Ruminal Microbiota, Fermentation Process, Enteric Methane Emissions, and Animal Performance

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to a Special Issue of Ruminants entitled ‘Ruminal Microbiota, Fermentation Process, Enteric Methane Emissions, and Animal Performance’.

The Special Issue aims to provide knowledge about the influence of ruminal microbiota on the fermentation process, enteric methane emissions, and animal performance from ruminants. This will help us to understand how the use of feed additives and/or plant secondary metabolites in ruminant diets may be an interesting feeding strategy to modify the rumen function of animals by altering nutrient digestion pathways, changing the ruminal fermentation process, inhibiting methanogenesis, modulating microbial populations, adjusting the biohydrogenation of fatty acids, and reducing the risk of metabolic diseases, thus improving ruminant productivity and health.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviewers are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following topics: in vivo studies on different species of ruminants (such as cows, sheep, goats, buffalos, etc.) and in vitro studies using continuous culture fermentor systems (such as RUSITEC and non-RUSITEC systems) in which different feed additives are being tested (such as ionophores, prebiotics, probiotics, enzymes, essential oils, vitamin, and mineral packs) and/or different plant secondary metabolites are researched (such as phenolics/polyphenolics, terpenes/terpenoids, sulphur-containing compounds, and nitrogen-containing compounds) on animal performance, ruminal microbiota, rumen fermentation, enteric methane emissions, nutrient digestibilities, volatile fatty acids, and microbial protein synthesis. It will allow us to enhance the feed efficiency and sustainability of animal production systems worldwide.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions to this Special Issue.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Animals.

Dr. Ana Isabel Roca-Fernández
Dr. Magdalena Arévalo Turrubiarte
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Ruminants is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.