perfringens proliferation in the caecal contents (CPc) and the development of epizootic rabbit enteropathy (ERE). In Exp. 1, forty-four rabbits weaned at 28 or 42 days of age were used. Animals were fed a common commercial diet, not supplemented with antibiotics, and housed in pairs in flat-deck cages. Nine days after weaning, rabbits were fitted neck plastic collars during four hours (from 08:00 to 12:00 a.m.). Afterwards, they were slaughtered and both their soft faeces excretion and caecal contents were sampled in order to determine the concentration (cfu/g) of Clostridium perfringens. In Exp. 2, thirty-eight rabbits weaned at 31 days of age, followed the same procedure to determine the evolution of Clostridium perfringens counts in soft faeces at 34, 38, 41, 45 and 48 days of age. A total of fifteen animals (five in Exp. 1 and ten in Exp. 2) showed ERE symptoms, such as low body weight, aqueous diarrhoea and mucus excretion. In both experiments, diseased animals presented a greater (P < 0.001) concentration of Clostridium perfringens in gut samples than healthy animals. A regression analysis performed in Exp. 1 showed a significant correlation (R2 = 0.66; P < 0.001) between CPsf and CPc concentrations measured for each rabbit. The regression model also included a significant effect of age at weaning (P < 0.001), as enumeration of CPc was higher in animals weaned at 28 than at 42 days of age. Weight gain decreased (P = 0.06) in Exp. 2 with concentration of CPsf, especially (P = 0.03) in older animals, whereas the presence of ERE symptoms impaired growth and increased weight variability at each age. | |
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Internacional
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JCR del ISI
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Si |
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Título de la revista
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SPANISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH |
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ISSN
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1695-971X |
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Factor de impacto JCR
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0,388 |
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Información de impacto
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Volumen
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7 |
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DOI
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Número de revista
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0 |
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Desde la página
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807 |
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Hasta la página
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812 |
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