Animal最新文献

{"title":"Oleic acid promotes lipid accumulation in bovine adipocytes: the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) signaling","authors":"U. Abou-Rjeileh ,&nbsp;A.L. Lock ,&nbsp;G.A. Contreras","doi":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101505","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101505","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Excessive lipid mobilization due to negative energy balance in periparturient dairy cows increases their risk for diseases and decreases their productivity, highlighting the importance of enhancing energy availability during the immediate postpartum to limit negative energy balance. Oleic acid (<strong>OA</strong>) supplementation increases the energy density of the diet and holds promise in addressing metabolic challenges. In periparturient cows, OA limits lipolysis and improves adipose tissue (<strong>AT</strong>) insulin sensitivity. However, the mechanisms behind these effects are still unknown. Our objective was to characterize the effects of OA, alone and in combination with palmitic acid (<strong>PA</strong>), on lipogenic function and identify a mechanism of action in bovine adipocytes. We hypothesized that OA enhances lipid accumulation in bovine adipocytes via peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (<strong>PPARα</strong>)-dependent activation of lipogenic pathways. Pre-adipocytes were isolated from AT of Holstein dairy cows and induced to differentiate into adipocytes. Mature adipocytes were cultured with standard differentiation media (<strong>CON</strong>) supplemented with PA or OA (100, 200, and 300 µM), and mixtures of PA-OA (60-40, 50-50, and 40-60 ratios at 300 µM) for 4 or 7 d. To evaluate the effect of PPARα signaling, adipocytes were treated with or without a PPARα−specific antagonist (GW6471; 10 µM) for 7 d after induction. Compared with CON, fatty acid treatments had no effect on preadipocyte differentiation (<em>P</em> = 0.65). The treatments 300PA, 200OA, 300OA, 60-40, 50-50, and 40-60 increased lipid accumulation compared with CON (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.0001). At d 4, 300PA and 300OA increased PPARα protein expression compared with CON (<em>P</em> = 0.04). PPARα inhibition decreased triglyceride levels in OA and 60-40 (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05) but not in PA (<em>P</em> = 0.26). Our results show a direct effect of OA supplementation on bovine adipocyte metabolism, resulting in lipid accumulation, mainly through PPARα signaling, which in turn activates lipogenic networks. Hence, providing mechanistic evidence for the use of OA, along with PA, in dairy cow diets during the periparturient period to enhance lipid accumulation and limit lipolysis. Improving energy balance will ultimately minimize health disorders and improve the production of early postpartum cows.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50789,"journal":{"name":"Animal","volume":"19 5","pages":"Article 101505"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143878945","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":"The effect of neck strap positioning relative to dairy cow body size on rising, lying down, and defecation behaviour in lying cubicles","authors":"S.P. Brouwers ,&nbsp;A.F.E. Schug ,&nbsp;M. Simmler ,&nbsp;P. Savary","doi":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101507","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101507","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In cubicle housing systems for dairy cows, neck rails/straps/chains are used to limit bedding soiling by faeces and urine. Flexible neck straps are an alternative to rigid neck rails, which are associated with animal welfare issues such as painful collisions, injuries, and atypical behaviours. However, no literature exists on the positioning of flexible neck straps in relation to their effectiveness in limiting soiling of the bedding material and their effect on cow behaviour. In a research barn with 40 cows, we experimentally investigated how neck strap positioning relative to cow body size affects rising and lying down behaviours, general lying behaviour, and defecation behaviour in lying cubicles. To expand the range of body-relative positioning beyond that resulting from the herd’s variation in body size, we varied the neck strap height (105, 120, and 135 cm) and its distance from the curb (155 and 170 cm) in two experiments. The resulting ratios of neck strap height to withers height (<strong>NSH</strong> ratio) ranged from 0.65 to 0.96, and the ratios of neck strap distance from the curb to diagonal body length (<strong>NSD</strong> ratio) ranged from 0.85 to 1.11. With the exception of sideways head lunging, atypical rising and lying down behaviours were rare throughout the study. A higher (less restrictive) NSH ratio was associated with a reduced probability of crawling backwards on the carpal joints during rising. We found no statistical support for an effect of neck strap positioning relative to cow body size on the probabilities of other atypical rising and lying down behaviours, or daily lying time and frequency. For defecations within a 120 s time window around rising events while in the lying cubicle, a higher (less restrictive) NSH ratio was associated with a higher probability of faeces landing in the cubicle. This probability also increased with a higher (less restrictive) NSD ratio. Overall, our results indicate that the positioning of flexible neck straps relative to cow body size, as tested in this study, does not considerably affect dairy cow behaviour, suggesting that flexible straps can accommodate cows of different sizes. The effectiveness of positioning cows in the lying cubicle in such a way that limits soiling of the bedding around rising events increased with a lower (more restrictive) NSH ratio. Thus, flexible neck straps can be a viable alternative to rigid neck rails by limiting soiling of lying cubicles around rising events without considerably impeding dairy cow movements during rising and lying down.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50789,"journal":{"name":"Animal","volume":"19 5","pages":"Article 101507"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143879132","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":"Review: Exploring correctness, usefulness, and feasibility of potential physiological operational welfare indicators for farmed insects to establish research priorities.","authors":"M G Johnson, M Barrett","doi":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2025.101501","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While insects are already the largest group of terrestrial food and feed livestock animals in terms of absolute number of individuals, the insect farming industry is expected to continue growing rapidly in order to meet the nutritional demands of the human population during the 21st century. Accordingly, consumers, producers, legislators, and industry-adjacent researchers have expressed interest in further research and assessment of farmed insect welfare. Operational indicators of animal welfare are those that can be used to putatively assess the welfare of animals in the absence of true indicators of affective state (e.g., valenced/emotional state) and are commonly used for farmed vertebrate livestock species; however, significant behavioral and physiological differences between vertebrates and insects means these indicators must be examined for their correctness, usefulness, and feasibility prior to use with insect livestock. The most valuable operational welfare indicators would (1) correctly correspond to the insect's putative welfare state; (2) provide useful information about what is affecting the insect's welfare; and (3) be feasible for deployment at a large scale on farms. As there are many possible indicators that could be further researched in insects, evaluating the likely correctness, feasibility, and usefulness of these indicators in insects will allow researchers to prioritize which indicators to investigate first for use on farms. Thus, in this review, we explore whether physiological or somatic indicators of farmed vertebrate welfare, including whole-body, immune, neurobiological, and respiratory/cardiac indicators, may be correct, feasible, and useful for assessing farmed insect welfare. We review insect physiological systems, as well as any existing, welfare-relevant data from farmed or closely related insects. We end by proposing a priority list for physiological, operational welfare indicators that are most likely to correctly, usefully, and feasibly assess farmed insect welfare, which may guide indicator validation research priorities for insect welfare scientists.</p>","PeriodicalId":50789,"journal":{"name":"Animal","volume":" ","pages":"101501"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144054820","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":"CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing to assess the role of RF-amide−related peptide 3 in ovine seasonal breeding","authors":"C. Richard ,&nbsp;A. Allais-Bonnet ,&nbsp;M. André ,&nbsp;V. Gelin ,&nbsp;M-C. Deloche ,&nbsp;D. Thépot ,&nbsp;E. Canon ,&nbsp;L. Laffont ,&nbsp;O. Dubois ,&nbsp;P. Congar ,&nbsp;O. Lasserre ,&nbsp;T. Aguirre-Lavin ,&nbsp;G. Gomot ,&nbsp;C. Moussu ,&nbsp;S. Barbey ,&nbsp;E. Pailhoux ,&nbsp;H. Dardente","doi":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101508","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101508","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Seasonal breeding is an adaptive strategy that ensures the birth of the offspring during the best time of year and allows energy saving in times of food scarcity and adverse environmental conditions. At temperate and polar latitudes, photoperiod is the main synchroniser of seasonal functions, which exerts its action through melatonin. Within the <em>pars tuberalis</em> of the anterior pituitary, melatonin triggers a series of events that lead to enhanced local triiodothyronine (<strong>T3</strong>) production in the medio-basal hypothalamus specifically under long days and ultimately drive the appropriate GnRH output at the median eminence. How T3 governs GnRH output is mostly unknown but neuronal populations that respectively produce KISS1 and RFRP3 appear to be involved. However, while the role of KISS1 as a major GnRH secretagogue is undisputed, the function of RFRP3 in the control of (seasonal) breeding remains enigmatic, with conflicting results hinting at elusive mechanisms. Therefore, we launched an extensive series of experiments in sheep, aimed at invalidating the NPVF gene, which encodes RFRP3, using CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Here, we report on the generation of six sheep for which the NPVF gene has been successfully edited. Four of these animals bear at least one allele expected to behave as a null and constitute founders for distinct ovine lines. These founder sheep will now enter a standard breeding scheme in order to obtain male and female homozygotes for distinct mutations. These animals are expected to provide a clear delineation of the function of RFRP3 in seasonal breeding.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50789,"journal":{"name":"Animal","volume":"19 5","pages":"Article 101508"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143879133","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":"Potential climate performance of modern fast- and slow-growing broiler genotypes","authors":"I. Leinonen","doi":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101499","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101499","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Genetic selection aiming to improve the feed efficiency is believed to have a significant role in reducing the environmental impacts of livestock production. The aim of this study was to quantify the global warming potential of a wide range of modern fast−growing and slow−growing broiler genotypes under conditions where they are expected to meet their performance objectives set by breeding companies. The global warming potential was estimated for scenarios where the birds were fed on conventional and soy−free diets with different levels of balanced protein. Life cycle assessment approach based on the ISO 14040 standards was used to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions arising from the production. The results show that the fastest−growing genotypes have the lowest global warming potential when achieving their performance objectives, the difference being over 1 kg CO₂e per kg eviscerated carcass, compared to the slowest−growing genotypes. As the faster growth rate reduces the time to reach the slaughter weight (ranging from 38 days to 61 days between the genotypes), up to 13 MJ less energy per bird is lost as heat during the whole growth cycle and therefore less feed is needed. The improvement of feed efficiency is important because the feed-related emissions have a high contribution to the overall greenhouse gas emissions of broilers, ranging from 88 – 92%, when fed with the traditional soya-based diet. Additionally, differences in the body composition also have an effect on the energy consumption of the birds and on the corresponding greenhouse gas emissions. The protein sources in diets have generally high greenhouse gas intensity, and therefore reducing the protein concentration of the diet may, in some cases, reduce the global warming potential. On the other hand, this effect is limited by the adverse effect on the growth rate of the birds. In cases where protein sources with lower emission intensity can be used, the reduction of the protein concentration in the diet does not bring any further improvement to the climate performance of broiler production. In contrast, in such cases, low protein diets increase the emissions as a result of the longer growth cycle. In conclusion, the differences in Global Warming Potential of modern broiler genotypes are related to the differences in their efficiency of the use of feed energy. This efficiency is dependent on the growth rate of the birds, although the differences in body composition also have some effect.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50789,"journal":{"name":"Animal","volume":"19 5","pages":"Article 101499"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143873964","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":"Fibre-rich ingredients differing in physicochemical properties modulate digesta transit and digestion kinetics in pigs","authors":"C. Lannuzel ,&nbsp;R.J. Veersma ,&nbsp;G. van Erven ,&nbsp;M.A. Kabel ,&nbsp;W.J.J. Gerrits ,&nbsp;S. de Vries","doi":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101473","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101473","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Physicochemical properties of fibres can affect digestive processes such as digesta transit, thereby affecting nutrient digestion kinetics. We evaluated the effects of (1) insoluble fibres differing in cell wall composition and physicochemical properties; wheat straw (<strong>WS</strong>), softwood flour (<strong>WF</strong>), and sunflower seed hulls (<strong>SF</strong>), and (2) addition of pectin to coarse insoluble fibres from straw (<strong>WSP</strong>), on the mean retention time (<strong>MRT</strong>) of digesta fractions and nutrient digestion throughout the gastrointestinal tract (<strong>GIT</strong>) of pigs. Twenty-four boars (49.1 ± 2.96 kg) were allocated to one of four diets, containing either 138 g/kg of WF, 144 g/kg of SF, or 150 g/kg of WS without or with the addition of 100 g/kg high-methylated pectin. The apparent total tract digestibility of nutrients was evaluated by quantitative faecal collection. After feeding diets supplemented with tracers, pigs were dissected following a frequent feeding procedure to approach steady-state passage of digesta, and assess MRT of liquids (Yb-EDTA), fine solids (TiO₂), and insoluble fibrous particles (Chromium mordanted fibres) throughout the GIT. Unlike coarse WS, no differences in pH nor DM were observed between the proximal and distal stomach for WSP, and fine WF and SF (<em>P</em> &gt; 0.05). Compared with WS, WF and SF reduced the MRT of fine solids (−01:51 to 01:03 h:min; <em>P</em> ≤ 0.05), and fibrous particles (−03:14 to 02:23 h:min; <em>P</em> ≤ 0.05) in the proximal and distal stomach, decreasing their separation, especially in the distal stomach (−01:30 to 01:20 h:min; <em>P</em> ≤ 0.05). Addition of pectin to WS reduced separation between fine solids and liquids in the distal stomach (−43 min; <em>P</em> ≤ 0.05), increased starch digestibility in the mid-small intestine (<strong>SI</strong>; +9%-units; <em>P</em> ≤ 0.05) but not at the end of the SI, and reduced total tract digestibility of nitrogen (−8%-units; <em>P</em> ≤ 0.05), reflecting a lower ileal digestibility (−8%-units). In the large intestine (<strong>LI</strong>), coarse WS reduced the MRT of digesta phases compared with fine WF and SF (−17:38 to 08:08 h:min). Regardless of origin, fermentation of insoluble fibres was poor (≤19%), while complete fermentation of pectin did not impact the fermentation of WS. In conclusion, fine WF and SF accelerated the emptying of solids and suppressed regional differences in pH in the stomach, and delayed digesta transit in the LI, compared with coarse straw. Pectin addition to coarse straw reduced gastric sieving between fine solids and liquids, and increased starch digestibility in the proximal SI.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50789,"journal":{"name":"Animal","volume":"19 4","pages":"Article 101473"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143746474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparison of different residual carbon dioxide formulations as a means to select feed−efficient dairy cows","authors":"A. Chegini,&nbsp;E. Negussie,&nbsp;A.R. Bayat,&nbsp;T. Stefański,&nbsp;M.H. Lidauer","doi":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101450","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101450","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Improving feed utilisation efficiency and environmental sustainability by the selection of superior animals are amongst the widely studied topics during the last decade. For the evaluation of individual’s feed utilisation efficiency, residual feed intake (<strong>RFI</strong>) has become the common metric and is defined as the difference between actual and expected feed intake. Lately, a new metric for carbon dioxide (<strong>CO₂</strong>) called residual CO₂ (<strong>RCO₂</strong>) is being developed and similarly defined as RFI. However, the partial regression coefficients for expected feed intake obtained by regressing DM intake (<strong>DMI</strong>) on energy sinks may not be biologically plausible and this could also be the case for CO₂. The objective of this study was to compare RCO₂ and RFI formulations calculated using different partial regression coefficients of energy sinks obtained either from regression on energy sinks or from different energy requirement formulations used nationally or internationally. The correlations between these different formulations as well as production, efficiency, and BW measurements were also calculated. Repeated daily measurements of CO₂ production (n = 51 977) using two GreenFeed Emissions Monitoring system and records of DMI from 83 primiparous Nordic Red dairy cows were used. Three types of RCO₂ and RFI formulations were calculated. The first was by fitting a multiple linear regression (RCO_2MLR and RFI_MLR) whereas the second and third were based on the Finnish energy requirement formulation (RCO_2FIN and RFI_FIN) and National Research Council 2021 (NRC, 2021; RCO_2NRC and RFI_NRC), respectively. Correlations between different RCO₂ and RFI formulations were lower (from 0.37 to 0.44) than the correlation between CO₂ production and DMI (0.58) implying that selection based on different RFI formulations may lead to selection of different sets of animals. Selection based on RCO₂ formulations would lead to improvement in energy conversion efficiency (<strong>ECE</strong>) albeit with a slightly lower rate compared to selection based on RFI formulations. However, the decline in the trend of CO₂ production would be enhanced when selection is based on RCO₂ rather than RFI. Of all the residual formulations studied in Finnish dairy cows, the use of RCO_2FIN is preferred because it had higher favourable correlations with ECE, CO₂ and methane emission per unit of energy-corrected milk. Due to its high correlation with DMI, the conventional RFI could favour cows with lower DMI, regardless of their milk production. More data are needed to further verify the correlation between CO₂ production and feed intake.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50789,"journal":{"name":"Animal","volume":"19 4","pages":"Article 101450"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144059911","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":"Simulation of long-term impact of dairy cattle mating programmes using genomic information at the herd level","authors":"C. Bengtsson ,&nbsp;H. Stålhammar ,&nbsp;J.R. Thomasen ,&nbsp;W.F. Fikse ,&nbsp;E. Strandberg ,&nbsp;S. Eriksson ,&nbsp;M. Johnsson","doi":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101498","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101498","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Genotyping provides breeders with new information at the single nucleotide polymorphism level that can be used in mating programmes. This study used stochastic simulation to explore the long-term effects of genomic mating allocations combining economic scores and linear programming at the level of commercial herds. The economic scores included genetic level, a favourable monogenic trait (polledness), a recessive genetic defect, and parent relationships. The results showed that compared with only maximising genetic level, including genomic or pedigree relationship in the economic score lowered the rate of pedigree and genomic inbreeding with minimal effect on genetic gain. Including the cost of a recessive genetic defect in the score almost eliminated the risk of expression. We set the start allele frequency of polledness to ∼12%, and the value of polledness varied in the different scenarios (€0, €10, €50, and €100). Including an economic value for polledness of (≥ €50) in the economic score increased the frequency of polled animals by up to 0.037 per generation, without negatively impacting other comparison criteria. The use of genomic relationships was favourable for the rate of genomic inbreeding and performed as well as pedigree relationships concerning the rate of pedigree inbreeding. Limiting the number of females per bull and herd to a maximum of 5% instead of 10% also decreased the rate of inbreeding. The 5% females per bull and herd constraint lowered the variation in carrier frequency for genetic defects, which reduced the risk of mating two carriers of an unknown genetic defect in future generations after the widespread use of carriers in previous generations. However, the 10% females per bull constraint accelerated the increase in the polled allele. Therefore, planning matings with genomic information at the herd level involves important risk management decisions, such as balancing the trade-off between using fewer bulls to increase the polled allele frequency more quickly and using more bulls to reduce the rate of inbreeding and the variation in carrier frequency for genetic defects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50789,"journal":{"name":"Animal","volume":"19 5","pages":"Article 101498"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143848680","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":"Review: Insects as a novel feed ingredient: processing technologies, quality and safety considerations.","authors":"G Rossi, M Psarianos, S Ojha, O K Schlüter","doi":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101495","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2025.101495","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The current food system is placing significant strain on limited available resources. Novel protein sources have been suggested as a potential solution for ensuring further growth without compromising the natural balance of the planet. In this direction, edible insects appear to be crucial players. Consumers may not always prefer the direct use of insects as human food, indicating that the indirect use of insects as animal feed might be more suitable. Insects are characterised by high nutritional value and similar digestibility compared to more traditional feed such as soybean meal and fishmeal. However, effective introduction of edible insects in animal diets requires one or more processing operations. Processing is paramount for ensuring high microbiological safety while improving the quality, digestibility and palatability of the insect. Additionally, feed processing could allow a combination of insect-based ingredients with other traditional feed ingredients, obtaining a uniform and stable mixture, which can easily and conveniently be provided to the farmed animals. In this review, an overview of the most common processing methods (blanching, grinding, drying, mixing, extrusion) applied to edible insects with the aim of delivering high-quality insect-based feed is presented. Each processing step is carefully evaluated, the pros and cons of each operation are considered and important recommendations are provided. Barriers and opportunities for advancing the use of insects within the feed sector are finally illustrated. A strong emphasis is placed on the need of evaluating the effect of any processing step on the quality and safety of insect-derived products, particularly considering the possibility of replacing traditional feed ingredients with insect-derived materials.</p>","PeriodicalId":50789,"journal":{"name":"Animal","volume":" ","pages":"101495"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144046700","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":"Unravelling novel and closely linked association signals for fat-related traits in pigs using prioritised variants from whole-genome sequence data","authors":"E. Molinero ,&nbsp;R.N. Pena ,&nbsp;J. Estany ,&nbsp;R. Ros-Freixedes","doi":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101496","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.animal.2025.101496","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>For most production traits, the largest proportions of genetic variance remain unmapped. Dense whole-genome sequence (<strong>WGS</strong>) data enable the possibility of discovering novel associations as well as unravelling closely linked association signals with a resolution that marker arrays cannot reach. However, the identification of variants from WGS data that are causal of the variation of complex traits is hindered by the high dimensionality and linkage disequilibrium. Thus, at best, we can narrow the circle around the causal variants to prioritise a set of variants for their posterior validation. In this study, we assessed the utility of WGS data for uncovering associations of weaker effects using, as a model, fat content and composition traits in a Duroc pig population where we previously described major effects of the <em>LEPR</em> and <em>SCD</em> genes. We genotyped 971 pigs for a set of 182 variants from 154 candidate genes that were prioritised from amongst the WGS variants discovered in 205 sequenced individuals. These variants were prioritised conditional to <em>LEPR</em> and <em>SCD</em>. The association of the prioritised variants with the target traits was then tested in the confirmation set of 971 pigs. A total of 17 potentially independent quantitative trait loci (8.4% of the total number of studied genes) were significantly associated (<em>q</em>-value &lt; 0.05) with at least one of the studied traits. We identified novel associations attributable to genes such as <em>ABCC2</em>, <em>MOGAT2</em>, or <em>PLPP1</em> for backfat thickness, myristic acid content, and monounsaturated fatty acid content, respectively. Our results also revealed a finer granularity of weaker genetic effects in loci such as those around the <em>DGAT2</em> and <em>FADS2</em> genes, which may mask the effects of closely located genes like <em>MOGAT2</em> and <em>DAGLA</em>, respectively. To refine the prioritisation of variants for validation studies, especially when targeting those of weaker effects, we recommend larger and more diverse discovery sets, more precise and complete functional gene annotation, and the integration of other omics data.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50789,"journal":{"name":"Animal","volume":"19 5","pages":"Article 101496"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143842669","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}