Search Results (3,278)

Plant-based meat alternatives (PMAs), as an emerging food category gaining increasing popularity, face potential food safety risks and ethical concerns for vegetarians due to the illegal adulteration of animal-derived components. To address these challenges and enhance regulatory oversight, the development of a rapid, sensitive, and highly specific detection method is essential. In this study, five DNA extraction methods were evaluated and optimized to identify the most effective approach for PMA products. The optimal conditions were determined to be 60 mmol/L NaCl, 10 mmol/L Tris HCl, and a centrifugation speed of 12,000× g. Additionally, specific primers targeting four common animal-derived adulterants, namely pork, chicken, duck, and beef, were designed and screened for targeted amplification. To establish a rapid and visually interpretable detection system, the recombinant polymerase amplification conditions were optimized. The final protocol used 0.4 µmol/L primer and isothermal amplification at 39 °C for 25 min, with the incorporation of SYBR Green I dye enabling the rapid and specific visualization of animal-derived DNA. This optimized method is characterized by its simplicity, sensitivity (capable of detecting beef-derived components as low as 0.0514% w/w), and rapidity, significantly reducing detection time and providing a reliable tool for the identification of animal-derived adulteration in PMA products. Full article

Aquatic products are among the best sources of high-quality protein for humans. Selenium is also an essential trace element for animal growth and development. In animals, selenium primarily exists as selenoproteins, which perform vital physiological functions such as providing antioxidant protection, regulating the immune system, and facilitating growth and reproduction. Twenty-four of the selenoproteins identified in humans have also been found in aquatic animals. As living standards rise and health awareness grows, consumers are increasingly favoring selenium-enriched aquatic products. This article systematically reviews the advantages of these products, selenium levels in different farmed animals, and dietary recommendations. It also explores the functions of selenoproteins in these products. The article emphasizes the importance of selenium for human health and discusses its relationship with health. It also explores the application prospects of selenium-enriched aquatic products. The goal is to provide a scientific basis for utilizing these products and to guide consumers in supplementing their selenium intake. Full article

With the aim to investigate the immunomodulatory potential of selenitetriglycerides (SeTG), a new lipophilic Se (IV) compound, 30 sheep (15 sheep/treatment) were used in a completely random design to receive the SeGT supplement as follows: (1) no SeGT supplement (Control) and (2) daily dosage of 2 mL of SeGT (equivalent to 1 mg Se/kg BW) during the first 7 days of the evaluation, which lasted 28 d. Individually, blood samples were collected on days 0, 14, and 28 to measure and assess parameters of innate cellular and humoral immunity, including respiratory burst activity (RBA) and potential killing activity (PKA) of monocytes and granulocytes, proliferative response of lymphocytes stimulated with ConA (Concovalin A) and LPS (lipopolisaccharidde), lysozyme activity, ceruloplasmin activity, and gamma globulin levels. From the 14th day, supplemental SeTG saw significant increases (p ≤ 0.001) in RBA and PKA parameters, as well as enhanced proliferative responses of lymphocytes compared with controls. Both innate humoral immunity (elevated lysozyme activity) and adaptive humoral immunity (increased gamma globulin levels) were positively influenced (p ≤ 0.01), whereas ceruloplasmin activity remained unchanged. Under the conditions in which the current experiment was carried out, SeGT showed good promise to modulate immunity in a short period (28 d). Further research should explore experiments with a greater number of animals over long-term periods of evaluation under production system conditions. Full article

Agroforestry, an integrated land-use practice combining trees and woody shrubs with crop and animal farming, offers significant ecological and agricultural benefits, including enhanced biodiversity, improved soil fertility, and increased resilience to environmental pressures. Despite its advantages, agroforestry faces challenges such as high initial investments, long maturation periods for trees, land tenure issues and a high level of complexity in technical management. Digital agriculture introduces advanced technologies and sensors, which provide precise data on soil moisture, nutrient levels, and plant health, enabling more efficient resource use and better farm management. Integrating these sensing technologies into agroforestry can address key challenges, optimize irrigation and nutrient management, and enhance overall system productivity and sustainability. This review explores the interaction between agroforestry and digitalization, highlighting case studies, and discusses the potential for these technologies to support sustainable agriculture and climate change mitigation. Increased investment in research and development, along with supportive policies, is essential for advancing the adoption of these innovative practices in agroforestry. Full article

The agroforestry system, which integrates the strategic intercropping of trees and grasses, is profoundly shaped by complex ecological interactions that dynamically reshape microclimatic environments and significantly impact the growth of understory forage species. Wolfberry–forage intercropping patterns have the potential to improve soil quality and orchard productivity, but their effects on forage cover crops are still unclear. Therefore, this study selects wolfberry and nine forage grass as research subjects to examine the effects of intercropping these species on the morphological characteristics, yield, quality, photosynthetic capacity, and plant physiology of forage grass. Based on experimental data, cover cropping facilitated plant growth, maintained fruit yield, and promoted leaf photosynthesis in forage compared with monocropping. This was exemplified by a notable increase in forage plants under the intercropping system, for the number of primary branches or tillers, and an improvement in the drying ratio of forage grasses, while reducing plant height, leaf-to-stem ratio, and photosynthetic rate (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the intercropping system significantly enhances the dry weight yield of alfalfa, ryegrass, and mangold, with increases of 60%, 64%, and 70%, respectively (p < 0.05). Additionally, it improves forage quality by increasing the crude protein content in ryegrass and mangold by 32% and 10%, respectively, and decreasing acid detergent fiber content by 10% and 18% (p < 0.05). Collectively, the results indicated that mangold, ryegrass, and alfalfa were the optimal cover crops for sustainable wolfberry production in the study area. The use of appropriate wolfberry–forage cover crops enhanced hay yield and the quality of forage by stimulating photosynthetic capacity and biotic stress resistance. Our research elucidates the mechanisms underlying the effects of intercropping systems on forage grass growth, aiming to provide a scientific basis for the development of animal husbandry and the rational utilization of land resources in the Ningxia region. Full article

The swine industry represents a significant contributor to the global meat supply but also exerts considerable pressure on natural resources through feed production, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and nutrient losses. The integration of food industry by-products into pig diets offers a promising pathway to mitigate these environmental impacts while maintaining productivity and animal welfare. Such by-products can serve as nutritionally valuable feed ingredients, reducing waste streams and supporting the principles of a circular economy. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the nutritional properties, environmental implications, and economic advantages of incorporating food industry by-products into pig feeding systems. It further outlines the challenges related to feed safety, variability in composition, and regulatory aspects. Overall, the sustainable valorization of food processing residues as animal feed represents a challenge option to reduce the environmental footprint of pig production without compromising growth performance or health outcomes. Full article

Besnoitia besnoiti is an apicomplexan parasite responsible for bovine besnoitiosis, a debilitating disease in cattle resulting in local and systemic clinical signs with detrimental effects on reproductive performance and productivity in livestock. Fast-replicating tachyzoites and slowly proliferating bradyzoites elicit an excessive host innate immune response, mainly by activated polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN), which extrude neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) as a defense mechanism. These PMN-derived structures, composed principally of DNA, histones, and peptides, play a crucial role not only in parasite entrapment but also in NET-associated endothelial damage, thereby most likely contributing to the pathogenesis of this neglected cattle parasitosis. Uncontrolled production of NETs or their inadequate removal may perpetuate an inflammatory environment in the vasculature and epidermis. Thus, novel alternative treatment of animals with chronic bovine besnoitiosis displaying severe clinical manifestations such as hyperkeratosis, vulvovaginitis and orchitis, could be considered for future study to either hampering NETs release or reducing NETs concentrations in affected tissues. Since effective treatments and control strategies for bovine besnoitiosis do not yet exist, this review serves as a guide for further research on the metabolic signature, signaling pathways, receptors, and pathogenesis of B. besnoiti-triggered NETs formation, providing insights into potential therapeutic approaches to avoid excessive NETs extrusion. Full article

Beef production in intensive systems requires optimal nutrition to maximize growth and profitability. While triglycerides contain twice the energy per unit weight compared to polysaccharides, they are not nearly as commonly used as a supplemental source of energy compared to starch, largely in part due to their negative effects on rumen physiology when their inclusion levels are too high. To gain further insights into the response of rumen microbial communities to elevated dietary lipid levels, we took advantage of rumen samples collected as part of a previously published study that tested high inclusion (4% and 8%) of tallow or linseed oil in beef cattle as part of a 5 × 5 Latin square design, with corn used as a base dietary ingredient. Using a 16S rRNA gene-based profiling approach, two uncharacterized candidate rumen bacterial Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs), referred to as Bt-995 and Bt-1367, were found to be in higher abundance in rumen samples collected from steers when they were fed diets with higher inclusion of linseed oil. Using a metagenomics approach to assemble contigs corresponding to genomic regions of these OTUs, various predicted metabolic functions were found to be shared. Consistent with the dietary treatments of the original animal study, functions associated with starch utilization and triglyceride metabolism were identified. Unexpectedly, however, contig sets from both OTUs also encoded genes predicted to be involved in vitamin B₁₂ biosynthesis, as well as ethanolamine utilization, a function that is dependent on vitamin B₁₂ as a co-factor. Together, these results indicate that vitamin B₁₂-related functions may provide an advantage to rumen bacteria under conditions of high dietary triglyceride inclusion. Full article

Anemia caused by gastrointestinal parasitism is a major constraint to small ruminant productivity, particularly in low-resource production systems where diagnostic tools and veterinary access are limited, with use of FAMACHA as a biological reference This study evaluated the potential of radio-frequency non-destructive technique (RF-NDT) wave-derived features as non-invasive biomarkers for anemia detection in goats, using FAMACHA© scores as a biological reference. Variable clustering of the top ten frequencies revealed distinct patterns across health states. Healthy (FAMACHA© 1) animals were characterized by a single frequency cluster centered at 8.43 GHz, which explained 93.7% of variation, whereas moderately affected animals (FAMACHA© 2) shifted to 9.33 GHz with reduced uniformity (88.7%). Borderline animals (FAMACHA© 3) required two clusters (9.89 and 8.23 GHz), explaining 91.0% of variation, indicating increasing tissue heterogeneity with anemia progression. Regression analysis demonstrated strong predictive power, with Linear Regression achieving R² = 1.00 and Random Forest R² = 0.79 (RMSE = 0.07), Support Vector Regression underperformed (R² = 0.31). Classification models confirmed the feasibility of categorical anemia detection. The Multilayer Perceptron achieved the highest accuracy (0.84), F1-score (0.83), and ROC-AUC (0.94), outperforming Support Vector Machine (accuracy 0.67, F1 = 0.67) and K-Nearest Neighbors (accuracy 0.60, F1 = 0.61). These findings establish proof-of-concept that RF waves capture physiologically meaningful dielectric signatures linked to anemia, reflecting hemoglobin concentration, hydration, and microcirculatory function. The integration of RF sensing with machine learning offers a rapid, and non-invasive scalable diagnostic approach. Future work should expand validation across breeds and environments, optimize sensor design, and embed neural classifiers for field-ready deployment. Full article

The amount of attention paid to the welfare of animals and their maintenance conditions has grown considerably in recent years. This paper examines the effects of extensive and intensive housing systems on the environmental, behavioural, health, nutritional and social aspects of sheep welfare. It presents the current state of knowledge regarding this welfare, and its significant contributing factors, based on a search of PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus using defined keywords. It compares the impact of the two systems on the physical, psychological and social comfort of the animals, and identifies husbandry practices conducive to improving welfare. In doing so, it pays particular attention to the role of social bonding and the importance of grooming interventions. The paper reviews the factors shaping welfare in different production systems, with a particular focus on extensive and intensive rearing. It demonstrates that while the extensive system is conducive to the realisation of natural behaviour and the formation of social bonds, it can also be associated with a higher risk of nutritional deficiencies and environmental stressors. In contrast, an intensive system allows better control of health and nutrition, but often limits the ability to meet behavioural needs. The study also discusses the importance of feeding strategies, herd structure and thermal comfort, as well as the impact of routines such as shearing and hoof correction. It demonstrates that high levels of welfare can be achieved in both extensive and intensive systems, provided that husbandry practices are appropriately adapted to the needs of sheep as a species. Full article

Objective: To overcome the extremely low oral bioavailability of ginsenosides in traditional ginseng preparations, this study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a novel ginseng-derived carbon quantum dots (G-CQDs) delivery system and to elucidate its core bioactive constituents and integrated mechanisms of action. Methods: G-CQDs were prepared from ginseng roots via ultrahigh-speed nitrogen jet pulverization combined with far-infrared pulse-assisted hydrothermal carbonization. Their physicochemical properties were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. The in vivo effects of G-CQDs versus traditional ginseng aqueous extract (G-AE) were compared in C57BL/6 mice (n = 12/group) using the PRO-MRRM-8 Comprehensive Laboratory Animal Monitoring System for real-time, non-invasive phenotyping of energy metabolism parameters (respiratory quotient, heat production, and oxygen consumption). Systemic exposure to ginseng bioactives was profiled using UHPLC-Q/Orbitrap/LTQ high-resolution mass spectrometry, followed by bivariate correlation analysis to identify key bioactive components linked to efficacy. Results: Compared with G-AE, G-CQDs significantly enhanced whole-body energy metabolism—respiratory quotient +2.8%, heat production +6.7%, and locomotor activity +22.9% (p < 0.05). A total of 110 in vitro constituents, 35 blood prototypes, and 29 metabolites were identified. Correlation analysis revealed eight core bioactive clusters linked to the metabolic benefits; all showed higher systemic exposure with G-CQDs (range +9.2% to +265.8%), notably ginsenoside Re +69.6%, cinnamic acid + O + SO₃ +157.4%, and linolenic acid–GSH conjugate +265.8%. Conclusions: Carbon quantum dot technology significantly enhances the systemic exposure of ginseng bioactivities by improving solubility and enhancing gastrointestinal absorption, providing a molecular basis for its superior efficacy in regulating energy metabolism compared to conventional extracts. This study establishes a novel framework for developing high-value, bioavailability-enhanced nano-preparations from traditional medicines. Full article

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a major etiological agent of clinical bovine mastitis. This study evaluated the therapeutic potential of Lactobacillus plantarum 17-5 (LP) against E. coli-induced mastitis via clinical, animal, and cellular models. In a trial with mastitic dairy cows, dietary LP significantly reduced systemic inflammatory markers (IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α) by 2–3-fold (p < 0.05) and milk somatic cell count by 7-fold (p < 0.05). 16S rRNA sequencing revealed these improvements were associated with substantial gut microbiota restructuring, suggesting a link between gut microbial balance and mammary health via the gut–mammary axis. In a murine model, LP mitigated mammary inflammatory injury (histopathology) and restored tight junction integrity while reducing apoptosis (western blot, p < 0.05). In bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMECs), LP suppressed the cGAS-STING pathway, inhibiting NF-κB P65 phosphorylation and downstream pro-inflammatory cytokine production (p < 0.05). Collectively, LP alleviates E. coli-associated mastitis by modulating gut microbiota through the gut–mammary axis and directly inhibiting the cGAS-STING/NF-κB axis, supported by multi-model evidence. Full article

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a high-consequence pathogen that causes African swine fever (ASF), for which mortality rates can reach 90–100%, with death typically occurring within 14 days. ASF is currently a highly contagious pandemic disease responsible for extensive losses in pig production in multiple affected countries suffering from extended outbreaks. While a limited number of vaccines to prevent ASF are in use in south-east Asia, vaccines are not widely available, are only effective against highly homologous strains of ASFV, and must be used prior to an outbreak on a farm. Currently, there is no treatment for ASF and culling affected farms is the only response to outbreaks on farms to try and prevent spreading. CRISPR/Cas systems evolved as an adaptive immune response in bacteria and archaea that function by cleaving and disrupting the genomes of invading bacteriophage pathogens. CRISPR technology has since been leveraged into an array of endonuclease-based systems used for nucleic acid detection, targeting, genomic cleavage, and gene editing, making them particularly well-suited for development as sequence-specific therapeutic modalities. The programmability of CRISPR-based therapeutics offers a compelling new way to rapidly and specifically target pathogenic viral genomes simply by using different targeting guide RNAs (gRNA) as an adaptable antiviral modality. Here, we demonstrate for the first time a specific CRISPR/Cas9 multiplexed gRNA system that targets the African swine fever viral genome, resulting in sequence-specific cleavage, leading to the reduction in the viral load in infected animals, and subsequent recovery from an otherwise lethal dose of ASFV. Moreover, animals that recovered had protective immunity to subsequent homologous ASFV infection. Full article

We have developed a method for in vivo quantitation of lung delivery of inhaled nebulized drugs by measuring a fluorescent-labeled analog in bronchioalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) collected immediately after inhalation dosing. The effectiveness of delivery of an aerosolized formulation of our proprietary water-miscible vitamin A product to the deep lung (target organ) was studied; the product is being developed for prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in preterm infants. The fluorescent retinol analog was incorporated by spiking into a standard formulation, remaining fully compatible with existing nebulizer administration procedures for animal exposure. The method provides quantitation of the delivered dose (DD) to the lung within a few minutes after dosing; fluorescence in BAL in a plate reader allows for simple rapid quantitation of the delivered drug, while avoiding the complexities of other labeling methods (e.g., heavy labels or radioactivity). Data from newborn rat and lamb models showed linear dose responses, validating the method. Approximately 5–10% of the inhaled drug was recovered in BALF in both models, consistent with reports in the literature. The ease of use of the method facilitated various aspects of our project, including the transition to more clinically relevant animal models and aerosol exposure systems. The formulation of this approach could be spiked into other formulations, allowing application of the method to other aerosol drug development programs. Full article

Conflicts between farmers and herders are a persistent challenge in Sudanian and Sudano-Guinean zones of Benin, largely driven by competition over access to pastoral resources. This study aimed to characterize the prevalence, causes, and typology of such conflicts and to assess their implications for the sedentarization of cattle farming systems. Data were collected from 480 livestock farms across four municipalities (Materi and Gogounou in the Sudanian zone; Tchaourou and Djougou in the Sudano-Guinean zone) through surveys, mapping, and herd productivity assessments. Multiple Correspondence Factorial Analysis was used to classify the conflict types. The results revealed that 52.29% of herders had experienced conflicts, with a higher incidence in the Sudano-Guinean zone (36.88%). Four main categories of conflict were identified: (i) blows and injuries to people and animals (38.64%), (ii) displacement of herders and their farms (34.26%), (iii) property damage and animal slaughter (15.13%), and (iv) violent verbal altercations and animal poisoning (11.97%). These findings indicate that recurrent conflicts are accelerating the shift from transhumance towards sedentarization, underscoring the need for tailored conflict management strategies and sustainable livestock policies. Full article