Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine
Bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC), also known as “Shipping fever”, is a generic term for respiratory system diseases, which includes pneumonia and bronchitis, caused by many kinds of bacteria, viruses and diverse physiological stresses, and occurs at high frequency among calves. BRDC is widely distributed around the world, causing huge economic losses to the global cattle farming industry. With the development of cattle industry in China, BRDC has been diagnosed at beef cattle farms and dairy farms in many provinces, and severely impeded the healthy development of cattle industry in China. Because of complex etiology and difficulty in treatment, it is crucial to develop accurate and fast diagnostic method for the prevention and control of BRDC. This review summarized research achievement about diagnostic techniques of BRDC for decades to provide reference for the prevention, control and in-depth research of this disease.
The aim of this study was to select an ideal alfalfa variety that could overwinter in Heilongjiang Province. Three cold-resistant mutants, lm1609, lm1625 and lm1704, were obtained from the second-generation population of ‘Longmu 806’ after magnetic field free space treatment, and their cold-resistant performance was identified by measuring germination index, wintering rate, yield characteristic index and root physiological and biochemical index. There was no significant difference in germination index between the three mutants and the control. The germination potential and simplified activity index of lm1609 were significantly higher than those of lm1625 and lm1704 (82.05% and 469.82, respectively) (P<0.05). The overwintering rate of the three mutants was significantly lower than that of the control group. There was no significant difference in plant height between mutants and control on June 6. With plant growth, lm1609 and lm1704 on July 6 and August 6 were significantly higher than those of lm1625 and control. The difference in fresh grass yield among the mutants lm1609, lm1625 and lm1704 was not significant, but significantly higher than that of the control (P<0.05). The root peroxidase and superoxide dismutase of the three alfalfa mutants were significantly higher than those of the control, and the highest POD and SOD of the mutants were 304.85 OD470/(min·g) and 208.41 U/g, respectively (P<0.05). lm1609 mutant was an ideal cold resistant mutant material that has high cold resistance and yield characteristics.
Super absorbent polymer (SAP) is a kind of polymer with fast water absorption and slow release. It is widely used in traditional agricultural production, but there are few reports on pastoral agricultural production, natural grassland restoration and ecological environment construction. Based on the comprehensive analysis of a large number of domestic and foreign literatures, this paper briefly described the water absorption mechanism of super absorbent polymer. The study expounded the effect and application prospect of super absorbent polymer in forage production and desertification control, aiming to provide relevant reference for the application of super absorbent polymer in forage production and desertification control.
The paper aims to analyze the research progress of straw feed utilization, relevant literature on straw feed research in the Web of Science Core Collection database and CNKI China Academic Literature Network Publishing Database from 2002-2021 were selected to mainly analyze domestic and foreign research strengths, hotspots and frontier of the research. The results were visualized by CiteSpace software. The results indicated that the overall number of Chinese and English literature related to straw feed utilization had been increasing annually from 2002-2021, with a larger volume of researches in countries like China, the USA, and India; The top-ranked research institutions of English and Chinese articles included China Agricultural University and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The cooperation relationships among major authors of Chinese articles transited from a star to a mesh structure, the major authors of English articles showed a variety of cooperation relationships including star, ring, tree and mesh structures. The top-ranked author with 156 English articles is Wanapat, a scholar from Khon Kaen University. Research hotspots in Chinese literature on straw feed utilization are ‘lactic acid bacteria’, ‘associative effects’, ‘silage’, ‘fermentation quality’ and ‘growth performance’, the research frontiers focus on the production and growth performance of ruminants, as well as the effect of additives on the quality of silage/microbial silage fermentation. Research hotspots in the English literature are ‘nutritive value’, ‘growth’, ‘rumen fermentation’, ‘dairy cow’ and ‘degradation’, while research frontiers focus on the dynamic regulating mechanisms of microflora during straw fermentation and rumen fermentation, as well as the combined effects of additives on feed nutrient utilization and animal energy metabolism. Our results could provide references for scholars to distill scientific issues in the field of straw feed utilization.
Trichogramma species is one of the most effective and commonly used natural enemies with the widest application in China, which is suitable for large-scale production, and its industrial development is relatively perfect. However, there are few related researches on the industrial standardization of Trichogramma. In this paper, the current status of relevant standards of Trichogramma was analyzed. And, the construction ideas of standard system were explored from the perspective of the whole industry chain. Then the standard system of Trichogramma industry was initially constructed based on the steady and healthy development of the industry. The main problems of the standard system of Trichogramma industry were analyzed from the aspects of imperfect standard system, low standard conversion rate and lack of standardization concept. In addition, the development suggestions for standard system of the Trichogramma industry were put forward in terms of continuous improvement of the standard system, accelerating transformation of scientific and technological achievements into standards, and thoroughly implementing the standardization concept of natural enemy industries. Finally, the development trends of the standard system of Trichogramma in the future were prospected. This study may provide reference for the top-level design of standard system of the Trichogramma industry and provide technical support for the standardization development, and then provide assistance for the development of the Trichogramma industry through the measures for standardization.
As a feed additive, fermented Chinese herbal medicine has the advantages of enhancing immunity, preventing disease, and having no antibiotic resistance. Especially in the cases of feed prohibition of antibiotics, fermented Chinese herbal medicine has broad prospects as a feed additive. After fermentation, the Chinese herbal liquid and residue provide a dual health benefit by preserving the traditional efficacy of Chinese medicine and containing beneficial probiotics that animals can easily absorb and use. The use of fermented Chinese herbal medicine can not only expand the utilization of Chinese herbal resources, but also help improve the breeding environment, promote the healthy growth of animals, reduce occurrence of disease incidence, and save the breeding costs. In the post-antibiotic era, using plant extract nutrition to intervene in livestock and poultry breeding, prevent disease and realize animal’s health is one of the most effective ways to replace and prohibit antibiotics. In this regard, the functional feed additives made from traditional Chinese herbal medicine are in line with the national green development concept by improving the body immunity from inside out and improving the production performance of farming animals. This article reviews the current application status of fermented Chinese herbal medicine as a feed additive in livestock and poultry farming, providing a reference for further research on the application of fermented Chinese herbal medicine in animal husbandry.
In recent years, there have been great differences in the number of eggs laid by individuals of Zhuanghe Dagu chickens. Alternative splicing (AS) is an important mechanism of post-transcriptional regulation of eukaryotic genes, but there is no research on the correlation between AS and egg production in avian pituitary and hypothalamus. Based on RNA-Seq technology, this experiment analyzed the AS events of Zhuanghe Dagu chickens. The results showed that 769 and 813 differential AS events were detected in the pituitary and hypothalamic libraries, respectively. Five types of AS events were identified in both libraries (pituitary, hypothalamus), with the highest proportion of exon skipping (SE) and the lowest proportion of alternative 5' splice site (A5SS); NRCAM, SLMAP and CIB1 gene had a higher frequency of AS; 644 and 680 differentially spliced genes (DSGs) were screened from the two tissue libraries, respectively, with the highest proportion of SE and the lowest proportion of A5SS. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis annotated 329 and 337 DSGs, respectively; RT-PCR detection found that ESR1 was present in different AS events; a total of 6758 new transcripts were obtained from 12 libraries, and 12486 gene were optimized. The findings not only expand the understanding of AS events in poultry pituitary and hypothalamic tissues, but also provide new ideas for improving chicken egg production in research and production.
In order to solve the environmental sanitation and soil pollution caused by livestock manure in southern Ningxia, this study used “Daping 2” earthworm to treat cattle manure, and then explored the effect of earthworms feeding on mixture of cattle manure and corn stalk in different proportions by laboratory measurements. The results showed that vermicompost was loose, had distinct granular structure and no bad smell. The average bulk density of vermicompost was 0.39 g/cm3. The average total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity were 85.85%, 62.86% and 22.99%, respectively. The air permeability and water permeability of vermicompost were obviously improved. Total water soluble salt and pH decreased, and their properties tended to be neutral. Compared with fresh cattle manure, contents of organic matter, total nitrogen, total potassium and C/N decreased by 62.6%-69.8%, 41.1%-49.0%, 20.7%-33.2%, 34.3%-47.8% respectively, while content of total phosphorus increased by 1.3-2.0 times. Adding appropriate amount of corn stalk helped to improve the quality of vermicompost organic fertilizer. Earthworm treatment accelerated the decomposition of cellulose, hemicellulose and acid detergent ligninin of cattle manure, their contents decreased by 74.0%-77.5%, 65.6%-83.1% and 5.2%-16.3% respectively. The removal efficiency of Cu, Zn by the treatment was better than that of Pb and Cr. The conversion efficiency of cattle manure by earthworms was 43.42%-65.15%, and the conversion efficiency could be improved by adding corn stalk. Local farmers can use earthworms to transform livestock and poultry manure such as cattle dung, improve the comprehensive utilization rate of manure and reduce environmental pollution.
This study aimed to elucidate the growth-promoting effects of Ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) strains on Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.). Pot-grown Italian ryegrass was used as the experimental material, four treatments were established: no nitrification inhibitor and no inoculation, inoculation with AOB strains after regeneration, regeneration after adding a nitrification inhibitor, and inoculation with AOB strains after adding a nitrification inhibitor. The results showed that, compared to the non-inhibited and non-inoculated regeneration, Italian ryegrass inoculated with AOB strains exhibited an increase of 23.53% to 48.63% in leaf biomass, 27.91% to 48.54% in net photosynthetic rate, and 43.01% to 144.21% in rhizosphere soil nitrification rate. The addition of a nitrification inhibitor in the soil suppressed the growth promotion of Italian ryegrass. However, after inoculating with the S2_8_1 strain, the growth-promoting effects were superior to those of adding a nitrification inhibitor. In conclusion, the inoculation of S2_8_1 enhanced the nitrification process in Italian ryegrass rhizosphere, stimulated the increase of NO3- content, and strengthened photosynthesis, and ultimately promoted the growth-promoting effect of Italian ryegrass.
The aims were to understand the characteristics of mineral element contents in forage plant leaves of forest musk deer, and enrich the database of feed composition and nutritive value. Using 21 kinds of forage plant leaves for captive forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) as test materials, 8 mineral elements were analyzed by principal components (factors) and cluster analysis. The results showed that: (1) the average contents of mineral element were as follow: Ca(1.891±0.847)%, K(1.561±1.455)%, Mg(0.257±0.171)%, P(0.220±0.096)%, S(0.216±0.035)%, Fe (161.442±144.361) mg/kg, Zn (82.022±76.664) mg/kg, Cu(3.191±1.919)mg/kg. (2) The first three principal components (with eigenvalues >1) with a cumulative contribution rate of 77.107% were extracted, after variance maximum rotation, the loading coefficients of the first factor P, K, S, and Mg were higher, the second factor Cu and Fe were higher, and the third factor Ca and Zn were higher. (3) Q-type analysis was clustered into 6 categories, while R-type analysis was clustered into 4 categories, including Zn, Ca, Cu and Fe, and other elements. In summary, the content of S was relatively stable, Ca: P value (from3.16:1 to 26:1) was higher than the normal requirement ratio of the body, the content of Cu was generally low, which couldn't meet the daily requirement of adult musk deer, Mg was rich, Fe was low, and Zn and P couldn't partly meet the requirement; the comprehensive evaluation model of main mineral elements was established; the first factor was involved in acid-base balance, protein metabolism, and activation of various enzymes in musk deer, the second factor was related to various enzymes, tissue respiration, biological oxidation, and hematopoiesis function; the third factor reflected neural conduction, enzyme components or activation, etc.
The study aims to explore the relationship between age, musk-extracted time and yield, quality of musk, and to supplement the information of musk secretion mechanism, quality traits and appropriate musk-extracted time. Stratified Random Sampling method was used to observe and statistically analyze the musk yield and color, shape of 59 forest musk deer (1-5 years old). The results showed that there was no significant effect on musk yield by age and musk-extracted time, but the musk yield of forest musk deer of 2.7-3.7 years old was higher than that of other age groups; the average musk yield of adult musk deer (>2 years old) was (17.636±6.642) g, which was 4.129 g higher than that of bred musk deer (≤ 2 years old) (13.444±3.356) g (P=0.002<0.05); the average musk yield of adult musk deer in March was (19.955±7.267) g, which was 4.759 g higher than that in September (15.196±5.0113) g (P=0.023<0.05); although there was no significant difference between the observed group and control group (P=0.230>0.05), individual forest musk deer had higher musk yield and a larger yield range. The proportion of powdery musk was 61.02%, blocky musk was 6.78%, dry mud or mud musk was 15%~17%, brown musk was 52.54%, dark brown musk was 13.56%, dark tan and tan musk were respectively11.86%, light brown musk was 6.78%, and chocolate brown and black tan musk were 1.69%, respectively; the powdery musk (85%) of bred musk deer was higher than that of adult musk deer (48.72%), and the proportion of brown musk was the highest (60%, 51.28%); Powdery musk of adult musk in March and September were 35% and 63.16%, blocky musk was 5% and 15.79%, dry mud musk was 15% and 21.05%, mud musk was 45% and 0.00%, respectively. In summary, there was no significant correlation between different ages, musk-extracted time and musk yield, musk yield of adult musk deer was significantly higher than that of bred musk deer, and musk yield in March was significantly higher than that in September; the observed musk deer population had the characteristics of wider distribution of musk yield and higher yield, which indicated that years of breeding had promoted the separation of quantitative characters of musk yield, and provided a preliminary basis for the establishment of the core population later; brown and powdery musk accounted for the highest proportion, and the musk with mud and high water content collected in March was significantly higher than that in September.
In modern animal husbandry, with the wide application of artificial insemination technology, the requirements for semen quality of male animals have been rising. Nutritional regulation is one of the most important methods to improve animal reproductive performance and increase economic efficiency. As one of the essential nutrients for animals, vitamin A has an important role in regulating the reproductive performance of male animals, in addition to promoting bone development, maintaining metabolism and regulating embryonic growth. This paper briefly describes the properties and metabolism of vitamin A and its effects on the reproductive performance of male animals, in order to provide a theoretical reference for improving the fertility of breeding animals through nutritional regulation technology.
In order to explore the relationship between different forage indexes of forage sweet sorghum, comprehensively evaluate forage sweet sorghum varieties, and improve the breeding process of new varieties, 19 forage indexes of 13 sweet sorghum varieties were analyzed by variation analysis, correlation analysis, principal component analysis and cluster analysis. The results showed that the variation coefficient of crude protein, acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF), which could best reflect the quality of forage grass, were all less than 10%, while the variation coefficient of starch, Brix and element indexes were all greater than 15%. Therefore, it is necessary to develop high protein germplasm resources in forage sweet sorghum breeding. Correlation analysis showed that ADF was significantly positively correlated with NDF (P<0.01), and calcium content was significantly positively correlated with total digestible nutrients and relative forage value (RFV) (P<0.01). 19 forage indexes were divided into 4 principal components by principal component analysis, and the cumulative contribution rate reached 90.49%. The comprehensive analysis showed that the top 5 varieties were J205, TP3, TP14, TP83 and TP5, which had better comprehensive forage quality. The 13 varieties were divided into 3 groups by cluster analysis, among which, J205 and TP3 were the high comprehensive quality forage varieties.
To enrich the suitable forage species in Shandong, this paper reports the observations on the growth traits, yield and quality of five Pennisetum varieties which were introduced from south China and planted for two production cycles from 2019 to 2020. The comprehensive evaluation was conducted with grey relational analysis to identify the most suitable varieties in this region. The results showed that the ratio of leaf/whole plant, the ratio of stem/whole plant and the ratio of leaf/stem of each crop of forage grass among the tested varieties were significantly different, and the plant height was not obviously different. The leaf/whole plant ratio and leaf/stem ratio of Pennisetum purpureum ‘Red' (RED) were the largest, and the stem/whole plant ratio of P. purpureum× P. glaucum ‘Reyan No.4' (RY4), P. purpureum ‘Guiminyin' (GMY) and P. purpureum ‘Guimu No.1' (GM1) were relatively high. The average yield of fresh and hay grass of the tested varieties were 120.36 and 20.20 t/hm2 respectively, and the fresh grass yield and hay yield of GMY, P. sinese (JJC) and GM1 were higher than those of other tested varieties. The results also showed that the CP content of each crop of forage grass of the varieties was higher than 11%, but the difference was not significant (P>0.05), and the content of NDF, ADF and ADL were also not significantly different among the varieties in most crops (P>0.05). The grey correlation analysis results indicated that GM1, GMY and RED had better comprehensive performance in yield and quality, and were suitable for promotion in this region.
To further explore the role of bee pollination in pepper hybrid seed production, an experiment was carried out in 2020 in Shanxi Province to study the effects of different bee species, the planting ratio of male and female parents of pepper, and types of female parent on honeybee pollination. The results showed that the yield of seed production per unit area under bee pollination could reach 50% of that of artificial pollination, the input per unit area could be reduced to 32.5% of that of artificial pollination, and the profit rate could be nearly three times that of artificial pollination. Bee pollination can improve the quantity and vigor of pepper seeds, and save the cost of pepper seed production. The economic benefit is very significant.
By analyzing the external macro-environment of livestock manure resource utilization in China, the study aims to provide reference for ensuring the sustainable development of China’s animal husbandry. PEST analysis model was used to explore the resource utilization of livestock manure from four aspects including politics, economy, society and technology. The results show that in terms of political environment, relevant policies and standards have been further improved; in terms of economic environment, livestock manure has enormous economic potential as biomass, and the market-oriented operation mechanism has been explored; in terms of social environment, the livestock manure resource utilization is an inevitable choice for developing green and sustainable animal husbandry; in terms of technology environment, the resource utilization technology model and technology system have been constantly progressed. Currently, the resource utilization of livestock manure in China has already formed a good foundation for action. However, there are still many problems and challenges. To further promote the sustainable development of the resource utilization of livestock manure in China, we put forward some development countermeasures and suggestions.
This paper described the effects of light quality control on the growth and development, nutrient metabolism and photosynthesis regulation mechanism of main Leguminous and Gramineous forage (Medicago, Trifolium, Lolium, Festuca, Avena, Miscanthus and Zea), and pointed out that light quality was closely related to important indicators such as organ development, metabolite accumulation and photosynthetic physiological parameters of forage. Then, according to the application frontier of light supplementation technology on horticultural crops, fruits and vegetables, the development and focus of light regulation technology on forage were discussed. It is suggested that the light source selection and the agronomic traits of forage should be precisely linked, and the synergistic effect of multiple environmental factors should be fully exploited in combination with information science technology to maximize the use of light.
Mycoplasma, as an important pathogen causing cattle infection, has been spread worldwide and can cause a series of serious diseases in cattle. Mycoplasma is highly contagious and difficult to eradicate, so rapid and accurate diagnostic methods are needed to prevent and control disease outbreaks. This article reviewed the development and application of different diagnostic methods for mycoplasma. The traditional identification and diagnosis of mycoplasma are mainly in isolation and culture. Recently, techniques for mycoplasma detection from samples using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have increasingly matured. Compared with traditional diagnostic methods, PCR is more efficient, specific and sensitive. At present, pathogen isolation and identification, molecular biology identification, serological identification and other ways can be used for mycoplasma isolates typing, and easy to determine the gene characteristics in the disease outbreak investigation. Serological diagnosis by indirect ELISA can detect anti-mycoplasma antibodies in serum and milk, and has been demonstrated on single animal samples and BTM samples. The comprehensive application of these detection methods will contribute to the accurate detection of pathogens in production practice and the scientific assessment of the disease occurrence status of cattle herds.
The study aims to investigate the mechanism of endometrial inflammatory in cows with Escherichia coli, and lay a foundation for screening drugs that act on key signaling pathway targets. In this study, bovine endometrial epithelial cells (bEEC) were obtained and purified from cow uterus with primarily cultured tissue explant and trypsin. The cells by 30 μg/mL lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulating 12 h was screened out, which was used as the bEEC inflammatory injury model in vitro. IL-1β, IL-8, IL-6 and TNF-α mRNA levels of bEEC induced in 2 h, 6 h, 9 h and 12 h by LPS were detected with RT-PCR, and NF-κB and MAPKs related proteins in LPS-bEEC cells were detected by Western-blot. The results showed that IL-1β, IL-8, IL-6 and TNF-α mRNA were highly expressed in 2 h, 6 h, 9 h and 12 h caused by 30 μg/mL LPS (P<0.01). LPS could up-regulate the phosphorylation levels of P38, ERK and JNK which were related with MAPKs (P<0.01), and promote the degradation of IκBα which was the inhibitory protein of NF-κB (P<0.05). MAPKs and NF-кB signaling pathway of bEEC could be activated by LPS, and then a large number of inflammatory mediators were released, causing inflammation damage of the cells.
Prochloraz is an endocrine disruptor pesticide, and its environmental residues have a great impact on human health. Through the study of the effects of different doses of prochloraz on the reproductive system of offspring mice, we can evaluate the effects of its residues on human health. The results showed that the heat map of gene expression cluster analysis of high concentration group (MD), low concentration group (MB) and control group (MA) had good inter-group difference and high intra-group repeatability, which laid a foundation for further analysis. The subsequent analysis of gene ontology (GO) and metabolic pathway showed that prochloraz mainly involves the functions and pathways related to the reproductive system (such as neuropeptide hormone regulatory signal pathway, immune response, antigen processing and presentation, prostaglandin biosynthesis, etc.). In conclusion, it can be seen that prochloraz has a certain reproductive toxicological effect on offspring male mice.
Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine
