Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition最新文献

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of enzymatic hydrolysate of cottonseed protein (EHCP) replacing soybean meal on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood indexes and fecal volatile fatty acid concentrations of weaned piglets. Thirty ‘Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire’ 28-day-old weaned piglets (male) with an initial body weight of 8.29 ± 0.76 kg were randomly divided into 3 treatment groups with 10 replicates per treatment and 1 pig per replicate. The control group was fed a corn-soybean meal basal diet, and the experimental groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with 2% 65%EHCP and 1.3% 85%EHCP to replace soybean meal, respectively. The experiment period was 21 days. Compared with the control group, the final body weight, average daily gain and average daily feed intake in 65%EHCP group and 85%EHCP group were significantly increased (p < 0.05); both the 65%EHCP and 85%EHCP groups exhibited significantly higher digestibility of energy and crude fat compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Notably, the energy digestibility in the 85%EHCP group was also significantly greater than that in the 65%EHCP group (p < 0.05). When compared to the control group, the blood urea nitrogen concentration was significantly lower in both the 65%EHCP and the 85%EHCP groups (p < 0.01). The concentrations of alanine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, and tyrosine in serum were significantly higher in the 65%EHCP and 85%EHCP groups compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Additionally, in the 85%EHCP group, the concentrations of methionine and threonine in serum were significantly increased when compared to both the control group and the 65%EHCP group (p < 0.05). On the other hand, valine levels in the 65%EHCP group were significantly higher than in the 85%EHCP group (p < 0.05). Compared with the control group, fecal acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and total volatile fatty acid concentration in the 65%EHCP group and 85%EHCP group were significantly increased (p < 0.01). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of EHCP can improve growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood indexes and volatile fatty acids concentrations in feces of weaned piglets. This study suggests that EHCP can effectively substitute common soybean meal in the diets of weaned piglets and serves as a theoretical basis for its use in pig feeding practices.

By gaining insight into the rumen microbiota of young lambs, feeding and management strategies of lambs can be optimized to enhance sheep performance. This study examined rumen development, rumen fermentation parameters, and microbial community composition at different stages of lamb growth, specifically on Days 7, 28, and 56. Rumen fermentation parameters, rumen development and rumen microflora of lambs at different days of age were comparatively analyzed. There were significant differences in rumen papilla length between D7, D28 and D56 (p < 0.001), and significant differences in rumen papilla width at D7 compared with D28 and D56 (p < 0.001); There were significant differences in rumen papilla length between D7, D28 and D56 (p < 0.001) and A/P (Acetic acid/Propionic acid) was significantly higher at D7 than D28 and 56 d (p < 0.001); 16S rRNA sequencing revealed distinct shifts in bacterial abundance: the abundance of Fusobacteria at D7 was significantly higher than that at D28 and D56 (p = 0.043); The abundance of Euryarchaeota was significantly higher at D28 than that at D7 (p = 0.023); The abundance of Cyanobacteria and Tenericutes was significantly higher at D56 than that at D7 (p = 0.011; p = 0.038), and the abundance of Melainabacteria was significantly higher at D56 than that at D7 and D28 (p = 0.034); At the genus level, the abundance of unidentified_Prevotellaceae was significantly higher at D28 and D56 than that at D7 (p = 0.036). Additionally, the abundance of Lactobacillus was significantly lower at D28 than that at D7 (p = 0.018); The abundance of Bacteroides was significantly lower at D56 than that in D7 (p = 0.033). In conclusion, with advancing age of lames, their rumen continued to develop, while the rumen microbiota began to stabilize.

Phytosterols are plant-derived natural compounds which resemble in structure with cholesterol. It has been demonstrated that phytosterols significantly affect growth regulation and antioxidant capacity in poultry and pigs; however, their role in ruminants remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of phytosterol lick blocks on growth performance, serum biochemical and rumen fermentation parameters in Tibetan sheep. Fifteen 5-month-old Tibetan sheep (29.16 ± 1.51 kg) were randomly assigned to three treatments: the control (supplemented with no lick blocks, CON), supplemented with basal lick blocks (BLB), or supplemented with phytosterol lick blocks (PLB); The experiment lasted for 64 days including a 14-day adaptation period. Average daily gain (p = 0.011) of Tibetan sheep in the PLB was higher than that in the CON and BLB, while the feed conversion ratio (p = 0.011) was lower. The digestibility of crude protein in the PLB and BLB was higher than that in the CON (p = 0.029). In addition, the PLB had higher total protein levels (p = 0.026) and lower malondialdehyde content (p = 0.037) in serum than other treatments. The activity of glutathione peroxidase (p = 0.040) and superoxide dismutase (p = 0.024) in the PLB was higher than in the CON, but similar to that in the BLB. In terms of rumen fermentation parameters, Tibetan sheep in the PLB had higher microbial crude protein (p = 0.005) and propionate levels (p = 0.015) and had a lower acetate to propionate ratio (p < 0.001). The principal coordinate analysis based on Bray-Curtis distance showed significant separation between the microbial communities of the treatments (p = 0.008), but the alpha diversity did not change among the three treatments. The LEfSe analysis indicated that more bacterial genera were enriched in the PLB than that in the CON and BLB. In summary, the antioxidant capacity of phytosterols has been demonstrated in Tibetan sheep. It may increase the abundance of certain specific bacterial genera to enhance nutrient digestibility, leading to accelerate growth, without altering alpha diversity.

Diet alters the function and composition of small intestinal epithelial cells, making the relationship between diet and the intestine a focus of much research. This study aimed to clarify the effects of a soft diet on the small intestine. We fed mice a soft pellet diet (SP) and a control hard pellet diet (CD) for 14 days and examined changes in the epithelial cells of the small intestine. We found that the body weights of SP-fed mice were lower than those of CD-fed mice. SP did not alter the length of the small intestine, crypt to villus, or the number of Paneth and Goblet cells, but decreased the expression of small intestinal epithelial cell markers. We also found that SP did not change the copy number of mitochondrial DNA, but decreased the mRNA expression of mitochondrial metabolism genes in SP-fed mice. In addition, we found that E-cadherin, a cell adhesion factor, was decreased in SP-fed mice and that the composition of their microbiota was different from that of CD mice. Our study suggests that SP may impair the homeostasis of small intestine epithelial cells, reinforcing the need for further research on how food texture affects intestinal health.

This study investigated the effects of dietary dill essential oil (DEO) at concentrations of 0.5% (DEO0.5), 1% (DEO1), 2% (DEO2) and 3% (DEO3) on rainbow trout juveniles. A total of 300 healthy rainbow trout (20.70 ± 0.19 g), were fed for 60 days across five treatment groups: control, DEO0.5, DEO1, DEO2 and DEO3. The results revealed that the DEO1 and DEO2 treatments significantly improved the growth performance, intestinal enzymes activities, and serum levels of proteins, lysozyme (LYZ), alternative complement (ACH50), total immunoglobulin (total Ig) and antioxidant defence, compared with those in the control group (p < 0.05). Notably, the levels of mucosal LYZ, total Ig, ACH50 and protease were significantly elevated in the DEO1 and DEO2 treatment groups (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the serum levels of lipids, cytosolic enzymes, glucose and cortisol were significantly lower in the DEO1, DEO2 and DEO3 treatment groups (p < 0.05). The DEO2 treatment group presented the lowest serum levels of stress indicators (cortisol and glucose) and cytosolic enzymes. Additionally, the survival in the DEO treatment groups 14 days after challenge with Aeromonas hydrophila (A. hydrophila) was significantly higher than that in the control group (p < 0.05), with the DEO2 treatment group showing the highest survivorship. Overall, this study indicates that incorporating DEO at concentrations of 1% and 2% into the diet can substantially enhance growth performance, digestive efficiency, biochemical profiles, immune-antioxidant activity, and resistance to A. hydrophila in rainbow trout juveniles.

This study investigated the impact of corn distillers' dried grains with solubles (cDDGS) on growth performance, faecal score and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) in weaning pigs by replacing soybean meal (SBM) in the diet. Ninety-six (Duroc × [Landrace × Yorkshire]) weaning pigs with an average body weight (BW) of 6.37 ± 1.10 kg were randomly to 3 groups in a randomized complete design with 8 pens/group and 4 pigs/pen (2 barrows and 2 gilts). Three diets (cDDGS0, cDDGS2.5 and cDDGS5) were formulated using cDDGS to replace 0%, 2.5% and 5% of SBM in the diet. Results found that increasing cDDGS inclusion linearly increased (p < 0.05) the BW, average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and ATTD of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), and gross energy (GE) and linearly reduced (p < 0.05) faecal score. However, feed conversion ratio (FCR) had no significant difference among treatments. In conclusion, cDDGS improved the growth performance and ATTD and reduced faecal score in weaning pigs, and the appreciable benefits seen in the 5% cDDGS group.