Animal Science Journal, Nihon Chikusan Gakkaihō

The present study examined the effects of substituting kraft pulp (KP) with corn silage (CS) on dry matter intake (DMI), ruminal mat and rumen fermentation characteristics, and rumination. Four non-lactating, rumen-cannulated Holstein cows were fed a CS diet comprising 36% grass silage (GS) and 64% CS or a KP diet comprising 36% GS, 57% KP, and 7% soybean meal. DMI was significantly lower in cows fed the KP diet than in those fed the CS diet (p < 0.05), whereas rumination time did not significantly differ between the treatments...

The effect of wood kraft pulp (KP) feed on dietary digestibility, ruminal fluid pH, rumen fermentation characteristics, and milk production performance in lactating dairy cows was examined. Four lactating dairy cows were used for the feeding experiment by the cross-over design. The control group and KP group were set up as treatments. The control group was fed total mixed ration (TMR) (40% roughage and 60% concentrate) and the KP group was fed TMR containing 12% KP that replaced half of the rolled corn in the control diet...

The introduction of biogas plants is a promising way to recycle organic wastes with renewable energy production and reducing greenhouse gas. Application of anaerobic digestate as a fertilizer reduces the consumption of chemical fertilizers. In this study, the survival of pathogenic bacteria and plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) in two full-scale biogas plants operated at mesophilic condition were investigated. Feedstock and anaerobic digestate samples were collected from biogas plants and bacteria load in samples were detected using standard dilution plate method...

A previous study demonstrated that leucine upregulates the slow myosin heavy chain mRNA expression in C2C12 cells. However, the role of leucine in slow-twitch muscle fibers expression and mitochondrial function of porcine skeletal muscle satellite cells as well as its mechanism remain unclear. In this study, porcine skeletal muscle satellite cells cultured in differentiation medium were treated with 2 mM leucine for 3 days. Sirt1 inhibitor EX527, AMPK inhibitor compound C, and AMPKα1 siRNA were used to examine its underlying mechanism...

Cidea and Cidec are two members of Cell death-inducing DNA fragmentation factor-alpha-like effector family proteins, which could be involved in lipid or fat metabolism. To better understand the roles of Cidea and Cidec in fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome (FLHS), 150 healthy 155-day-old Hyline Brown laying hens were randomly divided into control group (fed with basic diet) and experimental group (fed with high-energy low-protein [HELP] diet). Analysis of the liver by tissue sectioning and hematoxylin and eosin staining showed that the HELP diet induced micro-vesicular steatosis in laying hens...

Testicular xenografting, combined with cryopreservation can assist conservation of the genetic diversity of indigenous pigs by salvaging germ cells from their neonatal testes. Using Meishan male piglets as an example, we examined whether testicular tissue would acquire the ability to produce sperm after cryopreservation and grafting into nude mice (MS group). For comparison, testicular tissue from neonatal Western crossbreed male piglets was used (WC group). Sixty days after xenografting (day 0 = grafting), MS grafts had already developed seminiferous tubules containing sperm, whereas in the WC grafts, sperm first appeared on day 120...

This study was aimed to examine the characteristics of three isolated lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains (HG24, M1, and TG1), and to evaluate their effects on fermentation characteristics, nutritive value, and in vitro digestibility in a variety of substrates. The experiments were conducted with Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schred.), and oat (Avena sativa L.) in laboratory silo (1 L) for ensiling 30 days. All the treated silages had significantly (p < 0...

We investigated the seasonal prevalence and diversity of clostridial spores in raw milk from the Tokachi area of Hokkaido. Samples of raw milk were collected quarterly from May 2013 through February 2014. The mean clostridial spore count for the raw milk from 336 milk tankers was 27.6 CFU/100 ml. The clostridial species isolated most frequently from raw milk samples was Clostridium tyrobutyricum. The dominant species was C. tyrobutyricum regardless of the season. The percentage of samples with low spore counts (<10 CFU/100 ml) was highest (60...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of brown rice particle size on the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of energy and nutrients in diets fed to pigs at four different stages and determine the optimal particle size (OPS) of brown rice for young pigs and adult sows. Eighteen weanling piglets (initial body weight (BW): 10.2 ± 0.4 kg), 18 growing barrows (initial BW: 35.6 ± 1.5 kg), 24 gestating sows (initial BW: 220 ± 2.8 kg), and 24 lactating sows (initial BW: 208 ± 3...

Gene mutations influencing melanocytes also impact on physiological and behavioural functions. In this study, we investigated their association with four different coat colours in the Pura Raza Español (PRE) horse using morphological traits and molecular datasets. Four different subpopulations were identified according to individual coat colour: grey, bay, chestnut and black. Coat colour significantly associated with morphological measurements. Observed and expected heterozygosity values were low in grey compared with the other three subpopulations, suggesting the presence of unique ancestral alleles probably arisen by genetic drift and selection mechanism effects...

β-carotene is one of the most abundant carotenoids, has potential anti-inflammatory effect, it has been reported that β-carotene could suppress LPS-induced inflammatory responses by inhibiting nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) translocation, but the more detailed molecular mechanisms underlying the anti-inflammatory action of β-carotene remain to be fully understood. In this study, we investigated the influence of β-carotene on the activation of JAK2/STAT3, MAPK, and NF-κB signaling pathway induced by LPS in RAW264...

In this study, we irradiated Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) using 25 kGy 60 Co γ ray to obtain γ-irradiated Astragalus polysaccharides (IAPS) and then investigated the effects of IAPS on growth performance and immune function of cyclophosphamide (CPM)-treated broilers. The physicochemical properties of APS and IAPS (molecular weight, water solubility, viscosity, morphological and structural properties) were evaluated. Then, 384 one-day-old Arbor Acres broiler chicks with similar initial weight were randomly assigned into 6 groups: the non-treated group (control), and CPM-treated groups were fed either a basal diet or the diets containing 900 mg/kg APS, or 900, 600, 300 mg/kg IAPS, respectively...

The objectives of this experiment were to (a) determine the effects of fiber increase in diets on heat production (HP), (b) determine the net energy (NE) of oat bran (OB), wheat bran (WB), and palm kernel expellers (PKE) fed to growing pigs using indirect calorimetry (IC). Twenty-four growing barrows (29.2 ± 2.6 kg) were randomly allotted to one of four diets with six replicate pigs per diet. Diets included a corn-soybean meal basal diet and three test diets containing 30% OB, WB or PKE, respectively. During each period, pigs were individually housed in metabolism crates for 20 days, including 14 days to adapt to the diets...

The interaction between Leucine (Leu) and acetate affecting milk protein synthesis in the bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMECs), and underlying the molecular mechanisms are not well understood. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of Leu, acetate, and their interaction on the expression of genes involved in milk protein synthesis, and JACK2/STAT5, mTOR and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway. The study was a 2 × 6 factorial arrangement with treatments: Leu concentration (0...

We evaluated the influence on milk production of feeding early lactation cows a diet that included 14.5% crude protein (CP) and that did not meet methionine (Met) requirements or that met them by supplying rumen-protected Met (RPMet). Thirty-nine multiparous Holstein cows were allocated into two groups. For 15 weeks after calving, each group was fed one of the two total mixed rations, Control (n = 20) or Treatment (n = 19). The Treatment group received added RPMet at 0.034% (8 g/day) of the Control diet on dry matter basis...

Chickens and Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) have traditionally been the primary avian models in developmental biology research. Recently, the blue-breasted quail (Coturnix chinesis), the smallest species in the order Galliformes, has been proposed as an excellent candidate model in avian developmental studies owing to its precocious and prolific properties. However, data on the embryonic development of blue-breasted quail are scarce. Here, we developed a normal developmental series for the blue-breasted quail based on developmental features...

This methodological review suggests what to do and what not to do in short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) research for researchers, supervisors, scientific reviewers, and regulatory officers. High viscosity of gut contents, existence of bacterial biofilm and of mucus layer at the mucosal surface, and rapid absorption of SCFAs make it difficult to know their concentrations at the very surface of the mucosa. As lumen or fecal concentration of SCFAs does not reflect their rate of production, these parameters should not be used as measures of SCFA production or absorption...

Genetic parameters were estimated for six reproductive traits related to farrowing events in Landrace and Large White pigs; total number born (TNB), number born alive (NBA), number stillborn (NSB), total litter weight at birth (LWB), mean litter weight at birth (MWB), and gestation length (GL). We analyzed 62,534 farrowing records for 10,637 Landrace dams and 49,817 farrowing records for 8,649 Large White dams. Estimated heritabilities of TNB, NBA, NSB, LWB, MWB, and GL by single-trait repeatability model analyses were 0...

This study evaluated methane (CH4 ) emission, intake, digestibility, and nitrogen efficiency in sheep fed diets containing replacement levels (0%, 33%, 50%, and 67% of soybean meal with euglena). In this experiment, four Corriedale wether sheep with an initial body weight of 53.8 ± 4.6 were arranged in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. This experiment lasted 84 days, divided into four experimental periods. Each period lasted 21 days, which consists of 14 days of adaptation to the diets, 5 days to collect samples, and 2 days to collect gas emission from sheep...

Recently, we established the GEEP ("gene editing by electroporation of Cas9 protein") method, in which the CRISPR/Cas9 system, consisting of a Cas9 protein and single guide RNA (sgRNA), is introduced into pig zygotes by electroporation and thus induces highly efficient targeted gene disruption. In this study, we examined the effects of sgRNA on the blastocyst formation of porcine embryos and evaluated their genome-editing efficiency. To produce an animal model for diabetes, we targeted PDX-1 (pancreas duodenum homeobox 1), a gene that is crucial for pancreas development during the fetal period and whose monoallelic disruption impairs insulin secretion...