margarita.novoa-garrido@bioforsk.no

1. Effectoffeeding Vitamine E from differentsourcesonthe immune system and intestinalmicrobiota in smallruminants. Presentationof an ongoingNorwegianproject. Enterococcusspp. M. Novoa-Garrido1, L. Aanensen1, H.J.S. Larsen2, S.K. Jensen3 and H. Steinshamn1. 1Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research, Frederik A. Dahlsvei 20, 1432 Ås, Norway. 2 NorwegianSchoolofVeterinary Science, PB 8146 Dep., 0033 Oslo, Norway. 3 Research Center Foulum, P.O.Box 39, 8830 Tjele, Denmark. Natural Vit E for healthyintestinal flora Vitamin E is important for ruminants to maintain an optimal immune function, reproduction traits and a high quality of milk and meat. Synthetic vitamin E consists of 87.5% tocopherol molecules with a non-natural configuration with low biological efficiency. The aim of this project is to study the effects of supplementing the diets with seaweed meal or oil seeds extracts as alternative vitamin E or antioxidant sources on the immune system and gastrointestinal microbiota in sheep and their off-springs. Of special interest is the group fed seaweed meal, since seaweed is an abundant and easy accessible raw material on the Norwegian coastline. The hypothesis is that supplementation with natural vitamin/antioxidant sources improves the immunologic status and the gastrointestinal microbiota composition in sheep. Log10 cfu g-1 Material and methods The studyincluded 40 ewes 2-3 years old and theirlambs. The animals werefollowed from mating untiltheywereturnedout to pasture. The animals weredividedintofourevengroups, withtwo pens per group. Eachgroupgot a concentrateincludingdifferentVit E sources : naturalVit E from oilseeds, mealproducedwithseaweedAscophylumnodosum(Fig. 1 and 2), syntheticVit E and control. Intestinalmicrobiota parameters: EnumerationofEnterobactereaceaesp., lacticacidbacteria (LAB), Clostridium sp., total bacteriacount (TBC) and Enterococcussp. in faeces by usingselective and non-selective media, and differentincubationconditions. Immunological parameters: Table 1 shows the tests done in theewes and thenewbornlambs in order to establishtheeffectofthedietaryantioxidantonthe animals immune system. 2 3 1 4 Fig. 3. EnumerationofEnterococcussp. on CATC agar plates (a) and Enterobactereaceaesp. on Mac Conkeyagar plates (b). Foto: Margarita Novoa-Garrido 3 1 2 4 Table 1 Preliminaryresults The sizesofthebacterialpopulations in thefeaces from theeweswhere it seems to be an effectof supplement type areshown in Fig. 4. The countsofEnterococcusspp. in animals fed supplement containingvit E from oilseedswashigherthan in the rest ofthetreatments (p=0,07). SomeEnterococcusspp. areshown to causegrowthdepression in some animal species. The countsof LAB in the animal fedseaweedmealseemed to be somewhatlower (p=0,4) than in theothertreatments. Lactobacillusspp. is a lacticacidbacterium, and Lactobacillusspp. have a regulating and protectingrole in theintestinaltract. Fig. 4. Log 10 CFU ofdifferentbacteriagroups in faeces from ewesfedwiththedifferent supplement types (1=seaweed meal, 2=synthetic vit. E, 3=oil seed, 4=control). Valuesareexpress as meanswith 95% CI. margarita.novoa-garrido@bioforsk.no Fig. 2. Eweseatingconcentratewithseaweedmeal. Foto: Hans Jørgen Skulstad Fig. 1. Ascophylumnodosum harvested onthecoastof Nordland, Norway. Foto: Celine Rebours b a LAB