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The current study determined the effects of dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) on milk performance, total apparent digestibility, and blood parameters in lactating cows subject to heat stress. Eight Chinese Holstein cows (22.04±2.38 kg of milk/d, 512±76 kg of body weight, 219±20 d in milk) at the late stage of lactation were allocated to group 1 or 2. We used a randomized complete block design with a 2x2 factorial arrangement. The experiment consisted of two periods. Each period lasted 21 days, including the first 14 days for adaptation to the diet and the following seven days for trail. During period 1, group 1 fed with DCAD at 216 mEq/kg dry matter (the basal diet=CON) and group 2 fed 398 mEq/kg dry matter (high DCAD). During period 2, group 1 diet (the basal diet = CON) was swapped group 2 diet (high DCAD). The high DCAD had no significant effects on the respiratory frequency, rectal temperature, blood pH value, the acid-base balance, milk yield, milk composition, and feed intake (P>0.05). However, the high DCAD was associated with lower somatic cell count (SCC) in milk (P=0.04) and lower immune cell counts in blood, which was conducive to the improvement of milk quality. The apparent digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, energy, neutral detergent fiber, and ethyl extract was greater in the high DCAD group (P

This study investigated the eff ects of diff erent zinc (Zn) sources on body weight, body size, serum biochemical indexes and mineral concentrations in Liuyang pregnant goats and their off spring. Twenty-four two-years-old Liuyang Black goats were randomly allocated to three groups and fed a basal corn-soybean meal diet supplemented respectively with Zn-sulfate (ZnS), Zn-methionine (ZnM), Zn-glycinate (ZnG) at 60 mg/kg Zn for the last 52 days of gestation. The weight and chest circumference of kids in the ZnG group were signifi cantly higher than those in the ZnS group. The concentrations of CHOL and HDL in the serum were signifi cantly higher in the ZnG group than that in the ZnM group 10 days before gestation, but CRPL levels were signifi cantly higher in the ZnS group than in other two groups. The serum ALP activity of 60-day old kid-goats was signifi cantly higher than that of 30-day old and 100-day old ones. The concentrations of potassium and zinc in serum of ZnG group were signifi cantly higher than that of ZnS group. These fi ndings revealed that ZnG as dietary supplementation can improve the performance of kidgoats, while ZnG and ZnM can enhance the immunity of pregnant and postpartum goats, and ZnG supplement is better than ZnM.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of high rice grain diet on apparent nutrient digestibility, growth performance, nitrogen digestion, blood parameters and rumen fermentation in goats. Sixteen growing goats were divided into 2 groups and fed a normalconcentrate diet (NC, 55% concentrate of dry matter; n=8) or a high concentrate diet (HC, 90% concentrate of dry matter; n=8) for 5 wk. Growth performance, nutrients digestibility, nitrogen digestion, blood parameters and ruminal fermentation were measured. Total weight gain and average daily gain increased in the HC group (P

The object of this study was to evaluate the effect of different sources and supplementation levels of yeast culture on in vitro fermentation characteristics of goats. The present study was performed in a 3×4 factorial design to examine the impacts of inclusion of three kinds of yeast culture (Se-enriched, Cr-enriched, Zn-enriched yeast culture) at four dose (0, 0.1%, 0.25%, 0.40% and 0.55%) on the in vitro fermentation characteristics of cereal straw. For maize stover, the results shown that the average values of in vitro gas production, DM and NDF disappearance, pH and the ratio of acetate to propionate were increased (P

The aim of this study was to investigate the oxidative and proliferative effects of grape seed extract (GSE). Piglet intestinal epithelial cells (IPEC1) were selected as an unstressed cell model, or they were exposed to 400 μM H2O2 to establish a H2O2-stimulated cell model. The glutathione (GSH) and total antioxidant capacity in response to GSE addition were tested in the unstressed and H2O2-stimulated cell models. The relative mRNA levels of antioxidant or antioxidant enzymes and apoptosis-related genes were measured by Real-Time RT-PCR. In the unstressed status, the cell survival ratio and GSH increased with the addition of GSE at 1 and 10 μg/mL but diminished at 60 μg GSE/mL. The addition of 1 μg/mL GSE upregulated the mRNA expression levels of B-Cell Lymphoma protein-2 (Bcl-2), cysteine aspartases-3 (Caspase-3), cysteine aspartases-8 (Caspase-8) and glutathione peroxidase-1(GPx-1), while it downregulated that of Bcl2-associated X protein (Bax), copper-zinc superoxide dismutase, glutathione S-transferase (GST), thioredoxin, thioltransferase and thioredoxin reductase. As GSE reached 60 μg/mL, the tumor protein p53 (p53) and caspase-8 gene expressions were upregulated. In stressed status, 1 and 10 μg GSE/mL promoted the increase of GSH. H2O2- induced increases in Bax, p53, and Caspase-3 mRNA expressions were attenuated by the subsequent addition of 1 μg GSE/mL and promoted the gene expression of tumor necrosis factor-α, GPx-1 and thioltransferase (Ttas). Treatment with 60 μg GSE/ml resulted in a significant reduction in Bax, p53, manganese superoxide dismutase and GST mRNA expressions. These results indicate that GSE exhibits antioxidative and proliferative functions on unstressed IPEC1 cells at low and medium levels and oxidative and antiproliferative functions at high levels.

The study was carried out to investigate the impact of Bacillus Coagulans supplementation with different concenteration (0, 0.25×107, 0.50×107, and 0.75×107 cfu/mL) on in vitro parameters as methane (CH4) parameters, nutrients digestibility and the fermentation character of rumen of fibrous agriculture by-products (maize stover and rice straw) using probiotics preparations in ruminants. The results showed that, maximum gas production (Vf), gas production fraction (k) and the time when half of the maximum gas production was achieved (t0.5) of maize stover were significantly increased when compared to group of the rice straw. Additionally, in vitro dry matter disappearance; (IVDMD), in vitro neutral detergent fiber disappearance (IVNDFD), individual volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and total VFA (TVFA) of maize stover were significantly in related to the rice straw group. Also, the gas production rate at the early incubation stage (FRD0), pH value of rumine and the acetate: propionate ratio of maize stover is significantly lower than the rice straw. Vf of rice straw was quadratic (P