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This study evaluated the protein quality of small mammalian prey and its body organs by analyzing amino acid (AA) composition and digestibility of wild adult rats and their body organs (skin/fur, bone, muscle, intestine, liver, kidney, spleen, brain, heart, and lung) utilizing an in vitro digestion method. The average dry matter (DM) digestibility of whole rats was 89.9%. The digestibility of total AA (TAA), total indispensable AA (TIAA), and total dispensable AA (TDAA) in whole rats was 85.6, 87.0, and 87.6%, respectively. Differences in DM digestibility were observed among rat organs, ranging from 59.0% in bone to 99.8% in muscle (P < 0.001). Highly digestible organs generally exhibited AA digestibility exceeding 90%, except for cysteine (Cys) in the intestine and kidney (83.8% and 88.9%, respectively). The digestibility of AAs in skin/fur ranged from 19.7% for Cys to 81.0% for glycine (Gly). In bone, the digestibility spanned from 56.9% for Gly to 81.1% for tyrosine (Tyr). Additionally, examining the digestible indispensable AA score (DIAAS) gives us an idea of the protein quality of small mammalian prey and their body organs. Our results complement information on AA supply and digestion during prey ingestion by felids., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

A factorial experiment was performed with 117 barrows belonging to the Iberian (IB) and crossbred F1 Large White × Landrace (F1) genetic groups, either intensively finished (IN) or finished outdoors on pasture in an oak and cork tree forest (EX). Information was collected on carcass weight, yield, and dimensions; weight of organs, carcass cuts, and abdominal fat depots; backfat depth; measurements of the longissimus thoracis (LT); and yield of different leg tissues. For the 41 slaughter and carcass traits analyzed, the interaction between genetic group and finishing system was significant (P < 0.05) in 18 traits, and overall, there was a more pronounced influence of genetic group than of finishing system. In most variables, particularly those related with fat deposition, the interaction reflected mostly changes in mean differences among genetic groups rather than in their ranking, where IB pigs consistently produced fatter carcasses, regardless of the finishing system. Liver weight in IB-EX pigs was lower by nearly 8% when compared with F1-EX or IB-IN pigs, but the opposite pattern was found in F1 pigs, where liver weight in F1-EX pigs was higher by 16% relative to IB-EX pigs or to F1-IN pigs. The deposition of adipose tissue was much larger (P < 0.05) in IB pigs compared with F1 pigs, with means for fat depots in IB pigs that were higher by about 25% in total abdominal fat, 94% in dorsal fat depth, 72% in intermuscular plus subcutaneous fat in the leg, and over 300% in intramuscular fat (IMF). The deposition of lean tissue was much lower in IB pigs (P < 0.05), with means for trimmed loin weight corresponding to about one-half of the means obtained in F1 pigs, whereas lean percentage in the leg of IB pigs was about two-thirds of the mean in F1 pigs and the mean area of the LT was nearly one-half of that observed in F1 pigs in the same finishing system (P < 0.05). A strong correlation was observed between the various fat depots when the full data set was considered (correlations of IMF with abdominal fat and backfat depth of 0.65 and 0.83, respectively; P < 0.05), but the correlations were much smaller when they were estimated within breed, particularly for IB pigs (-0.10 and 0.20 for the correlations of IMF with abdominal fat and backfat depth, respectively; P > 0.05), indicating that it is feasible to reduce subcutaneous and abdominal fat without compromising IMF and meat quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploration of cell viability and their regenerative capacity in postmortem tissues has a huge potential for tissue/organ transplantation and cell therapies in both human and animals. Proliferative stem cells have been recovered from refrigerated postmortem skin tissue in bovine, goat and sheep, and from ligaments in horses. However, it is not clearly known whether live and proliferative cells can be recovered from visceral organs that stay comparatively warmer than other tissues after death, and whether the recovery time can be extended after refrigeration of individual organs. To achieve this goal, six different organ tissues i.e. lung, heart, oviduct, liver, kidney and skin from goats were procured from slaughter house and stored in the laboratory at 4°C. Ten small sized (2-3mm2) explants from each of the five organs were then cultured in two 35mm dishes for each time point in DMEM media supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. The tissues were cultured on day 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12. The dishes were observed under inverted microscope and any explant exhibiting outgrowth of cells on day 10-12 of culture was considered positive. Our results exhibited outgrowth of cells around 3 (lung, oviduct, skin) of the 6 organs tested. Kidney, liver and heart tissues did not show any outgrowth. Interestingly, oviduct and skin, tissues exhibited outgrowth even after 9 days of postmortem storage in refrigerator, whereas lung tissues show growth only up to 6 days of storage. Experiments to test the cell survival limits on more animals of different age groups and characterization of recovered cells are underway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a report on the impact of dietary protein concentration on compensatory growth in barrows and gilts. It explains how feeders were filled weekly during the ad libitum intake period and more often if needed to ensure that pigs had ad libitum access to feed. It states that the main effects in the statistical model were replicate, feeding regimen, protein level, and sex.