Volume 102, 2024

Time-series fermentation indicators to estimate apparent appearance and disappearance of rumen volatile fatty acid (VFA) under regular meal feeding. A comprehensive measurement beyond concentrations and molar proportions of rumen VFA.

This research highlights the efficacy of the methane (CH₄) inhibitor, 3-nitrooxypropanol, in reducing CH₄ emissions in young growing beef cattle without affecting dry matter intake and animal performance when consuming a 50:50 forage:concentrate diet.

Steers receiving a bacterial DFM combination containing Lactobacillus animalis, Propionibacterium freudenreichii, Bacillus subtilis, and Bacillus licheniformis at 1:1:1:3 ratio (6 × 10⁹ CFU) showed improved core-fiber digestibility, and a safer ruminal pH pattern, enhancing ruminal effective degradability of fiber fractions, and increased NH₃–N release.

Lactobacillus animalis, Propionibacterium freudenreichii, Bacillus subtilis, and Bacillus blicheniformis offered to feedlot finishing yearlings improved average daily gain and feed efficiency, positively impacting hot carcass weight and nutrient digestibility, without affecting feeding behavior and ruminal papillae.

Selenium supplementation can facilitate bovine endometrial repair.

Sodium butyrate orally administered during suckling period could improve the small intestine development and growth performance of suckling lambs by inhibiting the harmful bacteria colonization, and enhancing intestinal barrier functions.

There are limited strategies to mitigate effects arising from water with a high sulfate concentration. In this study, high-sulfate water did not affect dry matter intake, water intake, or growth, but increased ruminal hydrogen sulfide and reduced liver copper concentrations. The use of bismuth subsalicylate as a mitigation strategy markedly reduced ruminal hydrogen sulfide but also nearly depleted liver copper.

First-parity beef females that were nutrient restricted during late gestation and then fed to meet estimated nutrient requirements during lactation experienced compensatory growth but were still in poorer body condition at weaning than controls. Despite a similar birth weight, calves born to nutrient restricted dams diverged in body weight by day 42 of age and weighed less at weaning.

Insulin resistance is associated with improved feed efficiency of finishing beef cattle.

An acidotic diet challenge in conjunction with intraruminal inoculation with F. necrophorum, T. pyogenes, and Salmonella Lubbock were able to induce LA in Holstein steers.

This study revealed that first-lactation dairy cows differ in their susceptibility to subacute rumen acidosis under the same feeding regimen. The susceptibility was related to management factors and not reflected in animal behavior.

NPN supplementation increased in vitro fermentation, but the source of NPN did not have differential effects on in vitro fermentation and in vivo animal performance. Novel sources of NPN mixtures can be included in backgrounding diets without affecting animal performance compared to urea.

Supplementing cattle for the first 42 d after arrival with complexed trace mineral sources improved heifer growth performance and overall health as compared to heifers supplemented with inorganic trace minerals.

Supplementing Mn at the current recommended concentrations does not restrict growth of either implanted or non-implanted cattle. Additionally, our data indicate liver Mn correlates with liver arginase activity and circulating serum urea nitrogen, suggesting liver Mn concentration is more responsive to alterations in nitrogen metabolism than dietary Mn.

This study evaluated the effect of continuous or intermittent feeding EA in a mash or pelleted form on growth performance, health and welfare parameters, and carcass characteristics of feedlot beef steers. Continuously or intermittently feeding an ergot contaminated diet (2 ppm EA) both reduced intake, growth performance, and carcass weight, but pelleting did not reduce the toxicities of EA.

Cereal grains, such as barley, can be sprouted in a controlled environment system in 6 d and provide a palatable, nutrient-dense feed for livestock. The results suggest that the health and performance of the cow and calf were unaffected by including sprouted barley in the diet, making it a potential feed option for producers.

This research investigated for the first time the use of Levodopa in an agonist therapy to treat fescue toxicosis.

Mixed-dimensional attapulgite clay effectively improved the growth performance and nutrient digestibility of Hu lambs fed a diet with naturally occurring mycotoxins. Additionally, mixed-dimensional attapulgite clay promoted the molar proportion of propionate and ammonia concentration, but decreased the acetate to propionate ratio and the molar proportion of n-butyrate.

Ergot alkaloids reduce circulating serotonin and dry matter intake (DMI). 5-hydroxytryptophan administration increases the blood concentration of serotonin and offsets the lowered DMI caused by ergot alkaloids.

Balancing the proportion of forage neutral detergent fiber (FNDF) and rumen degradable starch (RDS) in the diet is meaningful to the scientific formulation of pelleted total mixed ration for fattening sheep. The FNDF to RDS ratio of 0.8 was recommended when formulating a pelleted total mixed ration for sheep.

Calf-fed concentrate-based finishing diets for 328 d beef × dairy cross (Angus × Holstein) steers were more efficient than calf-fed Holstein steers in the feedlot. Tannin and monensin supplementation did not affect overall growth performance.

Unroasted soybeans do not directly limit bioavailability of amino acids from dietary protein in dairy cows.

This research indicates that chromium propionate supplementation improves performance and carcass characteristics in finishing steers. Steers supplemented with hydroxychloride forms of zinc, copper, and manganese had improved carcass characteristics compared to those receiving sulfate forms.

A feed ingredient containing bioactive metabolites of Asparagopsis stabilized in canola oil was able to virtually eliminate methane emissions from grain-fed cattle, without impacting animal health or production, or consumer safety.

Evaluation of flavoring agents in the diet to stimulate feed intake of newly received feedlot calves, and its impact on biomarkers of health and welfare.

Multiple administrations of a bovine-appeasing substance to recently weaned calves diminished an acute-phase response and exit velocity but did not improve performance during the preconditioning and receiving phase.

Increasing Zn supplementation differentially affects genes related to muscle growth, energy metabolism, satellite cell function, and TM homeostasis. Steroidal implant administration decreases plasma Zn concentration, indicating increased Zn demand during periods of rapid growth.

Automated head chamber systems provide researchers with the ability to estimate gas flux, heat production, and dietary energy values in finishing beef cattle.

Insect protein, especially black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), is gaining traction and support as animal feed; accordingly, it is important to conduct research to guide the insect-rearing industry, livestock producers, and feed regulators in decision-making. This research is the first to evaluate defatted BSFL as a protein source for cattle and indicates that BSFL can be substituted for conventional protein supplements in cattle consuming low-quality forage without sacrificing intake or digestibility.

This research demonstrated that ensiled diet improved the growth performance of Tibetan sheep by changing the rumen microbial structure and by promoting nutrient transport through rumen epithelium.

This study revealed that the mixed fodder beet tops-wheat straw silage made an acceptable quality of silage.

Replacing 50% of corn silage with the mixed fodder beet tops-wheat straw silage did not affect animal performance, increased PUFA in milk, and antioxidant capacity in blood and milk, but decreased in vitro methane emission.

Feeding reduced levels of organic trace minerals in the mineral mix of lactating goats altered milk fatty acid composition without negative impacts on milk yield, nutrient digestibility, and antioxidant status.

Stocker cattle are exposed to several stressors within a short period of time, which impair their immunity and lead to bovine respiratory disease. This study evaluated a Bacillus-based probiotic supplement to improve immunity and productivity of high-risk stocker cattle.

Replacing dry-rolled barley grain with dry-rolled hybrid rye grain in diets for finishing beef cattle may reduce DMI, increase the duration that ruminal pH is <5.5, and increase ruminal aNDFom digestibility. Overall, hybrid rye inclusion as a replacement for barley grain increases the digestible energy concentration of the diet.

Tracking changes in individual animal body composition over time increases the availability of data to better inform and develop predictive lamb growth models. The computerized tomography scanning of lambs was used to compare changes in body composition to model predictions during a feeding trial.

Discover how a novel liquid Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation product can prime the rumen and affect microbial fermentation and metabolism of Holstein steers. Our pioneering research unveils promising enhancements in fermentation efficiency and metabolism.

This study provides insights into the effects of dietary crude protein content and corn grain processing on whole-body urea kinetics and the functional roles of urea transporters and aquaporins in urea transfer across the ruminal epithelium in lambs. Results showed that feeding a lower crude protein diet tended to increase urea transfer into the gastrointestinal tract and that feeding steam-flaked corn compared to whole-shelled corn increased the portion of urea secretion into the rumen that was facilitated by urea transporters and aquaporins.

Supplementation with polyclonal antibodies against ruminal methanogens has the potential to decrease enteric methane emissions in cattle. Results from the study may have significant implications for the development of passive immunization as an effective strategy to decrease methane emissions in ruminants.

Compared with providing alfalfa hay at 42 d of age, initiating the supplementation of alfalfa at 14 d of age could enhance growth performance and promote rumen development in pre-weaning lambs. Furthermore, the rumen undergoes significant physiological challenges during the transition from a liquid diet to a solid diet.

Supplementation with direct-fed microbials based on Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis offered to Nellore × Angus bulls in the finishing phase decreased dry matter intake, no influence on average daily gain, improved gain:feed, and an increase in expression of genes important for duodenal function.

This study helps reveal the regulatory mechanism of Se on endometrial oxidative stress under the condition of high cortisol.

Omega-3 rich algae supplementation of first calf heifers improved body weight and progeny birth weights, but negatively impacted reproduction compared to non-fatty acid supplemented heifers.

Salt is an effective intake regulator in self-fed supplements. However, for beef cattle consuming low-quality forages, high salt diets may result in lower intakes and less efficient rumen fermentation.

Supplementation with tannin-rich Sericea lespedeza alters the microbiota associated with the structure and diet-by-host species interaction for microbial composition. Sheep and goats fed diets, including tannin-rich forage, had a distinct rumen bacterial clustering pattern based on diet for sheep, but such a pattern was not detected for goats.

Changes in starch availability by increasing flake density or increasing the degree of starch retrogradation of steam-flaked corn influence in vitro gas production kinetics and the volatile fatty acid profile in ruminal fermentation media.

Results from this study suggest that selection based on genomically enhanced breeding values for residual feed intake may be an effective strategy to select cattle with favorable feed efficiency phenotypes, providing opportunitites to increase the economic and environmental sustainability of the cattle industry.

Methionine supply to beef heifers during mid-gestation influences placental nutrient transport and fetal growth in a sex-dependent manner. These effects are mediated, at least in part, by the mTOR pathway.

The current experiment investigated the impact of TM source (hydroxy vs. sulfate) on rumen fermentation characteristics and on the solubility of Cu, Mn, and Zn within the rumen fluid under simulated abomasal and duodenal conditions. Data indicate that TM source can influence in vitro rumen fermentation characteristics and TM solubility under simulated abomasal conditions.

Delivery of methane-reducing compounds to beef cattle in extensive production systems presents unique challenges. The potential to use drinking water to facilitate the delivery of such compounds to cattle was investigated.

Nelore heifers experienced a short-term improvement in growth performance after receiving hydroxychloride compared to sulfate sources of copper, zinc, and manganese. Hydroxychloride also helped reduce a marker of inflammation at the beginning of the nutrient restriction period. However, it did not lead to improvements in growth performance during the nutrient restriction and adaptation to a high-starch diet.

Supplemental zinc enhances the effects of growth implants in beef cattle, improving weight gain and carcass dressing percentage.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a high-quality protein source, has the potential to substitute for traditional protein ingredients like soybean meal and fish meal. This work provided precise nutritional value parameters by evaluating standardized ileal amino acids, and digestible and metabolizable energy, aiming to enhance the precise application of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast in sow diets.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of adaptation time on the effectiveness of xylanase in improving nutrient and energy digestibility, as well as reducing digesta viscosity in growing pigs fed a high-fiber corn-based diet. Study findings indicate xylanase can partially mitigate the impact of corn-based fiber on nutrient digestibility by enhancing arabinoxylan digestibility in the jejunum when given sufficient adaptation time. This discovery sheds light on the time required for pigs to respond to xylanase supplementation in corn-based diets.

Exploring zinc status evolution in young pigs from parturition to weaning to prevent Zn deficiencies at weaning.

Early feed intake after weaning was associated with overall feeding patterns and performance, the development of the gastrointestinal tract, and protein fermentation products in the small intestine.

The study shown that dietary supplementation of 0.03-0.08% GAA can effectively improve the growth performance and carcass characteristics in broilers by modulation of creatine metabolism through elevating serum CK activity and arginine concentration, and 0.04% GAA is the optimal dose for improving energy utilization of broilers fed the LME (reduced 50 kcal/kg normal ME) diets during the entire growth period.

Heat stress negatively affects performance, and intestinal integrity and function in pigs. Supplementing a Bacillus subtilis-based probiotic to heat stressed pigs helps to counteract some of the negative effects of HS on the performance and intestinal integrity of pigs.

Maternal live yeast supplementation during gestation and lactation affects intestinal homeostasis of offspring by regulating the expression of tight junction proteins, inflammatory cytokines, and antioxidant capacity.

Unlock the potential of low SCFP, high SCFP, EO, or their combination for enhancing growth and intestinal health, and reducing diarrhea via the regulation of redox and immune homeostasis in weanling pigs, both in health and ETEC infection. Recommend low SCFP and EO supplementation in the health condition with cost efficiency, while high SCFP and the combination of SCFP and EO offer extra protection during disease.

Pigs with intrauterine growth restriction require supplemental glycine for increasing the synthesis and availability of glutathione to improve antioxidative responses, growth performance, and health, when fed conventional corn- and soybean meal-based diets. Glycine is a conditionally essential amino acid for growing-finishing pigs. Our results have important implications for developing new nutritional strategies to raise low-birth-weight pigs and enhance the efficiency of global pork production.

Given the species differences in amino acid (AA) digestibility response to the severity of heat damage, target species should be considered when using the AA digestibility value of poultry meal in diet formulation.

Pelleting increases amino acid digestibility in corn–soybean meal diets and diets containing dried distillers grains with solubles and bakery meal when fed to pigs.

Reduction of metabolizable energy through the removal of dietary fat can have detrimental effects on immune status, intestinal health, and mucosa-associated microbiota of nursery pigs. The supplementation of an exogenous xylanase in energy-reduced feeds up to 100 kcal ME/kg can mediate some of the negative effects of reduced dietary fat inclusion in nursery pigs.

This study found that feeding a negative dietary cation–anion difference (DCAD) diet before parturition reduced stillbirth and urine pH and altered metabolism at farrowing. The negative DCAD diets had fewer piglets born in a subsequent litter.

Dietary betaine can alleviate the adverse effects of low dietary energy on rabbit production.

Supplementing 0.1% synbiotics in piglets’ diet has a significant growth-promoting effect before the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) challenge and can inhibit PEDV infection and replication, prevent intestinal barrier dysfunction, by mediating innate antivirus immune response in weaned piglets challenged with PEDV.

The addition of Ni in the diet can provide effective protection from the injury of Cp challenge in broilers, including the improvement of growth performance, inflammatory injury, intestinal morphology, and barrier function, as well as the optimization of the composition of the cecal microbiota. This study contributes to the theoretical foundation for clinical prevention and the underlying mechanisms of Ni in mitigating NE.

The negative impact of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli F18 on the growth performance and prevalence of diarrhea in newly weaned pigs is aggravated by a low dietary zinc concentration (150 ppm). The challenge with enterotoxigenic E. coli F18 reduced the serum zinc concentration for pigs fed a high dietary zinc concentration (2,500 ppm).

The optimal level of 100 mg encapsulated fennel seed essential oil per kilogram of diet significantly boosted growth, gut health, and transcriptomic responses in broiler chickens.

β-Mannanase effectively reduced digesta viscosity through hydrolysis of β-mannan in feeds and thus enhanced intestinal health of nursery pigs by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress whilst improving intestinal barrier function in the jejunum.

This study showed that dietary carbohydrases-protease enzyme complex improves growth performance of weaned pigs, regardless of diet type, and has minimal impact on the gut microbiome composition.

Compared with the other process methods, fermentation of FM by both a single and a mixture of microorganisms improved the production and gut health parameters of broilers. Our findings suggest that the nutritional value of FM can be augmented through the co-fermentation process, upgrading its feeding value in poultry to be comparable to that of soybean meal.

This study demonstrates the importance of supplying dietary protein in accordance with the requirement of the multiparous sow in the transition period, to avoid detrimental effects of inadequate as well as excess protein supply. Milk yield was maximized at a dietary concentration of 5.79 g SID Lys/kg, while nitrogen utilization was optimized at 6.06 g SID Lys/kg when fed 3.8/d, however, stillbirth rate increased with increasing SID Lys concentration.

The current diagnostic survey compares the results from various analytical methods to measure and assess bone mineralization in healthy, lame, and unhealthy pigs across the Midwestern United States. Unhealthy and lame pigs have lower serum Ca, P, and vitamin D compared to healthy pigs.

By determining standardized ileal digestibility values for amino acids in fermented soybean meal, meal can be more accurately added to sow diets, thereby saving costs and reducing waste.

This study evaluated the effects of average daily feed intake, and historical feed intake patterns on parity, sow body weight, farrowing performance, litter performance, and subsequent performance of sows on a commercial sow farm in western Illinois. This research highlights the importance of identifying under-consuming sows that are potentially lysine and energy deficient to allow producers to utilize ways to promote consistent, high daily intakes to these groups and mitigate negative impacts on sow and litter performance.

Infection with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli resulted in clear detriments to weanling pig health and performance, and these adverse effects were not mitigated by supplementation with a combination of butyric, caprylic, and capric fatty acid monoglycerides.

The dietary Lys-to-net energy ratio necessary to optimize milk nitrogen output is dynamic throughout lactation in sows. Optimal weekly ratios could be used to create a precision-feeding program during lactation, which could lead to improved piglet average daily gain and body weights at weaning.

A short calcium (Ca) depletion phase can improve the utilization efficiency of Ca and phosphorus (P) in piglets by increasing the retention of these nutrients throughout both the Ca-depletion period and the subsequent recovery phase, which allows the recovery of bone mineralization. However, a diet contaminated with deoxynivalenol (DON) prevented pigs from recovering from their bone mineralization deficit during the Ca-depletion phase, even when Ca and P digestibility increased, as demonstrated by reduced expression of genes involved in Ca intestinal absorption, renal transport, osteoclastogenesis, and P excretion.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) stimulation resulted in significant cellular inflammatory damage. Meanwhile, DON caused damage to the glucose absorption capacity of IPEC-J2 cells. Combined with correlation analysis, it can be preliminarily concluded that the inflammatory injury of IPEC-J2 cells induced by DON is related to the decrease in glucose transport.

Nanotechnology significantly enhanced the absorption efficiency of VE ensuring its prolonged circulation and thereby boosts the antioxidant capabilities in broilers.

Increased dietary inclusion of sugar beet pulp fed to sows in early gestation numerically increased fat retention and unintendedly protein retention.

Protein deposition is dependent on both the anabolic capacity of the pig and the amino acid concentration of the diet provided.

Due to selection for large litters, modern sows now give birth an increased number of runts that potentially require extra care. Concomitantly the number of low-birth weight (L-BtW) piglets increases. Managing L-BtW piglets, which display poor lifetime performance, carcass composition, and meat quality, has become a major challenge for pig producers. Therefore, alternative rearing strategies are necessary to accommodate the special needs and requirements of this particular subset of piglets. One such strategy is artificial rearing in rescue decks, protecting the most vulnerable piglets of a litter. Feeding exclusively with milk replacers provides an opportunity for the supplementation of specific nutrients present in low concentrations in sow’s milk. The experimental objective was to show whether supplementation with extra carnitine and arginine during artificial rearing had long-term effects in the subsequent fattening period.

The study revealed that, through a 42-d experiment, the addition of 60 mg/kg of recombinant human lysozyme to broiler chickens’ feed led to significant improvements in average daily gain, feed conversion ratio, and serum immune markers. Furthermore, this supplementation influenced the composition of their intestinal microbiota, presenting a promising alternative to antibiotic use in poultry production.

The optimal level of manganese (Mn) supplementation in the diet for weaned piglets has not been determined. Prior research indicates that organic Mn sources lead to less environmental contamination than inorganic sources. The Mn complex of lysine and glutamic acid (Mn-LG) provides a balanced composition of lysine Mn and glutamate Mn. This study demonstrated that dietary inclusion of Mn-LG enhances serum Mn deposition and Mn superoxide dismutase activity in piglets while also reducing the incidence of diarrhea. Remarkably, piglets in the Mn-LG group exhibited lower fecal Mn levels than those in the group receiving inorganic Mn when the same dose was administered.

Conventional corn- and soybean meal-based diets do not provide sufficient glycine for muscle growth in pigs with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) due to its limited endogenous synthesis. Supplementing glycine to such diets for these compromised pigs between weaning and market weights can enhance the state of activation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) cell signaling pathway in skeletal muscle and small intestine.

Dietary supplementation with DHA improved growth performance and attenuated intestinal barrier dysfunction of IUGR-weaned piglets by regulating the intestinal microbiota. Moreover, the study indicated that the gut microflora was correlated with the gene expression of tight junction proteins and immune function.

Dietary organic acids blend supplementation could effectively improve growth performance and intestinal health of weaned piglets.

Bone mineralization can be measured using various analytical procedures on different bones within the animal. However, variation between procedures used and the bone measured can be greater than the dietary treatment differences.

Dietary isoacids have limited effects on performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal microbial ecology, or fecal fatty acids when supplemented in diets fed to finishing gilts.

Piglet body weight at weaning and immunoglobulin A and M concentrations after birth were positively related to inactivated yeast inclusion in the diets of gestating and lactating gilts, which is expected to improve piglet growth performance directly following weaning, without the use of in-feed growth promoters.

Investigating the effect of dietary Spirulina supplementation on Eimeria-challenged birds demonstrated its favorable antioxidant, immune-modulating, and health benefits. Nevertheless, more studies are needed to understand its mode of action in reducing oocyst shedding and regulating gut health in broiler chickens.

Low-cost formulated feeds with high soybean meal fed to nursery pigs increased pathogenic bacteria associated with the jejunal mucosa, impaired intestinal integrity, and decreased growth performance of nursery pigs. Supplementation of β-mannanase decreased digesta viscosity, increased Lactobacillus in the jejunal mucosa, reduced diarrhea, and improved growth performance of nursery pigs.

Cordyceps militaris supplementation could improve the growth performance, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal functions in weaned pigs.

Dietary sodium acetate improves the growth performance of rabbits by supporting intestinal health and proliferation of cecum epithelial cells.

Animal feed contributes the most to environmental impacts in pig production. Eco-friendly diet is efficient in reducing these impacts if we better estimate and consider the nutritional value of ingredients with lower impacts.

This study found that BM-supplemented diets are effective in improving performance, digestive enzyme activity, and intestinal flora in broilers fed low-ME or normal-ME diets. These results may help achieve higher economic productivity of broiler farms.

Precision feeding of gestating sows over 3 consecutive cycles improved the body condition at farrowing (by a better adequacy of energy supplies) and improved nitrogen efficiency (by reducing excess standardized ileal digestible lysine intake), without negative impacts on sows’ performance, feeding behavior or health but with a better potential longevity.

Calcium formate, a salt of formic acid, is not a viable substitute for calcium carbonate in optimizing prececal phosphorus release from inositol phosphates in growing pigs. Formic acid addition to the feed can increase phosphorus release from InsP by exogenous phytase when calcium carbonate is used in the feed.

Feeding SID Arg:Lys levels higher than the NRC (2012) estimated requirement results in improved growth performance in nursery pigs.

Gestating sows with a reduced feed allowance required a longer adaptation period to reach stable index contents in their feces compared with lactating sows, and an insufficient adaptation period resulted in lower digestibility values.

Zinc proteinate with moderate chelation strength increased the zinc absorption in primary duodenal epithelial cells of broiler embryos by promoting the protein expression levels of ZIP3, ZIP5, and y + LAT2 compared to zinc sulfate.

Luteolin, a flavonoid compound, was effective in alleviating intestinal damage and dysfunction caused by soybean meal, promoting intestinal health, and enhancing production performance in early-weaned piglets. This research provided a convincing evidence for the development of novel feed additives to improve intestinal health of early-weaned piglets.

In this study, the energy partition patterns of growing pigs fed diets with different net energy levels were evaluated, and the prediction models for the net energy requirement of pigs were developed and compared using algorithms including multiple linear regression, artificial neural networks, k-nearest neighbor, and random forest.

Dietary manganese supplementation reduced hepatic lipid accumulation in broiler chickens by modulating lipid metabolism-related gene expression and enzyme activity in the liver.

This study showed that extrusion processing changed the chemical compositions, surface structure, and protein and carbohydrate molecular structure, and increased available energy contents and amino acid digestibility.

Dietary xylo-oligosaccharides can reduce intestinal injury in weaned piglets by alleviating mitochondrial dynamics dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and mitochondria-related endoplasmic reticulum membrane disorders.

The vitamin D₃ metabolite, 25(OH)D₃, is a precursor for the active metabolite that is important for Ca and P absorption and influences bone development and mineralization. Increasing standardized total tract digestible P from deficient to adequate or excess increased growth and percentage bone ash. The addition of 25(OH)D₃ to diets deficient in P for bone mineralization (70 or 100% of the NRC (2012) STTD P requirement estimate) increased percentage bone ash. However, the supplementation of 25(OH)D₃ to the basal level of dietary vitamin D₃ had limited effects on growth performance.

Heavy-weight pigs have greater total intake, meal duration, and feed intake constancy than light-weight pigs under an immune challenge. Amino acid supplementation improves light-weight pigs’ feed intake consistency and robustness under an immune challenge.

A comprehensive review of the current literature in which pigs and broiler chickens were fed minor soy bioactive components determined that antinutritional factors and carbohydrates are historically the most frequently analyzed categories in relation to performance and health outcomes. Other categories of bioactive components such as soy phytosterols, peptides, and saponins were under-studied in relation to these same outcomes associated with animal well-being. For all soy-derived components, there is a paucity of research focused on outcomes related to animal behavior or brain characteristics.

No difference in digestibility of energy and AA between field peas from Canada and the United States was observed, but reducing the particle size from 678 to 457 or 246 µm increased energy and starch digestibility and concentrations of DE, ME, and NE in field peas.

•Fermented soybean meal-containing diets performed better in Beluga than fermented soybean meal-containing diets with supplemental methionine and lysine.

•Fermented soybean meal could be replaced up to 60%.

Stress at weaning leads to inflammation and oxidative damage, resulting in reduced growth performance and potential long-lasting health consequences. Many botanicals have been recognized to have beneficial functions relating to inflammatory and oxidative stressors. In this study, a blend of botanicals helped hepatocytes manage inflammation and oxidative stress, and had positive effects on intestinal morphology and integrity, thus ensuring improved growth parameters during an inflammatory challenge.

The functional protein blend replaced the animal protein source in diets to improve growth performance, reduce FCR, enhance nutrient digestibility, mitigate diarrhea incidence, optimize intestinal morphology, and strengthen immune responses in weaned piglets.

Chickens receiving both L-arginine and selenium nanoparticles through in ovo feeding method exhibited improved feed conversion ratio and muscle fiber development without adverse effects on hatchability and growth performance. Additionally, the breast meat from chickens in this treatment also showed a preferable texture with higher protein content.

Supplementation of phytase alone and in combination with multi-carbohydrase (i.e., galactomannanase, xylanase, β-glucanase, and α-galactosidase) ameliorated the negative impacts of a nutrient-deficient diet in broilers in the current study, suggesting successful PA and NSP degradation in the GIT of broilers.

This research highlights the importance of dietary fiber type and weaning age in reducing stress and enhancing immune function in pigs, suggesting that high-fermentable fiber and late weaning could improve overall pig health and wellbeing.

Valerate, a short-chain fatty acid, has received limited study regarding its impacts on intestinal health and disease resistance of weaned piglets when incorporated into diets. This study administered two different glyceride forms of valerate to evaluate their impacts on frequency of diarrhea, inflammatory status, systemic biomarkers, and intestinal physiology. Overall, the use of valerate glycerides exhibited a positive influence on disease status in pigs under enteric infection conditions.

Appropriate dosage of coated oregano essential oil and cinnamaldehyde compounds in antibiotic-free diets improves growth performance, enhances immune responses, and inhibits the proliferation of cecal pathogenic bacteria in broilers.

Feeding a blend of low and high Lys diets can be used to meet a specific sow’s Lys requirement while maintaining similar litter growth performance compared to sows fed a single high Lys diet during lactation.

This study identified a non-linear response to CP reduction, with diets at 6.8% of SIDLys:CP decreasing gain to feed, leading to a plateau in N excretion and ammonia emissions. The ammonia emissions relative to urinary N excretion were stable across treatments, but nitrous oxide emissions relative to N excretion increased, with stable daily emissions per pig.

The present study suggests that yeast probiotics provided in sow lactation diets can improve nursery growth, final finishing body weight, and hot carcass weight of offspring.

The study indicated that increasing calcium and vitamin D3 levels above the Danish recommendations increased the concentration of bone-specific alkaline phosphatase in plasma, although it did not show any significant improvement or deterioration in the lameness score or selection rate of the gilts.

The optimal dietary sodium and chlorine level was suggested to be 0.16% for broiler chicks fed a corn-soybean meal diet between 1 and 21 d of age.

Full-fat or defatted black soldier fly larvae can be used in nursery pig diets as a protein source with no adverse effect on pigs.

Pigs with intrauterine growth restriction require supplemental glycine to increase the synthesis and availability of creatine when fed conventional corn- and soybean meal-based diets. Our results have important implications for developing new nutritional strategies to manage low-birth-weight pigs and enhance the efficiency of global pork production.

Finding technologies to improve the digestibility of protein in growing–finishing pig diets, which in turn reduces the excretion of nutrients into our environment, is important in enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of swine production to feed a growing population. Supplementation with phytase, such as HiPhorius, is one such technology that was clearly efficacious in improving nitrogen and dry matter digestibilities in these metabolism studies, while added chromium was without effect.

Supplementation with protease (50 g/ton or 30,000 NFP/kg of feed) can be used in growing-finishing pig feed programs to increase amino acid digestibility in soybean-meal-containing diets. Pig age could influence AA digestibility in which younger pigs had greater SID of AA compared to older pigs.

Low feed intake in newly weaned pigs lowers intestinal glutathione levels and instead increases cysteine oxidation to taurine and cysteine excretion in bile.

This review highlights the potential of soy saponins, bioactive compounds in soybeans, to regulate inflammation and reduce oxidative stress, as shown in rodent and in vitro studies. Emerging research suggests these benefits could extend to larger animals like pigs and chickens, but further studies are needed to confirm their effects.

Dive into our research to uncover the secret behind the best level of folic acid (FA) supplementation for lactating-pregnant rabbit does with different litter sizes. In this innovative study, we discovered how FA improves maternal health and offspring development during different production stages.

The incorporation of both morphological and reproductive traits as selection criteria to improve reproductive efficiency in Pura Raza Española mares significantly amplifies genetic responses for reproductive efficiency.

Dam age, and birth type or birth and rearing type, affected the weights of purebred lambs and their crosses differently. Estimates of these systematic effects, along with estimates of direct and maternal heterosis, can be used to adjust birth and weaning weights in purebred and crossbred lambs to allow their direct comparison in an across-breed genetic evaluation.

Cow temperament at the time of parturition is influenced by non-genetic life experience, even that of her own dam. Docility at the time of parturition was associated with lower reproduction and productivity.

Supplementation with rumen-protected methionine alters the expression of genes related to adipogenesis, DNA methylation, and oxidative stress in beef male calves.

The aim of this research was to establish how much of the observed variability in enteric methane production and feed intake in growing cattle is attributable to the underlying genetic differences in these animals and if downstream genetic evaluations could be used to breed lower-emitting animals.

For genetic evaluation, a random regression model can accommodate multiple measures of body weight on an animal and is flexible in fitting these exactly according to their age at measurement, following a smooth trajectory of variance and covariance. However, this feature was shown to have limited added value in increasing the accuracy of EBVs compared to a multiple-trait model that assumes measurement at fixed ages.

High resilience to evolving diseases, shifting environmental circumstances, and other stress factors is becoming progressively significant in pig production. Therefore, identifying novel phenotypes that can be used as auxiliary traits for resilience is a crucial step for enhancing the resilience of pigs through selection.

This study aimed to identify novel and pleiotropic genes regulating cannon bone circumference (CBC) and metatarsal area bone mineral density (raBMD) using genome-wide association studies, and demonstrated that RAMP1 was the potential pleiotropic candidate gene regulating CBC and raBMD, providing valuable insights for elucidating the genetic mechanisms underlying limb growth and bone mineral accumulation.