Journal of Animal Science

Many fiber ingredients are used by the pet food industry; however, little data are available regarding the fermentation characteristics of alternative fibers currently being used. The objectives of this study were to determine organic matter disappearance (OMD) and postbiotic production from various fruit and vegetable fiber sources using an in vitro dog fecal inoculum model. Apple pomace (AP), blueberry pomace (BP), cranberry pomace (CP), tomato pomace (TP), and pea fiber (PF) were used as experimental treatments...

As one of the most obvious phenotypic traits, the coat color of sheep is an ideal model to study the genetic mechanisms underlying coat color varieties of mammals. One distinguishable coat color is the black-headed type, such as the famous black-headed Dorper sheep from Africa and Bayinbuluke sheep from Asia. In this study, we compared the genome sequences of black-headed and all-white sheep to identify causative genes for the black-headed sheep, including black-headed Dorper versus white-headed Dorper, as well as Bayinbuluke (black-headed) versus Small-tailed Han (all-white)...

This study investigated the effect of folic acid (FA) and its delivery routes (in-feed or In ovo) on broiler chicken's hatch and growth performance, blood biochemistry, antioxidant status, and intestinal morphology. A total of 1,860 Cobb 500 hatching eggs were incubated for 21 days. On d 12 of incubation, viable eggs were randomly allotted to four groups: the non-injected group, In ovo saline (injected with 0.1 mL/egg of saline solution), In ovo FA 1 (injected with 0.1 ml FA containing 0.1 mg/egg; FA1), and In ovo FA 2 (injected with 0...

Avian leukosis virus subgroup E (ALVE) as a kind of endogenous retroviruses extensively exists in chicken genome. The insertion of ALVE has some effects on chicken production traits and appearance. Most of the work on ALVEs has been done with commercial breeds. We present here an investigation of ALVE elements in seven Chinese domestic breeds and four standard breeds. Firstly, we established an ALVE insertion site dataset by using the obsERVer pipeline to identify ALVEs from whole-genome sequence data of 11 chicken breeds, 7 Chinese domestic breeds, including Beijing You (BY), Dongxiang (DX), Luxi Game (LX), Shouguang (SG), Silkie (SK), Tibetan (TB) and Wenchang (WC), 4 standard breeds, including White Leghorn (WL), White Plymouth Rock (WR), Cornish (CS), and Rhode Island Red (RIR)...

Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the effects of betaine (BET) supplementation in diets with reduced net energy (NE) levels on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and serum metabolomic profiles in growing pigs. In Exp. 1, 24 growing pigs (initial body weight, BW, 30.83 ± 2.50 kg) were allotted to one of the four treatments (six replications with one pig per pen) in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, including two dietary NE levels (2475 [N-NE] or 2395 [R80-NE] kcal/kg) and two BET doses (0 or 1500 mg/kg)...

Intramuscular fat (IMF) content and fatty acids (FA) profile determine important sensory and technological characteristics of the meat, being interesting traits to be included in breeding programs for Iberian pig. In a previous study, we analyzed the longissimus dorsi transcriptome of Iberian pigs with divergent breeding values for IMF identifying 63 and 12 functional candidate genes and long non-coding RNA being differentially expressed. The first objective of this work was to use the RNA-seq data generated in that study in order to design a low-density panel with 50 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP)...

Gene editing has the potential to expedite the rate of genetic gain for complex traits. However, changing nucleotides (i.e., QTN) in the genome can affect the additive genetic relationship among individuals and, consequently, impact genetic evaluations. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to estimate the impact of including gene-edited individuals in the genetic evaluation and investigate modeling strategies to mitigate potential errors. For that, a beef cattle population was simulated for 9 generations (n=13,100)...

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the growth rates, carcass quality, shelf-life, tenderness, sensory characteristics, volatile compounds, and fatty acid composition of wool, hair, and composite (wool x hair) lambs. Twenty-one wether lambs [wool (Suffolk × Polypay/Targhee; n = 7), hair (Dorper × Dorper; n = 7), and composite (Dorper × Polypay/Targhee; n = 7)] were fed from weaning to finishing at the University of Idaho Sheep Center and subsequently harvested under USDA inspection at the University of Idaho Meat Lab...

Changes in body size and composition, i.e. body weight (BW) gain or loss, affects the daily energy expenditure (EE). To ensure appropriate BW reduction and to find an efficient strategy to reduce and maintain a target BW, regular evaluations and adjustments of energy allowance are important. This study aimed to provide detailed knowledge about possible changes in resting EE, by using the oral 13C-bicarbonate technique (o 13CBT) as a research tool for measurements in 16 overweight pet dogs undergoing BW reduction...

We evaluate the effect of the weaning strategy (WS; early, 130 ± 21 d vs normal, 187 ± 20 d) and backgrounding management (BGM) on growth, carcass characteristics, and relative mRNA expression in the longissimus muscle (LM) of beef steers. One hundred and twenty Angus × SimAngus-crossbred steers (body weight (BW) = 130 ± 11.2 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design. Steers, blocked by age and BW, were randomly assigned to 1 treatment (2×2 factorial). Treatments consisted of early weaned (EW) or normal weaned (NW) steers subsequently backgrounded (BG) on either a forage-based (FB) or concentrates-based (CB) diet...

This study reports genetic parameters for yearling and adult wool and growth traits, and ewe reproductive performance. Data were sourced from an Uruguayan Merino flock involved in a long-term selection program focused on reduced fibre diameter (FD), and increased clean fleece weight (CFW) and live weight (LW). Pedigree and performance data from approximately 5,700 mixed-sex yearling lambs and 2,000 mixed-age ewes born between 1999 and 2019 were analysed. The number of records ranged from 1,267 to 5,738 for yearling traits, and from 1,931 to 7,079 for ewe productive and reproductive performance...

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect and composition of a standardized natural citrus extract (SNCE) on both broiler chickens' growth performances and intestinal microbiota. A total of 930 one-day-old males were randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatments: a control treatment (CTL) in which broiler chickens were fed with a standard diet and 2 citrus treatments in which broiler chickens were fed with the same standard diet supplemented with 250 ppm and 2,500 ppm of SNCE, respectively...

Canine obesity negatively influences health and well-being, but can be managed by altering diet composition and caloric intake. Restricted feeding, dietary intervention, and consequent weight loss may be used to improve health and modify gastrointestinal microbiota. In this study, we aimed to determine the effects of restricted feeding of specially formulated foods on weight loss, body composition, voluntary physical activity, serum hormones and oxidative stress markers, and fecal metabolites and microbiota populations of obese dogs...

This study estimated the genetic parameters for human-directed behavior and intraspecific social aggression traits in growing pigs, and explored the phenotypic correlations among them. Data on 2,413 growing pigs were available. Pigs were mixed into new social groups of 18 animals, at 69±5.2 d of age and skin lesions (SL) were counted 24 h (SL24h) post-mixing. Individual behavioral responses to isolation in a weighing crate (CRATE) or when alone in an arena while a human directly approached them (IHAT) were assessed within 48h post-mixing...

Grain processing such as particle size, flake density, or starch retrogradation can influence ruminal degradability characteristics; however, it is unclear how exogenous α-amylase supplementation interacts with different processed grains. Four experiments were conducted to compare the effects of Aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract (Amaize®; Alltech Biotechnology Inc., Nicholasville, KY) supplementation on in vitro gas production kinetics of grain substrates with different processing methods that are common in the feedlot industry...

The swine inflammation and necrosis syndrome (SINS) is a syndrome visually characterized by the presence of inflamed and necrotic skin at extreme body parts, such as the teats, tail, ears, and claw coronary bands. This syndrome is associated with several environmental causes, but knowledge of the role of genetics is still limited. Moreover, piglets affected by SINS are believed to be phenotypically more susceptible to chewing and biting behaviors from pen mates, which could cause a chronic reduction in their welfare throughout the production process...

This study aimed to determine if supplementation of oxidized-beta carotene (OxC-Beta) improved sow reproductive performance, litter growth performance, vitamin A status, and ability to alter immune cells abundance in sows and piglets, subsequent litter performance, and nursery growth performance. At approximately d 60 of gestation and through the lactation period, 194 sows (blocked by parity) were assigned to a common gestation diet or the common diet supplemented with 80 ppm oxidized beta-carotene (OxC-Beta, Aviagen, Ottawa, ON, Canada)...

Physiological and environmental stresses such as the transition into lactation and heat load contribute to gastrointestinal tract (GIT) dysfunction. The nonruminant gastrointestinal tract has mechanisms to cope with prooxidant and proinflammatory stressors arising from the gut lumen or within intestinal cells. One-carbon metabolism (OCM) contributes to antioxidant capacity via the production of glutathione (GSH) and taurine, and the synthesis of phospholipid, creatine, and the osmolyte glycinebetaine among others...

The objective of this work was to determine if specific circulating microRNA (miRNA) differed due to pregnancy status in heifers. Blood samples were collected from heifers 21 days after receiving an in vitro-produced embryo. Pregnancy status was diagnosed 21 days after embryo transfer, equivalent to day 28 of gestation, with rectal ultrasonography. Blood samples from 10 pregnant and 10 nonpregnant heifers were then evaluated for miRNA expression. There were five different miRNAs quantified using delta-delta Ct and qPCR methodology...

Spray dried plasma (SDP) is commonly used in phase 1 diets for weanling pigs, but it is unknown if SDP affects energy or nutrient digestibility of the subsequent diet. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to test the null-hypothesis that inclusion of SDP in a phase 1 diet fed to weanling pigs will not affect energy or nutrient digestibility of a phase 2 diet without SDP. In Exp. 1, 16 newly weaned barrows with an initial body weight (BW) of 4.47 ± 0.35 kg were randomly allotted to a phase 1 diet without SDP or a diet including 6% SDP for 14 d...