Polyphenols in Eucalyptus leaves improved the egg and meat qualities and protected against ethanol‐induced oxidative damage in laying hens

Polyphenols in Eucalyptus leaves (PE) were value resources due to various pharmacological activities, but data on the effect on laying hens are very scare. This study was conducted to determine the effect of PE on the laying performance, egg traits, meat quality, antioxidant status and liver tissues of laying hens. One hundred and twenty 256‐day‐old Yueqinhuang laying hens were randomly assigned to four treatment groups (different levels of PE at 0, 0.5, 0.8 and 1.2 g/kg diet) for 63 days with 15 replicates per group. Addition of 0.8 g/kg PE not only improved the egg trait by increasing the eggshell thickness and decreasing MDA production and cholesterol content in the egg yolk, but also significantly enhanced meat quality of hens, as suggested by the increase pH_45 min (p < .01) and a* value, and decrease drip loss rate (p < .01). Meanwhile, under acute ethanol‐induced oxidative damage condition, supplementation of 0.8 g/kg PE enhanced the serum antioxidant status by increasing enzymatic activities (GSH‐PX, T‐SOD, T‐AOC), inhibited oxidative damage and provided protective effect to liver tissue. In conclusion, addition of 0.8 g/kg PE not only improved the egg traits and meat quality without obvious adverse effects, but also increased the serum antioxidant status of the hens and protected their liver tissue from ethanol‐induced oxidative damage. This study indicated that PE could be utilized as an effective feed additive for laying hens to improve health performance and egg traits.     

Effects of concentrate‐to‐forage ratios and 2‐methylbutyrate supplementation on ruminal fermentation,bacteria abundance and urinary excretion of purine derivatives in Chinese Simmental steers

This study evaluated the effects of dietary concentrate levels and 2‐methylbutyrate (2MB ) supplementation on performance, ruminal fermentation, bacteria abundance, microbial enzyme activity and urinary excretion of purine derivatives (PD ) in steers. Eight ruminally cannulated Simmental steers (12 months of age; 389 ± 3.7 kg of body weight) were used in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Moderate‐concentrate (400 g/kg diet [MC ]) or high‐concentrate (600 g/kg diet [HC ]) diets were fed with or without 2MB (0 g/day [2MB ?] or 15.0 g/day [2MB +]). Dry matter intake and average daily gain increased, but feed conversion ratio decreased with the HC diet or 2MB supplementation. Ruminal pH decreased, but total volatile fatty acid increased with the HC diet or 2MB supplementation. Molar proportion of acetate and acetate‐to‐propionate ratio decreased with the HC diet, but increased with 2MB supplementation. Propionate molar proportion and ruminal NH ₃‐N content increased with the HC diet, but decreased with 2MB supplementation. Neutral detergent fibre degradability decreased with the HC diet, but increased with 2MB supplementation. Crude protein degradability increased with the HC diet or 2MB supplementation. Abundance of Ruminococcus albus , Ruminococcus flavefaciens , Fibrobacter succinogenes and Bufyrivibrio fibrisolvens as well as activities of carboxymethyl cellulase, cellobiase, xylanase and pectinase decreased with the HC diet, but increased with 2MB supplementation. However, abundance of Prevotella ruminicola and Ruminobacter amylophilus as well as activities of α‐amylase and protease increased with the HC diet or 2MB supplementation. Total PD excretion also increased with the HC diet or 2MB supplementation. The results suggested that growth performance, ruminal fermentation, CP degradability and total PD excretion increased with increasing dietary concentrate level from 40% to 60% or 2MB supplementation. The observed diet × 2MB interaction indicated that supplementation of 2MB was more efficacious for improving growth performance, ruminal fermentation and total PD excretion with promoted ruminal bacteria abundance and enzyme activity in the MC diet than in the HC diet.     

Effect of gut stress induced by oxidized wheat gluten on the growth performance,gut morphology and oxidative states of broilers

This study was to investigate the effect of oxidized wheat gluten (OG) on growth performance, gut morphology and its oxidative states of broilers. One hundred and eighty‐day‐old male broilers (10 chicks/pen) were randomly allocated into three dietary treatments: control diet (CON), diet with 8% wheat gluten (WG) and diet with 8% OG with six pens/treatment. Body weight (BW) (21 and 35 days) and average daily gain (ADG) (1–21 days and 22–35 days) decreased (p < .05) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (1–21 days and 22–35 days) increased (p < .05) in OG treatment. Feed intake (FI) decreased (p < .05) in WG and OG treatments during 22–35 days. However, FI was not influenced by dietary treatments during 1–21 days (p > .05). The OG‐fed broilers had a lower faecal pH value (p < .05) and higher faecal moisture content (p < 05) at 14, 21, 28 and 35 days. Villus height, crypt depth and V/C value were not different (p > .05) among treatments at 21 and 35 days. Lipid peroxidation (LPO) (21 and 35 days) and malondialdehyde (MDA) (35 days) content in crop of OG treatment increased (p < .05). Oxidized glutathione (GSSG) (21 days), LPO (21 and 35 days) and MDA (21 and 35 days) content in ileum of OG treatment increased (p < .05). The reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG) (21 days) and (GSH) (35 days) in ileum of OG treatment decreased (p < .05). The present findings indicate that OG might be a stressor for broiler gut, which could induce oxidative stress both in crop and in ileum, and the diarrhoea as well. The growth performance of broiler was consequently depressed.     

Modulation of broilers’ caecal microflora and metabolites in response to a potential probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

Studies have found that a dietary supplement of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens improved the growth performance, increased the nutrient digestibility of hosts and modulated the intestinal microflora. A total of 360 1‐day‐old Ross broilers were randomly divided into three treatments: a control group with a basal diet, an antibiotic group with a basal diet and added colistin sulphate, and a probiotics group with a basal diet and added Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. The HiSeq high‐throughput sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA was used to investigate the differences in birds’ caecal microflora, and metabolomics was used to analyse changes in caecal metabolites. Results showed that the supplementation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens significantly improved the BW and ADG compared with the control birds. Results of sequencing indicated that (i) 645, 670, 596 unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were found in birds supplemented with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on day 7, 21 and 42, separately, (ii) due to the diversity and relative abundance of the birds’ caecal microflora, the OTUs of the caecal microflora clustered according to age and treatment, except on day 42, (iii) among the six predominate families (Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Erysipelotrichaceae, Lactobacillaceae and Rikenellaceae), the supplementation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens significantly increased Enterobacteriaceae on day 42, (iv) Bacillus amyloliquefaciens increased the relative abundance of Faecalibacterium and Ruminococcus on day 21, increased the Faecalibacterium and Blautia and decreased the Ruminococcus on day 42. The metabolomics of caecal metabolites showed that the dietary Bacillus amyloliquefaciens changed the caecal metabolites involved of amino acid metabolism and glyceride metabolism, and the antibiotics changed the caecal metabolites that were related to carbohydrates and amino acid metabolism on day 21.     

Amino acid profiles of rumen undegradable protein: a comparison between forages including cereal straws and alfalfa and their respective total mixed rations

Optimizing the amino acid (AA) profile of rumen undegradable protein (RUP) can positively affect the amount of milk protein. This study was conducted to improve knowledge regarding the AA profile of rumen undegradable protein from corn stover, rice straw and alfalfa hay as well as the total mixed ratio diets (TMR) based on one of them as forage source [forage‐to‐concentrate ratio of 45:55 (30% of corn stover (CS), 30% of rice straw (RS), 23% of alfalfa hay (AH) and dry matter basis)]. The other ingredients in the three TMR diets were similar. The RUP of all the forages and diets was estimated by incubation for 16 hr in the rumen of three ruminally cannulated lactating cows. All residues were corrected for microbial colonization, which was necessary in determining the AA composition of RUP from feed samples using in situ method. Compared with their original AA composition, the AA pattern of forages and forage‐based diets changed drastically after rumen exposure. In addition, the extent of ruminal degradation of analysed AA was not constant among the forages. The greatest individual AA degradability of alfalfa hay and corn stover was Pro, but was His of rice straw. A remarkable difference was observed between microbial attachment corrected and uncorrected AA profiles of RUP, except for alfalfa hay and His in the three forages and TMR diets. The ruminal AA degradability of cereal straws was altered compared with alfalfa hay but not for the TMR diets. In summary, the AA composition of forages and TMR‐based diets changed significantly after ruminal exposure, indicating that the original AA profiles of the feed cannot represent its AA composition of RUP. The AA profile of RUP and ruminal AA degradability for corn stover and rice straw contributed to missing information in the field.     

Multimarker and rare variants genomewide association studies for bone weight in Simmental cattle

Bone weight, defined as the total weight of the bones in all the forequarter and hindquarter joints, can reflect somebody conformation traits and skeletal diseases. To gain a better understanding of the genetic determinants of bone weight, we used a composite strategy including multimarker and rare‐marker association to perform genomewide association studies (GWAS) for that character in Simmental cattle. Our strategy consisted of three models: (i) A traditional linear mixed model (LMM) was applied (Q+K‐LMM); (ii) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with p‐values less than .05 from the LMM were selected to undergo the least absolute shrinkage and selector operator (Lasso) in the second stage (LMM‐Lasso); (iii) genes containing two or more rare SNPs were examined by performing the sequence kernel association test (gene‐based SKAT). A total of 1,225 cattle were genotyped with an Illumina BovineHD BeadChip containing 770,000 SNPs. After the quality‐control procedures, 1,217 individuals with 608,696 common SNPs and 105,787 rare SNPs (with 0.001 < minor allele frequency [MAF] <0.05) remained in the sample for analysis. A traditional LMM successfully mapped three genes associated with bone weight, while LMM‐Lasso identified nine genes, which included all genes found by traditional LMM. Only a single gene, EPHB3, surpassed the significance threshold after Bonferroni correction in gene‐based SKAT. In conclusion, based on functional annotation and results from previous endeavours, we believe that LCORL, RIMS2, LAP3, PRKAR2B, CHSY1, MAP2K6 and EPHB3 are candidate genes for bone weight. In general, such a comprehensive strategy for GWAS may be useful for researchers seeking to probe the full genetic architecture underlying economic traits in livestock.     

基质对黑果腺肋花楸幼苗生长的影响

以黑果腺肋花楸(Aronia melanocarpa)为试验材料,选用田园土、泥炭土、珍珠岩和黄沙,采用正交试验设计,研究不同基质配比对黑果腺肋花楸成苗率以及幼苗形态指标和生理指标的影响。结果表明,不同育苗基质对黑果腺肋花楸出苗率、苗高、地径、主根长、侧根数和高径比等形态指标以及根系活力、可溶性糖、淀粉和蛋白质等生理指标的影响差异显著,综合分析各项指标,筛选出适合黑果腺肋花楸容器育苗的栽培基质为田园土(40%)+泥炭土(30%)+黄沙(30%)、田园土(40%)+珍珠岩(30%)+黄沙(30%)、田园土(40%)+泥炭土(30%)+珍珠岩(30%)和田园土(60%)+泥炭土(20%)+黄沙(20%)。     

羔羊日粮精粗比对其肉及脂肪组织中脂肪酸组成的影响

为了研究不同精粗比日粮对广河羊羔肉品质的影响,在广河县羔羊肉生产区,选择不同精粗比饲喂的6月龄健康陶寒杂交(陶赛特羊♂×小尾寒羊♀)断奶去势公羔各3只进行屠宰,取股二头肌、背最长肌、肱二头肌3个部位肌肉和肾周脂肪、皮下脂肪、尾部脂肪3个部位脂肪,用气象色谱法分析其脂肪酸的种类及含量。结果表明,在所有组织中均检测出38种脂肪酸,其中饱和脂肪酸17种,不饱和脂肪酸21种。脂肪组织中饲喂低精粗比日粮的亚油酸(C18∶2n6c)、α-亚麻酸(C18∶3n3)、饱和脂肪酸(SFA)、多不饱和脂肪酸(PUFA)及其与饱和脂肪酸比值(P/S)、n3系多不饱和脂肪酸和n6系多不饱和脂肪酸均显著高于饲喂高精粗比日粮(P<0.05);饲喂低精粗比日粮的所有组织中花生四烯酸(C20∶4)的含量显著高于饲喂高精粗比日粮(P<0.05);与饲喂高精粗比日粮的羊羔肉相比,饲喂低精粗比日粮既节省了生产成本又明显改善和提高了羊羔肉中脂肪酸的营养价值。