A novel candidate gene CLN8 regulates fat deposition in avianOA

Background The fat deposition has a crucial role in animal meat flavor, and fat deposition-related traits are vital for breeding in the commercial duck industry. Avian fat-related traits are typical complex phenotypes, which need a large amount of data to analyze the genetic loci.Results In this study, we performed a new phenotypic analysis of fat traits and genotyped whole-genome variations for 1,246 ducks, and combed with previous GWAS data to reach 1,880 ducks for following analysis. The carc...     

Effects of dietary oil sources and fat extraction methods on apparent and standardized ileal digestibility of fat and fatty acids in growing pigsOA

Background:There is a lack of data for the standardized ileal digestibility(SID) of fat and fatty acids in national feed databases.In addition,it is important to specify the procedures used for fat analyses.Therefore,an experiment was conducted to 1) determine the apparent ileal digestibility(AID) and SID of fat and fatty acids in ten different oil sources for growing pigs and to develop prediction equations for SID of fat based on fatty acid composition;and 2) compare the effect of the fat extr...     

Insights into the architecture of human-induced polygenic selection in Duroc pigsOA

Background: As one of the most utilized commercial composite boar lines, Duroc pigs have been introduced to China and undergone strongly human-induced selection over the past decades. However, the efficiencies and limitations of previous breeding of Chinese Duroc pigs are largely understudied. The objective of this study was to uncover directional polygenic selection in the Duroc pig genome, and investigate points overlooked in the past breeding process.Results: Here, we utilized the Generation ...     

Stage-specific nutritional management and developmental programming to optimize meat productionOA

Over the past few decades,genetic selection and refined nutritional management have extensively been used to increase the growth rate and lean meat production of livestock.However,the rapid growth rates of modern breeds are often accompanied by a reduction in intramuscular fat deposition and increased occurrences of muscle abnormalities,impairing meat quality and processing functionality.Early stages of animal development set the longterm growth trajectory of offspring.However,due to the seasona...     

Dietary calcium supplementation promotes the accumulation of intramuscular fatOA

Background: In the livestock industry, intramuscular fat content is a key factor affecting meat quality. Many studies have shown that dietary calcium supplementation is closely related to lipid metabolism. However, few studies have examined the relationship between dietary calcium supplementation and intramuscular fat accumulation.Methods: Here, we used C2C12 cells, C57BL/6 mice(n = 8) and three-way cross-breeding pigs(Duroc×Landrace×Large white)(n = 10) to study the effect of calcium addition o...     

The significan e of N-carbamoylglutamate in ruminant productionOA

Improving the efficiency and production of grazing ruminants to support food and fiber production, while reducing the environmental footprint and meeting the welfare needs of the animals, is important for sustainable livestock production systems. Development of new technologies that can improve the efficiency of nitrogen(N) utilization in ruminants, and that are effective and safe, has important implications for ruminant livestock production. N-carbomoylglutamate(NCG) is a functional micronutrie...     

Serum metabolic profile and metabolome genome-wide association study in chickenOA

Background Chickens provide globally important livestock products. Understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms underpinning chicken economic traits is crucial for improving their selective breeding. Influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, metabolites are the ultimate expression of physiological processes and can provide key insights into livestock economic traits. However, the serum metabolite profile and genetic architecture of the metabolome in chickens have no...     

Associations of genome-wide structural variations with phenotypic differences in cross-bred Eurasian pigsOA

Background During approximately 10,000 years of domestication and selection, a large number of structural variations(SVs) have emerged in the genome of pig breeds, profoundly influencing their phenotypes and the ability to adapt to the local environment. SVs(≥ 50 bp) are widely distributed in the genome, mainly in the form of insertion(INS), mobile element insertion(MEI), deletion(DEL), duplication(DUP), inversion(INV), and translocation(TRA). While studies have investigated the SVs in pig genom...     

Genomic patterns of homozygosity and inbreeding depression in MurcianoGranadina goatsOA

Background: Inbreeding depression can adversely affect traits related to fitness, reproduction and productive performance. Although current research suggests that inbreeding levels are generally low in most goat breeds, the impact of inbreeding depression on phenotypes of economic interest has only been investigated in a few studies based on genealogical data.Results: We genotyped 1040 goats with the Goat SNP50 BeadChip. This information was used to estimate different molecular inbreeding coeffi...     

Improving the accuracy of genomic prediction for meat quality traits using whole genome sequence data in pigsOA

Background Pork quality can directly affect customer purchase tendency and meat quality traits have become valuable in modern pork production. However, genetic improvement has been slow due to high phenotyping costs. In this study, whole genome sequence(WGS) data was used to evaluate the prediction accuracy of genomic best linear unbiased prediction(GBLUP) for meat quality in large-scale crossbred commercial pigs.Results We produced WGS data(18,695,907 SNPs and 2,106,902 INDELs exceed quality co...     

Hatching egg polyunsaturated fatty acids and the broiler chickOA

Transgenerational effects of certain nutrients such as essential fatty acids are gaining increased attention in the field of human medicine and animal sciences as a new tool to improve health and animal performance during perinatal life.Omega-3(n-3) and omega-6(n-6) fatty acids are denoted by the position of the first double bond from methyl end of the hydrocarbon chain.Alpha-linolenic acid(18:3 n-3) and linoleic acid(18:2 n-6) are essential n-3 and n-6 fatty acids and cannot be synthesized by t...     

Glyphosate exposure deteriorates oocyte meiotic maturation via induction of organelle dysfunctions in pigsOA

Background: Recently, defects in mammalian oocytes maturation induced by environmental pollution results in the decreasing animal reproduction. Animal exposed to glyphosate is largely unavoidable because glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicide worldwide due to its high-efficiency and broad-spectrum effects, which causes glyphosate an environmental contaminant found in soil, water and food. During the last few years, the growing and wider use of glyphosate has raised great concerns ab...     

Dietary methionine deficiency stunts growth and increases fat deposition via suppression of fatty acids transportation and hepatic catabolism in Pekin ducksOA

Background: Although methionine(Met), the first-limiting dietary amino acid, has crucial roles in growth and regulation of lipid metabolism in ducks, mechanisms underlying are not well understood. Therefore, the objective was to use dietary Met deficiency to investigate the involvement of Met in lipid metabolism and fat accumulation of Pekin ducks.Methods: A total of 150 male Pekin ducks(15-d-old, 558.5 ± 4.4 g) were allocated into 5 groups(6 replicates with 5 birds each) and fed corn and soybea...     

Identification of key genes affecting porcine fat deposition based on coexpression network analysis of weighted genesOA

Background: Fat deposition is an important economic consideration in pig production. The amount of fat deposition in pigs seriously affects production efficiency, quality, and reproductive performance, while also affecting consumers’ choice of pork. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis(WGCNA) is effective in pig genetic studies. Therefore, this study aimed to identify modules that co-express genes associated with fat deposition in pigs(Songliao black and Landrace breeds) with extreme lev...     

Extracellular vesicles from oviductal and uterine fluids supplementation in sequential in vitro culture improves bovine embryo qualityOA

Background: In vitro production of bovine embryos is a well-established technology, but the in vitro culture(IVC)system still warrants improvements, especially regarding embryo quality. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of extracellular vesicles(EVs) isolated from oviductal(OF) and uterine fluid(UF) in sequential IVC on the development and quality of bovine embryos. Zygotes were cultured in SOF supplemented with either BSA or EVs-depleted fetal calf serum(dFCS) in the presence(BSA-EV and d...     

Fecal microbiota dynamics and its relationship to diarrhea and health in dairy calvesOA

Background: Diarrhea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in young calves, resulting in considerable economic loss for dairy farms. To determine if some gut microbes might have resistance to dysbiotic process with calf diarrhea by dictating the microbial co-occurrence patterns from birth to post-weaning, we examined the dynamic development of the gut microbiota and diarrhea status using two animal trials, with the first trial having 14 Holstein dairy calves whose fecal samples were collec...     

Invited review: Remediation strategies for mycotoxin control in feedOA

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of different species of fungi. Aflatoxin B1(AFB1), deoxynivalenol(DON),zearalenone(ZEN) and fumonisin B1(FB1) are the main mycotoxins contaminating animal feedstuffs. These mycotoxins can primarily induce hepatotoxicity, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity and nephrotoxicity, consequently cause adverse effects on the health and performance of animals. Therefore, physical, chemical, biological and nutritional regulation approaches have been developed as primary stra...     

Gut health benefit and application of postbiotics in animal productionOA

Gut homeostasis is of importance to host health and imbalance of the gut usually leads to disorders or diseases for both human and animal. Postbiotics have been applied in manipulating of gut health, and utilization of postbiotics threads new lights into the host health. Compared with the application of probiotics, the characteristics such as stability and safety of postbiotics make it a potential alternative to probiotics. Studies have reported the beneficial effects of components derived from ...