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Background Apart from being an oil crop, forage rape (Brassica napus) can be used to feed ruminants. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of pelleted total mixed ration (TMR) diets with various levels of forage rape on growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, meat nutritional value and rumen microbiota of Hu lambs, which was important for the efficient utilization of forage rape and alleviating the shortage of high-quality forage in China. Results Lambs fed on diets with 200-400 g kg-1 forage rape had greater average daily gain (ADG) and lower feed conversion ratio (FCR) than those fed on diets with 0-100 g kg-1 of forage rape (P 0.05). However, the inclusion of forage rape increased the relative abundance of cellulolytic bacteria and short-chain fatty acid producers, including Succiniclasticum, Fibrobacter and members of the Lachnospiraceae. Besides, Succiniclasticum was found to be positively correlated with the final body weight of lambs. Conclusion TMR diets that included 200-400 g kg-1 forage rape could improve the growth performance of lambs, and elevated the content of intramuscular α-linolenic acid and a variety of amino acids in the muscle, accompanied by increased abundance of cellulolytic bacteria in the rumen.

This study was conducted to evaluate the use of ramie as forage on growth performance, serum biochemical indices, and meat quality of Boer goats. For this, 60 Boer lambs were divided into four groups fed the TMR with 0%, 10%, 20%, and 40% (control, and groups I, II, III, respectively) ramie. The experiment lasted for 90 days with a pretest for 15 days. Venous blood and longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle samples were collected after 24 h fasted at the end of the experiment. The results showed that ramie seems no significant changes in average daily gain (ADG) and other parameters for growth performance, only 40% ramie in TMR significantly reduced average daily feed intake (ADFI) (P

The placenta is the organ that determines the growth of the fetus and the outcome of pregnancy. Magnolol is a multifunctional polyphenol with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and neuroprotective functions. However, there is less knowledge of the effects or complications in the placenta and the mechanism underlying the effect of magnolol when used during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of maternal magnolol supplementation on pregnancy outcomes and placental alterations in a pregnant mouse model. A total of 128 pregnant mice were randomly divided into 4 groups supplemented with 0, 40, 80 and 160 μM magnolol from gestational day 0 (GD0) to delivery. Our results revealed that the number of large-for-gestation-age fetuses on GD13 and the weaning weight of offspring were increased in the magnolol treatment groups. Moreover, maternal magnolol supplementation increased superoxide dismutase (SOD), decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) in maternal serum, and promoted the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in the placenta. Furthermore, magnolol significantly increased the area of the junctional zone and decidua in the placentas and increased the expression of interferon-γ (INF-γ), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), chemokine (CC Motif) Ligand 3 (CCL3), chemokine (CXC motif) ligand 10 (CXCL10), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and T-box transcription factor 21 (T-bet) in the placenta during GD13 in pregnant mice, while suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) was reduced. Moreover, the ratio of blood space in the labyrinth area, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were all increased in the magnolol treatment groups on GD13. Taken together, these results indicate that magnolol can improve the growth of offspring, which might be due to the alteration of placental morphology and the promotion of placental angiogenesis during mid-gestation.

Additional file 1. Ingredients and nutrient levels of basal diets.

Additional file 2. Primers used in this study.

Additional file 3. The top 100 differentially expressed gene.

With the shortage of high‐quality forage in southern China, it is urgent to develop local unconventional forage resources, such as ramie. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary ramie levels on ruminal fermentation and rumen microbiota of Boer goats. A total of 60 Boer kids were allocated into four dietary treatments with 0, 10%, 20%, and 40% ramie, respectively. The results showed that the ruminal fermentation parameters were unaffected by the inclusion of 0%–20% ramie (p > .05). However, the ruminal concentration of total short‐chain fatty acids, acetate, and butyrate increased linearly with increasing ramie proportions (p .10) even though the relative abundance of Asteroleplasma and Treponema was increased respectively when 10% and 20% ramie was included (p, With the shortage of high‐quality forage in southern China, it is urgent to develop local unconventional forage resources, such as ramie. The current study with goats showed that the ruminal concentration of total short‐chain fatty acids, acetate, and butyrate increased linearly with increasing ramie proportions. The relative abundances of the microorganisms at phylum level and most of the identified microorganisms at genus level remain unchanged, which demonstrated that up to 40% ramie had no impairment in the ruminal fermentation or rumen microbiota of goats.

An Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) method for the measurement of the long-lived radionuclide 92Nb has been established at the HI-13 Tandem Accelerator of the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE). Niobium powder mixed with PbF2 by a ratio of 1:2 (in mass) was used as the cathode material. Atomic anions of Nb− were extracted from a Cs-beam sputter source. The terminal voltage of the tandem accelerator was 8.5 MV. Nb13+ ions were selected after terminal foil stripping. A multi-anode gas ionization chamber was used for the particle detection. The total suppression factor of the two major interfering isobars, 92Zr and 92Mo, was about 103. A detection limit of about 10−11 was achieved for 92Nb/93Nb ratio measurements on a blank sample.

High efficiency multi-point evaporation source is very preponderant to prepare deposits of materials with low evaporation temperature. Using this technique materials such as Zn, Cd, Mg, Se, Yb, Sb, Te, etc. can be deposited with the average recovery (K value) of 75% and K value of the average deposition efficiency is about 850 μg/cm2/mg.