Research Note: Detection of antibiotic-resistance genes in commercial poultry and turkey flocks from Italy.

Antibiotics are routinely used in commercial poultry farms for the treatment of economically important bacterial diseases. Repeated use of antibiotics, usually administered in the feed or drinking water, may also result in the selection of resistant bacteria in animal feces, able to transfer their antimicrobial-resistance genes (ARG), residing on mobile elements, to other microorganisms, including human pathogens. In this study, single and multiplex PCR protocols were performed to detect tetracycline-, lincomycin-, chloramphenicol-, aminoglycoside-, colistin-, vancomycin-, and carbapenem-resistance genes, starting from 38 litter samples collected from 6 poultry and 2 turkey Italian flocks.

Cryopreservation of turkey spermatozoa without permeant cryoprotectants.

In avian species, cryopreservation of semen is necessary for developing sperm cryobanks. It is very difficult, however to cryopreserve turkey sperm and have sperm be viable after thawing. Glycerol, the commonly used sperm cryoprotectant in many species, is toxic to sperm of avian species.

Prevalence of positive in Italian poultry flocks by environmental sampling.

type G is one of the pathogens involved in enteric diseases in poultry. NetB, a pore-forming toxin, is considered the main virulence factor responsible for necrotic enteritis during infection. We carried out a field study involving 14 farms to evaluate the occurrence of positive and the impact of infection in Italian poultry flocks.

Effects of Processing Temperature on Color Properties of Dry-Cured Hams Made without Nitrite.

Dry cured hams were investigated for their ability to develop red color even at low temperature (3-4 °C) and in the absence of added nitrites; results were compared with those obtained from nitrite-free hams made at conventional warm maturing temperatures. Colorimetric parameters (L*, a*, b*, and hue) and concentration of the main pigments Zn protoporphyrin IX (ZnPP) and heme were measured at three stages of preparation (six, nine, and 12 months), showing that red color was successfully formed at low temperatures, though at a slower rate and less intensively than under warm conditions. Major differences in the pattern of color development were found with the two processing temperatures.

Effect of added autochthonous yeasts on the volatile compounds of dry-cured hams.

Three yeast strains belonging to Debaryomyces and Hyphopichia spp., isolated from dry-cured hams and previously tested for biocontrol activity against toxigenic Penicillium nordicum, were investigated for ability in colonising ham surface. Hams were twice yeast-inoculated onto the unskinned muscle surface during ripening and processed up to full maturation in two manufacturing plants.