Livestock and Poultry Metabolomics

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 5771

Special Issue Editors

Department of Veterinary Sciences, Animal and Veterinary Research Centre (CECAV), University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: medicine of production; large animal reproduction; animal production; animal nutrition
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Veterinary Sciences, Animal and Veterinary Research Centre (CECAV), University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: immunohematology; transfusion medicine; feline blood types
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

From the 2000s, metabolomics approaches have been useful for identifying and quantifying a large number of small endogenous and exogenous metabolites from biological samples in the animal production and veterinary medicine fields. Metabolomics is a tool that can be applied to a wider range of disciplines for livestock and poultry research as well as for husbandry and medical practices, helping  scientists, veterinarians, farmers, and other animal industry players.

In this Special Issue, we intent to aggregate new scientific information related to the following (non-exclusive) key topics in livestock and poultry: biomarkers (in general); food and nutritional analysis/assessment; breeding traits and animal fertility; disease mechanisms; disease propensity; disease diagnosis; diagnostic laboratory testing; animal health assessment; toxicology, including xenobiotics; drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics; environmental factors or impacts; bioproduct characterization; milk quality; meat quality; and carcass merit assessment.

We invite the global scientific community to contribute with basic and applied research, reviews, and meta-analyses in order to reach this goal. Our ultimate objective is to improve the relationship between science and the various animal industries.

Prof. Dr. João Carlos Caetano Simões
Prof. Dr. Ana Cristina Silvestre Ferreira
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • metabolites
  • biomarkers
  • animal production
  • basic and clinical veterinary sciences

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2072 KiB  
Article
Feed Supplementation Detection during the Last Productive Stage of the Acorn-Fed Iberian Pig through a Faecal Volatilome Analysis
by Pablo Rodríguez-Hernández, María José Cardador, Rocío Ríos-Reina, João Simões, Lourdes Arce and Vicente Rodríguez-Estévez
Animals 2023, 13(2), 226; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ani13020226 - 07 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1142
Abstract
The acorn-fed Iberian pig is known worldwide due to the quality of the resulting products commercialized after a natural and free grazing period of fattening in the dehesa agroforestry ecosystem. The quality regulation of the pig breed reserves “acorn” denomination for only those [...] Read more.
The acorn-fed Iberian pig is known worldwide due to the quality of the resulting products commercialized after a natural and free grazing period of fattening in the dehesa agroforestry ecosystem. The quality regulation of the pig breed reserves “acorn” denomination for only those products obtained from animals exclusively fed grazing acorns and other natural resources; however, sometimes, feed supplementation of the pig’s diet is fraudulently employed to reach an earlier slaughtering weight and to increase pig stocking rate, a strategy called postre (meaning “feed supplement”). In this sense, although many studies focused on Iberian pig diet have been published, the field detection of feed use for acorn-fed pig during the last finishing stage foraging in the dehesa, a practice which clashes with the official regulation, has not been explored yet. The present study employs a volatilome analysis (gas chromatography coupled to ion mobility spectrometry) of a non-invasive biological sample (faeces) to discriminate the grazing diet of only natural resources, that acorn-fed Iberian pigs are supposed to have, from those pigs that are also supplemented with feed. The results obtained show the suitability of the methodology used and the usefulness of the information obtained from faeces samples to discriminate and detect the fraudulent use of feed for acorn-fed Iberian pig fattening: a classification success ranging between 86.4% and 100% was obtained for the two chemometric approaches evaluated. These, together with the results of discriminant models, are discussed, in addition to the importance that the methodology optimized implies for the Iberian pig sector and market, which is also introduced. This methodology could be adapted to control organic farming animals or other upstanding livestock production systems which are supposed to be fully dependent on a natural grazing diet. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Livestock and Poultry Metabolomics)
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28 pages, 3988 KiB  
Article
Duodenal Metabolic Profile Changes in Heat-Stressed Broilers
by Jalila S. Dridi, Elizabeth S. Greene, Craig W. Maynard, Giorgio Brugaletta, Alison Ramser, Courtney J. Christopher, Shawn R. Campagna, Hector F. Castro and Sami Dridi
Animals 2022, 12(11), 1337; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ani12111337 - 24 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2510
Abstract
Heat stress (HS) is devastating to poultry production sustainability worldwide. In addition to its adverse effects on growth, welfare, meat quality, and mortality, HS alters the gut integrity, leading to dysbiosis and leaky gut syndrome; however, the underlying mechanisms are not fully defined. [...] Read more.
Heat stress (HS) is devastating to poultry production sustainability worldwide. In addition to its adverse effects on growth, welfare, meat quality, and mortality, HS alters the gut integrity, leading to dysbiosis and leaky gut syndrome; however, the underlying mechanisms are not fully defined. Here, we used a high-throughput mass spectrometric metabolomics approach to probe the metabolite profile in the duodenum of modern broilers exposed to acute (AHS, 2 h) or chronic cyclic (CHS, 8 h/day for 2 weeks) HS in comparison with thermoneutral (TN) and pair-fed birds. Ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC–HRMS) identified a total of 178 known metabolites. The trajectory analysis of the principal component analysis (PCA) score plots (both 2D and 3D maps) showed clear separation between TN and each treated group, indicating a unique duodenal metabolite profile in HS birds. Within the HS groups, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) displayed different clusters when comparing metabolite profiles from AHS and CHS birds, suggesting that the metabolite signatures were also dependent on HS duration. To gain biologically related molecule networks, the above identified duodenal metabolites were mapped into the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) knowledge-base and analyzed to outline the most enriched biological functions. Several common and specific top canonical pathways were generated. Specifically, the adenosine nucleotide degradation and dopamine degradation pathways were specific for the AHS group; however, the UDP-D-xylose and UDP-D-glucuronate biosynthesis pathways were generated only for the CHS group. The top diseases enriched by the IPA core analysis for the DA metabolites, including cancer, organismal (GI) injury, hematological, cardiovascular, developmental, hereditary, and neurological disorders, were group-specific. The top altered molecular and cellular functions were amino acid metabolism, molecular transport, small molecule biochemistry, protein synthesis, cell death and survival, and DNA damage and repair. The IPA-causal network predicted that the upstream regulators (carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1B, CPT1B; histone deacetylase 11, HDAC11; carbonic anhydrase 9, CA9; interleukin 37, IL37; glycine N-methyl transferase, GNMT; GATA4) and the downstream mediators (mitogen-activated protein kinases, MAPKs; superoxide dismutase, SOD) were altered in the HS groups. Taken together, these data showed that, independently of feed intake depression, HS induced significant changes in the duodenal metabolite profile in a duration-dependent manner and identified a potential duodenal signature for HS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Livestock and Poultry Metabolomics)
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11 pages, 687 KiB  
Article
Performance, Blood Lipid Profile, and the Expression of Growth Hormone Receptor (GHR) and Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) Genes in Purebred and Crossbred Quail Lines
by Basant M. Shafik, Eman R. Kamel, Maha Mamdouh, Shimaa Elrafaay, Mohamed A. Nassan, Salah M. El-Bahy, Mahmoud S. El-Tarabany and Eman A. Manaa
Animals 2022, 12(10), 1245; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ani12101245 - 12 May 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1559
Abstract
The aim was to evaluate the performance, blood lipid profile, and the relative expression of growth-related genes in purebred white and brown quail lines and their crossbred lines. A total of 240 one-day-old Japanese quail chicks of white and brown line, their crossbred [...] Read more.
The aim was to evaluate the performance, blood lipid profile, and the relative expression of growth-related genes in purebred white and brown quail lines and their crossbred lines. A total of 240 one-day-old Japanese quail chicks of white and brown line, their crossbred line (WBQ: male white × female brown), and reciprocal crossbred line (BWQ: male brown × female white) were divided into four equal groups (60 birds each). The white quail line showed significantly higher final body weight, daily gain, and feed intake compared with the other quail lines (p < 0.001). Meanwhile, both crossbred quail lines (WBQ and BWQ) showed significantly lower FCR compared with both purebred quail lines (p = 0.001). Both crossbred quail lines showed greater dressing percentages compared with both purebred quail lines (p = 0.038). The brown quail line showed significantly (p = 0.05) higher levels of serum triglycerides and VLDL compared with the white and BWQ lines. The WBQ crossbred line exhibited significantly higher mRNA expression of GHR and IGF-1 genes compared with other quail lines (p < 0.001). Both crossbred lines (WBQ and BWQ) exhibited negative heterosis percentages for body weight (−4.39 and −3.90%, respectively) and feed intake (−10.87 and −14.59%, respectively). Meanwhile, heterosis percentages for FCR (−6.46 and −9.25%, respectively) and dressing percentage (7.54 and 6.38%, respectively) were improved in both crossbred lines. The WBQ line showed high heterosis percentages for the expression of GHR and IGF-1 genes (52.28 and 88.81%, respectively). In conclusion, the WBQ line exhibited significantly greater dressing percentage and better FCR, as well as higher mRNA expression of GHR and IGF-1 genes. These results may be helpful to improve breeding programs and to develop commercial lines of meat-type Japanese quail. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Livestock and Poultry Metabolomics)
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