Eleanor Hewett, Luis Zaragoza, Craig Lewis, Jos Houdijk, Andrea Wilson, Simon Turner
{"title":"Exploring the effects of dietary lysine and tryptophan on the social behaviour of pigs.","authors":"Eleanor Hewett, Luis Zaragoza, Craig Lewis, Jos Houdijk, Andrea Wilson, Simon Turner","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf030","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Negative social behaviours between pigs can cause stress, which can compromise welfare. There has been significant interest in exploring the effect of diet on negative social behaviours and the wider social behaviour repertoire of pigs. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of dietary Lysine (Lys) and Tryptophan (Trp) levels on the social behaviour of commercially housed pigs. A total of 2,293 PIC Camborough barrows with a mean starting weight of 11.87 ± 1.35 kg were used in a randomised complete block design with a 2×3 factorial arrangement, with 16 replicates per treatment, of the following factors: 1) Standardised ileal digestible Lys levels: 100% Lys = diets with 100% PIC requirement at the midpoint of the growth phase (Lys 100) vs 80% Lys = diets with 80% PIC requirement at the midpoint of the growth phase (Lys 80); and 2) Trp to Lys ratio of 0.210, 0.185 or 0.160. Pigs were randomly allocated across the 6 treatments over 2 starting dates. Behaviour and lesion data were collected. There was an effect of Lys (P=0.032) on ear biting behaviour, with pigs on the Lys 80 treatments showing a higher level of ear biting behaviour. We also found an effect of the Lys score week interaction on the proportion of pens showing ear lesions (P<0.001) and an effect of the Lys Trp interaction (P=0.030) and the Lys score week interaction (P=0.0104) on the proportion of pens showing severe ear lesions. In conclusion, the lysine content of feed can affect the social behaviour of pigs, specifically ear biting, in commercial conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143255527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Emily Roskam, David A Kenny, Alan K Kelly, Maria Hayes, Nikola Palevich, Paul H Maclean, Vincent O’Flaherty, Ambarish Biswas, Sinéad M Waters
{"title":"Effects of dietary supplementation with linseed oil, Ascophyllum nodosum or treated A. nodosum on animal performance, gaseous emissions, ruminal fermentation and microbiota, and meat quality in growing dairy beef bulls","authors":"Emily Roskam, David A Kenny, Alan K Kelly, Maria Hayes, Nikola Palevich, Paul H Maclean, Vincent O’Flaherty, Ambarish Biswas, Sinéad M Waters","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf032","url":null,"abstract":"Oils high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and seaweeds containing phlorotannins have potential anti-methanogenic effects in ruminants. This study assessed the potential of dietary supplementation with linseed oil, Ascophyllum nodosum or treated A. nodosum in an intensive beef cattle feeding system on animal performance, gaseous emissions, ruminal fermentation and microbiota, and muscle fatty acid profiles. Seventy-two dairy-beef bulls (380 kg; 11 months of age) were randomly allocated to one of four dietary treatments (n = 18) for a 70-d period. The diet consisted of a 60:40 grass silage:concentrate ratio. Silage was offered daily (0900 h) and concentrates were offered twice daily (0800 h and 1500 h). Dietary treatments were incorporated into the concentrate portion of the diet as follows; 1) CON (no supplementation), 2) LSO (linseed oil), 3) SW (A. nodosum) and 4) EX (A. nodosum extract), included to target 0, 4, 2 and 2% of dry matter intake (DMI), respectively. The concentrates were formulated to be isonitrogenous across the four treatment groups. Total DMI (American Calan Inc., Northwood, NH), average daily gain (ADG), gain:feed and enteric emissions (GreenFeed; C-Lock Inc., Rapid City, SD) were measured for the 70-d supplementation period. Total DMI (P = 0.17), ADG (P = 0.28), gain:feed (P = 0.68) and total tract digestibility (P = 0.70) did not differ across treatments. Daily methane production (P &lt; 0.001) for CON, LSO, SW and EX was 210, 170, 202 and 193 g/d, respectively, resulting in reductions of 19 and 8% for LSO and EX, respectively, relative to CON. Ruminal fermentation parameters show that LSO was the only dietary treatment to increase propionate (P = 0.09) and decrease butyrate (P = 0.04) concentrations relative to CON. Microbial analyses showed LSO supplementation increased and decreased relative abundances of fungal genera Buwchfawromyces and Piromyces, respectively, while altering relative abundances of the bacterial genera Muribaculaceae, Bacteroidales RF16 group and Bacterium F082. Additionally, LSO increased linolenic acid (P &lt; 0.001) and n-3 PUFA (P &lt; 0.001) concentration of the longissimus dorsi muscle compared to CON, SW and EX. In conclusion, LSO was the most effective dietary supplementation strategy compared to CON, EX and SW, whereby it reduced methane emissions, modified ruminal fermentation and microbial profiles, and enhanced beneficial muscle PUFA concentration, without impacting animal performance.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143258376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effects of increasing dietary zinc oxide levels on the hepatic mitochondrial energy metabolism, oxidative balance and antioxidant system in weaned piglets.","authors":"Geneviève Villeneuve, Caroline Roy, Karine Deschêne, Jean-Jacques Matte, Jérôme Lapointe, Danyel Bueno Dalto","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf031","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study compared different levels of dietary zinc oxide (ZnO) on mitochondria ATP synthesis and the cellular and systemic redox balance in weaned pigs. One hundred twenty weaned piglets (7.96 ± 1.17 kg, 21 days of age) were randomly allocated in one of three diets containing different Zn levels (as ZnO); 100 (100Zn), 1000 (1000Zn) and 3000 mg/kg (3000Zn), and were slaughtered at day 21, 23, 35 or 42 for the collection of blood and liver samples. Dietary copper (Cu) levels were constant at 131 mg/kg. Hepatic mitochondrial concentrations of Zn and Cu, hepatic mitochondria respiration, antioxidant response and the hepatic expression of related genes were analyzed. Piglets fed 3000Zn had the highest Zn (P < 0.01) and the lowest Cu concentrations (P = 0.01) in hepatic mitochondria. The hepatic oxygen consumption rate for maximal respiration was the highest in 3000Zn piglets (P < 0.05) whereas hepatic cytochrome c oxidase activity tended to be lower (P = 0.06) and intracellular ATP concentrations was the lowest (P = 0.01). Mitochondrial Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) activity was the lowest (P < 0.01) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity tended to be the lowest (P = 0.07) for 3000Zn piglets. The mRNA expression of the antioxidant related genes copper chaperone for superoxide dismutase (CCS) was highest (P = 0.01) in 3000Zn piglets and tended to be the highest (P = 0.07) for glutathione synthetase (GSS). Plasma carbonyls concentrations (P = 0.02) and GPx activity (P = 0.01) were the highest while SOD activity was not impacted (P = 0.55) in 3000Zn piglets. In conclusion, supplementing 3000 mg Zn/kg had detrimental impacts on mitochondria Zn and Cu homeostasis, resulting in a dysfunctional mitochondria respiratory chain and disturbed antioxidant response in post-weaning piglets.</p>","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143255523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jamie T Parham, Jessica J Schmidt, Amy E Tanner, Mark L Wahlberg, Temple Grandin, Ronald M Lewis
{"title":"Validating the use of pen scores to capture behaviors expressed by cattle unrestrained in a pen1.","authors":"Jamie T Parham, Jessica J Schmidt, Amy E Tanner, Mark L Wahlberg, Temple Grandin, Ronald M Lewis","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many subjective methods exist to assist producers in evaluating temperament. Use of a pen test, which allows behavior to be observed in a non-restrained setting, may be an effective method to evaluate temperament by allowing more variation among animals to be expressed as compared to a restrained test. The objective of this study was to analyze video recordings of penned calves to determine whether the repertoire of behaviors they expressed were adequately captured by their individual (IPS) and group (GPS) pen scores. In each of 3 yr, 40 predominantly Angus commercial Bos taurus heifers, 2-wk post weaning, were assessed monthly in 3 consecutive months (recording periods). After routine handling through a weigh crate and squeeze chute, each heifer was released individually into a pen (12 x 6 m). Their response to 30 s of human presence within the pen was evaluated. They were then joined in groups of four in a larger (12 x 8 m) pen and re-evaluated for 30 s in a group setting. An IPS and GPS was assigned using an ethogram ranging from 1 (docile) to 6 (aggressive). This interaction was also video recorded. Using the videos, the explicit behaviors captured by each pen score were investigated using Noldus Observer software. Data were analyzed with ANOVA using SAS. Within each recording period, the concordance of pen scores with the repertoire of behaviors expressed were compared. In the group setting, heifers could not be clearly distinguished on video and were instead assigned the average GPS of the group. Heifers with higher IPS and average GPS categories had larger flight zone sizes and reached faster paces for longer periods of time. Furthermore, heifers with lower IPS appeared more neutral to the presence of a human and moved around less often. Ethograms for pen score successfully delineated the temperament of heifers. The use of such scores can provide a valuable on-farm assessment of cattle behavior during routine handling.</p>","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143189071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Judith J Bond, Nicholas J Hudson, Karthik S Kamath, David Wheeler, Serey Woodgate, Victor H Oddy
{"title":"Quantitative differences in rumen epithelium proteins and detection of lysine acetylation in lambs fed a low or high metabolizable energy diet.","authors":"Judith J Bond, Nicholas J Hudson, Karthik S Kamath, David Wheeler, Serey Woodgate, Victor H Oddy","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf027","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Thirty-six Merino wethers (10-month-old) were fed ad libitum for 30 days two diets;1) low metabolizable energy diet (LME; 30% lucerne: 70% cereal chaff) and 2) high ME diet (HME; 40% rolled barley grain: 50% lucerne: 10% cereal chaff). Effects of diet on dry matter intake (DMI), metabolizable energy intake (MEI), liveweight (LWT), average daily gain (ADG), carcass lean or fat gain, liver and empty rumen weight and plasma metabolites were analysed. A membrane enriched protein fraction of rumen epithelium isolated enzymatically from whole depth rumen wall was quantified for each sheep using tandem mass tag mass spectrometry (TMT-MS). The presence or absence of acetylation of lysine residues on identified proteins was counted and the position of the lysine acetylation recorded. In lambs fed the HME diet, DMI (P<0.001), MEI (P<0.001), ADG (P<0.001), fat (P<0.001) and lean gain (P<0.001), as well as liver (P<0.001) and empty rumen (P<0.009) weight were greater than those fed the LME diet. Plasma glucose (P<0.001) and β hydroxybutyrate (P<0.001) at 3 and 5 h after feeding was greater in HME diet than in the LME fed lambs. Changes in rumen epithelium protein abundance in the LME versus HME fed lambs were associated with metabolism in the peroxisome, protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), valine, leucine and isoleucine degradation and carbon metabolism. Acetylation of lysine was detected in enzymes involved in glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and fatty acid (FA) metabolism. Quantitative differences in the abundance of rumen epithelium proteins that carry out intracellular processes of energy expenditure were associated with the concentration of ME (MJ/ kg DM) in the diet of growing lambs. The detection of lysine acetylation sites suggests a difference in the ME of the diet regulates enzymatic activity in central metabolic pathways in the rumen epithelium cells.</p>","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143188859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Iain J Clarke, Frank R Dunshea, Surinder S Chauhan
{"title":"Prolactin and Heat Stress; focus on Domestic Ruminants.","authors":"Iain J Clarke, Frank R Dunshea, Surinder S Chauhan","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Prolactin has traditionally been associated with milk production, but recent studies identify prolactin as having many other functions. These include a role in pelage growth, sweating, immune function, metabolism and water/electrolyte balance. A signature of HS is a rise in prolactin concentrations so the question arises as to whether this hormone has a particular function in relation to response to or mitigation of HS. Thus, prolactin plays a multifaceted role in the physiological and behavioral responses of livestock to HS, contributing to their ability to cope with warmer temperatures and maintain homeostasis. A major advance in recent years is the identification of the SLICK gene in cattle, being a mutation in the prolactin receptor. It is responsible for a phenotype of short, shiny coat. SLICK confers heat resilience and offers a realistic means of mitigating HS by introgression into cattle without the mutation. The purpose of this article is to ascertain what functions prolactin may have in the response to HS. It appears that prolactin may be involved in many of the physiological processes that are affected by HS, but it is clear that definitive evidence of cause/effect are yet to be discerned.</p>","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143188767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Markus Schmid, Valentin P Haas, Naomi Sarpong, Markus Rodehutscord, Jana Seifert, Amélia Camarinha-Silva, Jörn Bennewitz
{"title":"Fecal Microbiota-based Investigations of Nitrogen Utilization Efficiency and related Traits in a Landrace x Piétrain crossbred Population","authors":"Markus Schmid, Valentin P Haas, Naomi Sarpong, Markus Rodehutscord, Jana Seifert, Amélia Camarinha-Silva, Jörn Bennewitz","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf028","url":null,"abstract":"Improving protein efficiency in pork production is a desired goal regarding resource conservation and climate protection, whereby animal breeding has great potential for sustainable improvements. Nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUE) is an important trait but laborious to measure. As blood urea nitrogen (BUN) can be used to predict NUE, it is often used as indicator trait. Both NUE and BUN were found to be heritable, however, microbial studies have not yet been carried out. The present study aimed to investigate the role of the gastrointestinal microbiota in the context of N efficiency in different fattening phases. The dataset consisted of 450 Landrace x Piétrain pigs fattened in a two-phase feeding regime. All pigs were fecal sampled and phenotyped in two fattening phases, referred to as sampling period (SP) 1 and SP2 in week 13 and week 16 post natum, respectively. Microbial communities in feces were compared across SPs and significant differences were observed. Mixed linear models were applied to quantify the microbial variance and microbiability for NUE, BUN, and related traits within each of the SPs. Except for NUE in SP1, all microbiabilities were significant and ranged from 0.079 to 0.471. Microbiome-wide association studies revealed a polymicrobial trait architecture, characterized by the contribution of many genera, with each genus having a relatively small effect on the traits. In total, four and eleven microbial genera were significantly associated with NUE and BUN, respectively. Microbial correlations were estimated between traits within SPs via bivariate analyses. Blood urea nitrogen was significantly correlated with N intake and retention in SP1 but not in SP2. Fecal microbiota composition differed significantly between SPs and the use of microbiota data across SPs resulted in a remarkable drop in microbiability for nearly all traits. This implies that microbiota data should be representative of the time point of phenotyping to fully capture microbial contribution to trait expression. The results suggest that jointly using genomic and fecal microbial data might be expedient to improve protein efficiency in fattening pigs.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143192315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Samantha Hartwig, Scarlett Burron, Taylor Richards, Alexandra Rankovic, David WL Ma, Wendy Pearson, Jennifer Ellis, Luciano Trevizan, Dave J Seymour, Anna K Shoveller
{"title":"The effect of dietary camelina, flaxseed, and canola oil supplementation on skin fatty acid profile and immune and inflammatory responses in healthy adult horses","authors":"Samantha Hartwig, Scarlett Burron, Taylor Richards, Alexandra Rankovic, David WL Ma, Wendy Pearson, Jennifer Ellis, Luciano Trevizan, Dave J Seymour, Anna K Shoveller","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf025","url":null,"abstract":"Camelina sativa is an oilseed crop rich in α-linolenic acid (ALA), an n-3 fatty acid (FA), and is resistant to harsh climates and pests. Previously, supplementation with camelina oil (CAM) in horses had no adverse effects on basic health parameters and had comparable skin and coat parameters as both flaxseed oil (FLX) and canola oil (OLA). Further, the plasma FA profile of horses was reflective of their respective treatment oil. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of dietary CAM supplementation on skin FA profile, immune, and inflammatory responses as compared to two commonly used oils in the equine industry, OLA and FLX, in healthy adult horses. Twenty-four adult horses, from two separate herds, were enrolled in this experiment. The horses underwent a gradual 4-week fat acclimation period to sunflower oil (~0.28% ALA), then were supplemented with either CAM (~34.9% ALA), OLA (~12.0% ALA), or FLX (56.0% ALA) at an inclusion rate of 0.37 g/kg body weight (BW) per day for an additional 16 weeks. Immune and inflammatory responses were assessed by measuring antibody concentrations across time after sensitization to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) at weeks 10 and 12, and a subsequent delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) challenge. Skin biopsy samples were collected at weeks 0, 8 and 16, and FA composition was determined using gas chromatography. All data were analyzed as a repeated measures ANOVA using PROC GLIMMIX in SAS. Antibody and DTH responses to KLH did not differ among groups (P = 0.262 and 0.813, respectively), and no treatment by time effects were observed (P = 0.764 and P = 0.817, respectively). Most FA in the skin changed in composition across time, with the sum of n-3 FA increasing (P &lt; 0.001) and the sum of n-6 FA and skin n-6:n-3 ratio decreasing over time (P &lt; 0.001 and P &lt; 0.001, respectively). Only dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (P = 0.025) and the sum of n-3 FA (P = 0.031) had treatment by week effects. At week 16, the composition of eicosapentaenoic acid in skin was greater in FLX than OLA, but neither differed from CAM (P = 0.049). These results suggest that ALA supplementation may beneficially impact skin FA profile. However, due to the small differences in n-3 FA and n-6:n-3 ratio among CAM, FLX, and OLA, a comparable skin FA profile, immune, and inflammatory response was observed among treatments at a dose of 0.37 g oil/kg BW. Therefore, CAM may be a suitable alternative to FLX in equine diets for the delivery of ALA.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"76 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143083776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Melanie K Hess, Rebecca L McDermott, Galen E Erickson, Matthew L Spangler
{"title":"Genomics of liver abscesses in feedlot cattle","authors":"Melanie K Hess, Rebecca L McDermott, Galen E Erickson, Matthew L Spangler","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf029","url":null,"abstract":"The primary reason livers are condemned is due to abscesses, which are visible lesions detected on the liver during routine harvest of the animal. Condemned livers are deemed not fit for human consumption, and result in over $15M in lost income to the U.S. beef industry each year. Liver scoring is a 4-level measurement of abscess severity: 0 (no abscesses), A- (mild: 1-2 small abscesses), A (moderate: 2-4 active abscesses) and A+ (severe: 1 or more large, active abscesses). We quantified the degree to which known sources of variation, including genomic differences among animals, contribute to the incidence of liver abscesses in 1747 feedlot cattle fed a range of diets. Diets were grouped based on corn type (dry-rolled corn (DRC), high-moisture corn (HMC), DRC/HMC or steam-flaked Corn (SFC)) and byproduct (none, modified distillers grains plus solubles (MDGS), and Sweet Bran fed at 20%, 35% or 40%). A common set of SNP (n= 44,666) from the Illumina BovineSNP50 v2 and GGP Bovine 100K were used for genomic analyses. The posterior mean (posterior standard deviation) heritability estimate of liver score was 0.10 (0.05). Within-diet heritability estimates were not significantly different from zero but ranged from 0.02 (0.02) (MDGS) to 0.29 (0.32) (Sweet Bran fed at 35%). A BayesB Genome Wide Association Study with showed that liver score is a very polygenic trait with no large QTL segregating in this population. The genetic and phenotypic correlations of liver score with hot carcass weight, 12th rib fat, longissimus muscle area, or marbling score were not significantly different from zero. Results from the current study show that genomic selection for reduced liver score could be a useful tool to reduce the occurrence of liver abscesses in feedlot cattle, alongside current mitigation strategies; however, more data is needed to gain a better understanding of the genetic basis of liver score, as well as the relationship between liver score and other economically relevant traits, and potential genetic x diet interactions.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143191735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jihao You, Dan Tulpan, Cheryl Krziyzek, Jennifer L Ellis
{"title":"Prediction of Pellet Durability Index (PDI) in a Commercial Feed Mill Using Multiple Linear Regression with Variable Selection and Dimensionality Reduction","authors":"Jihao You, Dan Tulpan, Cheryl Krziyzek, Jennifer L Ellis","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf021","url":null,"abstract":"Pellet quality, measured as Pellet Durability Index (PDI), is an important key performance indicator (KPI) for commercial feed manufacturing, as it can impact both mill efficiency and downstream performance of animals fed the manufactured diets. However, it is an ongoing challenge for the feed industry to control pellet quality, due to the complexity of feed manufacturing and the large number of variables influencing the process. Previous studies have explored prediction of pellet quality using either simple empirical models with a few variables or machine learning models with many variables. The objective of the current study was to develop statistical regression models to predict PDI, and to describe the relationship between pellet quality and 55 available variables based on a dataset with 2691 observations collected from a commercial feed mill. In the current study, the response variable (PDI) was transformed using the Box-Cox approach into the transformed response variable (tPDI), that was more normally distributed. Three multiple regression models were developed based on subsets of variables processed by variable selection and dimensionality reduction methods: Forward Selection, Principal Component Analysis, and Partial Least Squares. The results indicated that Model 1 (Forward Selection with manual removal of sparse variables), built on 9 variables, performed better than the other two models. It exhibited consistent model prediction performance on the training data and testing data, in terms of MAE (1.93 ± 0.063 versus 1.96), RMSPE (2.45 ± 0.079 versus 2.45), and CCC (0.549 ± 0.0273 versus 0.550), with a better prediction precision based on the fit plot. Expanding Temperature (℃), Fat Content (%), and ADF Content (%), and Indoor Humidity (Pelletizer) (%) were identified as more influential than other variables on the transformed response variable (tPDI) in Model 1, based on a behavior analysis. The models developed in the current study can be helpful to feed mills for predicting and comprehending the effect of a number of commonly measured variables on pellet quality in the commercial setting.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143125314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}