In recent decades, probiotics have attracted widespread attention and their application in healthcare and animal husbandry has been promising. Among many probiotics, Bacillus coagulans (B. coagulans) has become a key player in the field of probiotics in recent years. It has been demonstrated to be involved in regulating the balance of the intestinal microbiota, promoting metabolism and utilization of nutrients, improving immunity, and more importantly, it also has good industrial properties such as high temperature resistance, acid resistance, bile resistance, and the like. This review highlights the effects of B. coagulans in animal husbandry and its underlying mechanisms.

At present, the widespread use of high-dose zinc oxide and antibiotics to prevent post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) in piglets has caused serious environmental problems. To solve this problem, we studied the effect of HNa as a substitute for zinc oxide (ZnO) and antibiotics on the growth performance, immune status, and antioxidant capacity of piglets. Seventy-two weaned piglets (body weight = 7.42 ± 0.85 kg, 26-d-old) were distributed in a randomized 2 × 3 factorial design (two sexes and three treatments) with six replicates of four piglets each. The three treatments were the control diet (basic diet), HNa diet (basic diet + 2000 mg/kg sodium humate), and ZoA group (basic diet + 1600 mg/kg zinc oxide + 1000 mg/kg oxytetracycline calcium). ANOVA and Chi-square tests were applied to compare the means (p < 0.05) between treatments. The results showed that body weight at 16 and 30 d and the average daily gain of piglets fed with HNa or ZoA were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the control group. Supplementing HNa or ZoA significantly increased (p < 0.05) the level of immunoglobulin M and G, and reduced (p < 0.05) the concentration of inflammatory factors such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukins IL-6 and IL-1β, myeloperoxidase (MPO), and diamine oxidase (DAO). Furthermore, dietary HNa or ZnO significantly reduced (p < 0.05) the level of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and malondialdehyde (MDA) compared with the control group. ZoA treatment showed an upward trend of IgA level and a downward trend of the concentration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and catalase (CAT). Overall, the study demonstrated that the addition of HNa in the diet partially replaced antibiotics and ZnO to improve the growth performance, immune function, and antioxidant capacity of weaned piglets, and maintained a good preventive effect on piglet diarrhea.

Autophagy is a conserved proteolytic mechanism, which degrades and recycles damaged organs and proteins in cells to resist external stress. Probiotics could induce autophagy; however, its underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Our previous study has found that BaSC06 could alleviate oxidative stress by inducing autophagy in rats. This research aimed to verify whether Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SC06 can induce autophagy to alleviate oxidative stress in IPEC-J2 cells, as well as explore its mechanisms. IPEC-J2 cells were first pretreated with 10⁸ CFU/mL BaSC06, and then were induced to oxidative stress by the optimal dose of diquat. The results showed that BaSC06 significantly triggered autophagy, indicated by the up-regulation of LC3 and Beclin1 along with downregulation of p62 in IPEC-J2 cells. Further analysis revealed that BaSC06 inhibited the AKT–FOXO signaling pathway by inhibiting the expression of p-AKT and p-FOXO and inducing the expression of SIRT1, resulting in increasing the transcriptional activity of FOXO3 and gene expression of the ATG5–ATG12 complex to induce autophagy, which alleviated oxidative stress and apoptosis. Taken together, BaSC06 can induce AKT–FOXO-mediated autophagy to alleviate oxidative stress-induced apoptosis and cell damage, thus providing novel theoretical support for probiotics in the prevention and treatment of oxidative damage.

Integrated bamboo-chicken farming (BCF) systems are a traditional agroforestry pattern with large economic benefits in subtropical China. However, little is known regarding the effect of this integration on the bamboo leaf-associated microbiome, which can be very important for disease control and nutrient turnover. In the present study, we compared the leaf-associated bacterial and fungal communities of moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) in a BCF system and an adjacent moso bamboo forest (MBF). The results showed that Cyanobacteria and Ascomycota were the predominant microbial phyla associated with bamboo leaves. Chicken farming under the bamboo forest significantly increased the bacterial and fungal alpha diversity (observed operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and Simpson’s index) associated with bamboo leaves. Principal components analysis (PCoA) further confirmed the shifts in the bacterial and fungal communities caused by chicken farming. Based on the observed relative abundances, the phyla Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, TM7, and Basidiomycota were significantly increased on BCF-associated leaves compared with MBF leaves, while Acidobacteria and Ascomycota were significantly decreased. An ecological function prediction analysis based on metabolic processes indicated that BCF could accelerate nutrient (C, N, and S) cycling but may increase the risk of fungal-associated diseases. Our findings suggest that shifts in leaf-associated bacterial and fungal communities can be important indicators for the scientific management of BCF systems.