Livestock Breeding Industry Research Articles

Alleviating heavy metal accumulation and pathogens’ abundance through processing proper ratio of duck feces and food waste by Black solider fly larvae

ABSTRACT The efficient and sustainable utilization of duck feces is critically essential in China, given its expansive livestock and poultry breeding industry. While the use of black solider fly (BSF) larvae for composting duck feces has gained recognition, public apprehensions concerning the nutritional value and safety of the resultant by-products remain prevalent. This study presents the inaugural assessment of potential risks and quality of resource-based products derived from various proportions of food waste and duck feces processed by BSF larvae. Our findings indicate that mixed substrate A2 yielded BSF larvae with the highest level of N and P, alongside the lowest accumulation of As, Pb and Cd, as well as reduced total pathogen abundance in the remaining substrate when compared to other mixed substrates (A3 and A4). This suggests that an appropriate nutrient composition ratio in the substrates not only facilitated effective conversion but also diminished heavy metal accumulation by BSF larvae. Additionally, a significant negative correlation was observed between N, P, and Cd (R 2 = −0.989, −0.996, p < 0.01), implying that elevated N and P concentrations in BSF larvae may enhance immune function and while further mitigating heavy metal enrichment. Overall, achieving a suitable nutrient ratio of duck feces and food waste is imperative for their scientific and safe utilization, providing valuable insights for the bioconversion of organic solid waste through BSF larvae.

Microcin C7 as a Potential Antibacterial-Immunomodulatory Agent in the Postantibiotic Era: Overview of Its Bioactivity Aspects and Applications.

In the postantibiotic era, the pathogenicity and resistance of pathogens have increased, leading to an increase in intestinal inflammatory disease. Bacterial infections remain the leading cause of animal mortality. With increasing resistance to antibiotics, there has been a significant decrease in resistance to both inflammation and disease in animals, thus decreasing production efficiency and increasing production costs. These side effects have serious consequences and have detracted from the development of China's pig industry. Microcin C7 (McC7) demonstrates potent antibacterial activity against a broad spectrum of pathogens, stable physicochemical properties, and low toxicity, reducing the likelihood of resistance development. Thus, McC7 has received increasing attention as a potential clinical antibacterial and immunomodulatory agent. McC7 has the potential to serve as a new generation of antibiotic substitutes; however, its commercial applications in the livestock and poultry industry have been limited. In this review, we summarize and discuss the biosynthesis, biochemical properties, structural characteristics, mechanism of action, and immune strategies of McC7. We also describe the ability of McC7 to improve intestinal health. Our aim in this study was to provide a theoretical basis for the application of McC7 as a new feed additive or new veterinary drug in the livestock and poultry breeding industry, thus providing a new strategy for alleviating resistance through feed and mitigating drug resistance. Furthermore, this review provides insight into the new functions and anti-infection mechanisms of bacteriocin peptides and proposes crucial ideas for the research, product development, and application of bacteriocin peptides in different fields, such as the food and medical industries.

Efficient biodegradation of feathers by a novel and stable metallo-keratinase production strain Stenotrophomonas sp. Yang-5 isolated from swan farming soil

Feather waste produced by livestock and poultry breeding industry is a kind of biomass resource with great application prospect. Current study aims to obtain a feather-degradation bacteria that could efficiently biodegrade feather waste and maintain environmental friendliness. By using the casein agar medium, a novel keratinase production strain Stenotrophomonas sp. Yang-5 was isolated and then identified by subsequent 16S rRNA sequence. Further keratinase production medium was optimized by single factor and orthogonal experiments. Also, crude keratinase was characterized. Consequently, the highest enzyme activity of 161.95 ± 3.65 U/mL was obtained after 48 h of incubation with optimized conditions consisting of reaction temperature 32.5 °C, initial pH 7.5, 0 g/L CaCl2, 50 g/L fructose, and 15 g/L feather. Yang-5 keratinase demonstrated a broad temperature range of 25 °C − 95 °C and optimal catalytic efficiency at pH 9.0. The keratinase had a half-life of more than 120 min at 70° C, indicating satisfactory thermal stability. Furthermore, 0.25 mol/L Mg2+, Mn2+, K+, and Ca2+ could enhance the enzyme activity to some extent and assigned as the metallo-class of keratinase, among of which Mn2+ resulted in the highest improvement by 2-fold activity enhancement. In addition, 5% (v/v) reducing agents including DMSO, DTT and 2-mercaptoethanol all reinforced the enzyme activity by 3–5 folds. To sum up, thermostable alkaline metallo-keratinase from Stenotrophomonas sp. Yang-5 exhibited favorable stability and could serve as a promising candidate for feather waste degradation as well as environmental protection and feed additive industry.

Current Situation and Treatment Mechanism of Livestock and Poultry Environmental Pollution from the Perspective of Rural Revitalization

The rapid development of the livestock and poultry breeding industry has brought people a richer variety of meat, poultry, egg and milk products, but at the same time it has also caused serious environmental pollution problems, affecting the healthy and sustainable development of animal husbandry. As a kind of agricultural biological resources, manure is often treated in the form of returning the full amount to the field and washing pens because it has been neglected for a long time. Its true value is not reflected and it also causes serious environmental pollution. Therefore, accelerating the comprehensive utilization of animal manure is an important way to improve the level of resource utilization of manure, which has far-reaching significance. This paper analyzes the current situation of domestic livestock and poultry environmental pollution and the specific situation in Anhui Province, and puts forward suggestions for the effective use of manure from the perspectives of the government and enterprises.

Intervention effects of fructooligosaccharide and astragalus polysaccharide, as typical antibiotic alternatives, on antibiotic resistance genes in feces of layer breeding: advantages and defects

Although antibiotic alternatives are widely used in livestock and poultry breeding industry after in-feed antibiotics ban, their intervention effects on antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in these food animals’ feces remain poorly understood. Here effects of fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and astragalus polysaccharide (APS), as typical antibiotic alternatives in China, on ARGs in layer feces were estimated by performing metagenomic sequencings and fluorescence quantitative PCR. Fructooligosaccharide significantly reduced sum abundance of ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) by increasing Lactobacillus clones and reducing Escherichia clones which had relatively higher abundances of ARG subtypes and MGE subtypes in layer feces. However, at least parts of core ARGs and MGEs categories were not reduced by FOS, such as aminoglycosides- and tetracyclines-resistant genes, Tn916, Integrase, and so on. MGEs and microbiome, especially Escherichia genus and Lactobacillus genus, were the key factors affecting ARGs’ sum abundance. MGEs had a higher correlation coefficient with ARGs’ sum abundance than Escherichia genus and Lactobacillus genus. These findings firstly reveal the defects of antibiotic alternatives in controlling bacterial resistance in livestock and poultry breeding after in-feed antibiotics ban, and more strategies are needed to control pollutions and risks of core ARGs and MGEs in food animals’ feces under a special environment.

Life Cycle Assessment of Three Manure Treatment Modes in Large-scale Pig Farm

With the rapid development of China's livestock breeding industry, it is very important to efficiently deal with the pollution caused by livestock and poultry manure. In this study, the life cycle resource consumption and pollutant emission inventory of a large-scale pig farm were analyzed by life cycle assessment (LCA). The environmental impact potentials of three different modes of livestock and poultry manure treatment were analyzed, including aerobic composting, anaerobic fermentation and black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) treatment. Results showed that the environmental loads of BSFL treatment and anaerobic fermentation were much smaller than those of aerobic composting in the life cycle process of pig manure treatment. The environmental impacts of aerobic composting process were in the order of environmental acidification, eutrophication, and global warming; while the environmental impacts of anaerobic fermentation treatment and BSFL treatment process were in the order of global warming, environmental acidification, and eutrophication. It is recommended to strengthen the emission of CO2 and NH3 in the pig manure treatment process to reduce their environmental impacts.

Dietary Epimedium extract supplementation improves intestinal functions and alters gut microbiota in broilers

BackgroundGrowth-promoting antibiotics have been banned by law in the livestock and poultry breeding industry in many countries. Various alternatives to antibiotics have been investigated for using in livestock. Epimedium (EM) is an herb rich in flavonoids that has many beneficial effects on animals. Therefore, this study was planned to explore the potential of EM as a new alternative antibiotic product in animal feed.MethodsA total of 720 1-day-old male broilers (Arbor Acres Plus) were randomly divided into six groups and fed basal diet (normal control; NC), basal diet supplemented with antibiotic (75 mg/kg chlortetracycline; CTC), and basal diet supplemented with 100, 200, 400 or 800 mg/kg EM extract for 6 weeks (EM100, EM200, EM400 and EM800 groups). The growth performance at weeks 3 and 6 was measured. Serum, intestinal tissue and feces were collected to assay for antioxidant indexes, intestinal permeability, lactic acid and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) profiles, microbial composition, and expression of intestinal barrier genes.ResultsThe average daily feed intake in CTC group at 1–21 d was significantly higher than that in the NC group, and had no statistical difference with EM groups. Compared with NC group, average daily gain in CTC and EM200 groups increased significantly at 1–21 and 1–42 d. Compared with NC group, EM200 and EM400 groups had significantly decreased levels of lipopolysaccharide and D-lactic acid in serum throughout the study. The concentrations of lactic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and SCFAs in feces of birds fed 200 mg/kg EM diet were significantly higher than those fed chlortetracycline. The dietary supplementation of chlortetracycline and 200 mg/kg EM significantly increased ileal expression of SOD1, Claudin-1 and ZO-1 genes. Dietary supplemented with 200 mg/kg EM increased the relative abundances of g_NK4A214_group and Lactobacillus in the jejunal, while the relative abundances of Microbacterium, Kitasatospora, Bacteroides in the jejunal and Gallibacterium in the ileum decreased.ConclusionSupplementation with 200 mg/kg EM extract improved the composition of intestinal microbiota by regulating the core bacterial genus Lactobacillus, and increased the concentration of beneficial metabolites lactic acid and SCFAs in the flora, thereby improving the antioxidant capacity and intestinal permeability, enhancing the function of tight junction proteins. These beneficial effects improved the growth performance of broilers.Graphical

Microencapsulated phage composites with increased gastrointestinal stability for the oral treatment of Salmonella colonization in chicken.

Salmonella infection, one of the common epidemics in the livestock and poultry breeding industry, causes great economic losses worldwide. At present, antibiotics are the most commonly used treatment for Salmonella infection, but the widespread use of antibiotics has increased drug resistance to Salmonella. Phage therapy has gradually become an alternative method to control Salmonella infection. However, phage, a specific virus that can infect bacteria, has poor stability and is prone to inactivation during treatment. Microencapsulated phage microspheres can effectively solve this problem. Accordingly, in this study, Salmonella phages were microencapsulated, using the xanthan gum/sodium alginate/CaCl2/chitooligosaccharides method, to improve their gastrointestinal stability. Furthermore, microencapsulated phages were evaluated for in vitro temperature and storage stability and in vivo therapeutic effect. Phage microspheres prepared with 1 g/100 mL xanthan gum, 2 g/100 mL sodium alginate, 2 g/100 mL CaCl2, and 0.6 g/100 mL chitooligosaccharides were regular in shape and stable in the temperature range of 10-30°C. Also, microencapsulated phages showed significantly improved stability in the simulated gastric juice environment than the free phages (p < 0.05). In the simulated intestinal fluid, microencapsulated phages were completely released after 4 h. Moreover, microencapsulated phages showed good storage stability at 4°C. In the in vivo experiments detecting Salmonella colonization in the intestinal tract of chicks, microencapsulated phages showed a better therapeutic effect than the free phages. In conclusion, microencapsulated phages exhibited significantly improved stability, gastric acid resistance, and thereby efficacy than the free phages. Microencapsulated phages can be potentially used as biological control agents against bacterial infections.

An improved PointNet++ point cloud segmentation model applied to automatic measurement method of pig body size

Currently, non-contact and automatic measurement of livestock body size is the research orientation of computer-aided livestock breeding and intelligent farming industry. However, directly locating the body size measurement key points on the dense overall point clouds of livestock often results in positioning deviation and affects the measurement accuracy. Additionally, various postures of livestock and the interference of different parts of livestock body are also prone to key points positioning deviations. For more accurate measurement of pig body size, we propose in our paper an improved PointNet++ point cloud segmentation model to subdivide the overall pig point clouds into various parts, such as the pig’s head, ears, trunk, limbs, and tail to localize the body measurement key points in the segmented local parts. A new body size measurement method based on segmentation results, which is integrated with the least squares, point cloud slicing, edge extraction, and polynomial fitting, is also presented in our study so that the pig body size parameters can be more accurately calculated. In our experiment, 25 live pigs and 207 groups of pig body point clouds were used for point cloud segmentation and body size measurements. Compared with manual measurements, the relative errors in our experimental results are listed as follows: body length: 2.57 %, body height (front): 2.18 %, body height (back): 2.28 %, body width (front): 4.56 %, body width (middle): 5.26 %, body width (back): 5.19 %, thoracic circumference: 2.50 %, abdominal circumference: 3.14 %, rump circumference: 2.85 %. To conclude, the new automatic measurement method based on the improved PointNet++ point cloud segmentation model with higher accuracy has a more promising application prospect thanks to its novel features, precise measurement results and stable robustness.

Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds and Potential Health Benefits: Involvement of the Gut Microbiota and Its Metabolic Activity.

The misuse and abuse of antibiotics in livestock and poultry seriously endanger both human health and the continuously healthy development of the livestock and poultry breeding industry. Plant-derived bioactive compounds (curcumin, capsaicin, quercetin, resveratrol, catechin, lignans, etc.) have been widely studied in recent years, due to their extensive pharmacological functions and biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antistress, antitumor, antiviral, lowering blood glucose and lipids, and improving insulin sensitivity. Numerous studies have demonstrated that plant-derived bioactive compounds are able to enhance the host's ability to resist or diminish diseases by regulating the abundance of its gut microbiota, achieving great potential as a substitute for antibiotics. Recent developments in both humans and animals have also highlighted the major contribution of gut microbiota to the host's nutrition, metabolism, immunity, and neurological functions. Changes in gut microbiota composition are closely related to the development of obesity and can lead to numerous metabolic diseases. Mounting evidence has also demonstrated that plant-derived bioactive compounds, especially curcumin, can improve intestinal barrier function by regulating intestinal flora. Furthermore, bioactive constituents can be also directly metabolized by intestinal flora and further produce bioactive metabolites by the interaction between the host and intestinal flora. This largely enhances the protective effect of bioactive compounds on the host intestinal and whole body health, indicating that the bidirectional regulation between bioactive compounds and intestinal flora has great application potential in maintaining the host's intestinal health and preventing or treating various diseases. This review mainly summarizes the latest research progress in the bioregulation between gut microbiota and plant-derived bioactive compounds, together with its application potential in humans and animals, so as to provide theoretical support for the application of plant-derived bioactive compounds as new feed additives and potential substitutes for antibiotics in the livestock and poultry breeding industry. Overall, based on this review, it can be concluded that plant-derived bioactive compounds, by modulating gut microbiota, hold great promise toward the healthy development of both humans and animal husbandry.

Effect of splenic transfer factor on the development of intestinal mucosal barrier in laying hens.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different doses of chicken spleen transfer factor (TF) on the structure of intestinal epithelial cells in different age groups. One-day-old White Leghorns laying hens were randomly divided into four groups: three groups were administered TF at different dosages (0.10, 0.25 or 1.00 mL) and a fourth group was set as control (administered saline, 1.00 mL). Using hematoxylin and eosin staining, high-throughput sequencing, microbiota analysis, quantitative polymerase reaction and western blotting. We measured the effects of different doses of TF on the following: intestinal mucosal epithelial tissue morphology, intestinal mucosal epithelial barrier-related gene expression profiles, and intestinal epithelial tight junction gene protein levels. The collected data show that TF can improve the absorption of nutrients by increasing villus height and crypt depth, and regulate intestinal flora disorders. Furthermore, we verified that the expression of the claudin and occludin tight junctions between intestinal epithelial cells was increased with TF. this research is very important for focusing on the structure and gene expression of intestinal tissues. The results provide a scientific rationale for feeding and nutrition programs for green and healthy farming, as well as technical support to improve the production efficiency of the livestock and poultry breeding industry. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

A Highly Selective and Sensitive Fluorescent Sensor Based on Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Functionalized Mn-Doped ZnS Quantum Dots for Detection of Roxarsone in Feeds.

Roxarsone (ROX) as an organoarsenic feed additive has been widely used in livestock breeding and poultry industry, but ROX can degrade into highly toxic inorganic arsenic species in natural environments to threaten to the environment and human health. Therefore, there is a considerable interest in developing convenient, selective and sensitive methods for the detection of ROX in livestock breeding and poultry industry. In this work, a fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer (MIPs) probe based on amino-modified Mn-ZnS quantum dots (QDs) has been developed by sol–gel polymerization for specific recognition of ROX. The synthesized MIPs-coated Mn-ZnS QDs (MIPs@Mn-ZnS QDs) have highly selective recognition sites to ROX because there are multi-interactions among the template ROX, functional monomer phenyltrimethoxysilane and the amino-functionalized QDs such as the π–π conjugating effect, hydrogen bonds. Under the optimal conditions, an obvious fluorescence quenching was observed when ROX was added to the solution, and the quenching mechanism could be explained as the photo-induced electron transfer. The MIPs@Mn-ZnS QDs sensor exhibited sensitive response to ROX in the linear range from 3.75 10−8 M to 6.25 10−7 M (R2 = 0.9985) and the limit of detection down to 4.34 nM. Moreover, the fluorescence probe has been applied to the quantitative detection of ROX in feed samples, and the recovery was in the range of 91.9% to 108.0%. The work demonstrated that the prepared MIPs@Mn-ZnS QDs probe has a good potential for rapid and sensitive determination of ROX in complicated samples.

Piceatannol Alleviates Clostridium perfringens Virulence by Inhibiting Perfringolysin O.

Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) is an important foodborne pathogen that can cause diseases such as gas gangrene and necrotizing enteritis in a variety of economic animals, seriously affecting public health and the economic benefits and healthy development of the livestock and poultry breeding industry. Perfringolysin O (PFO) is an important virulence factor of C. perfringens and plays critical roles in necrotic enteritis and gas gangrene, rendering it an ideal target for developing new drugs against infections caused by this pathogen. In this study, based on biological activity inhibition assays, oligomerization tests and computational biology assays, we found that the foodborne natural component piceatannol reduced pore-forming activity with an inhibitory ratio of 83.84% in the concentration of 16 µg/mL (IC50 = 7.83 µg/mL) by binding with PFO directly and changing some of its secondary structures, including 3-Helix, A-helix, bend, and in turn, ultimately affecting oligomer formation. Furthermore, we confirmed that piceatannol protected human intestinal epithelial cells from the damage induced by PFO with LDH release reduced by 38.44% at 16 µg/mL, based on a cytotoxicity test. By performing an animal experiment, we found the C. perfringens clones showed an approximate 10-fold reduction in infected mice. These results suggest that piceatannol may be a candidate for anti-C. perfringens drug development.

Florfenicol-Polyarginine Conjugates Exhibit Promising Antibacterial Activity Against Resistant Strains.

Florfenicol was widely used as antibiotic in the livestock and poultry breeding industry, resulting in a serious problem of drug resistance. In order to solve the resistance of florfenicol, this study designed and synthesized a new series of florfenicol-polyarginine conjugates and tested for antimicrobial activities. Drug-sensitive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), were sensitive to several of the compounds tested. These conjugates also showed excellent activity against drug-resistant strains such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and florfenicol resistant Escherichia coli strains (2017XJ30, 2019XJ20), one of which as E6 had a minimum inhibitory concentration of 12.5 μmol/L. These conjugates did not allow bacteria to develop resistance and also decreased bacterial growth by membrane depolarization and disruption. Additionally, florfenicol succinate (C1) showed certain activity after coupling with arginine. This suggested that conjugating arginine to florfenicol succinate effectively modulated the properties of prodrugs. These new conjugates may provide useful insights for expanding the pool of antibiotics.

Spatiotemporal variation characteristics of livestock manure nutrient in the soil environment of the Yangtze River Delta from 1980 to 2018

The pollution problem caused by surplus livestock manure nutrient is becoming more and more serious; thus, analyzing characteristics of the temporal and spatial patterns of livestock manure nutrient and assessing the risks are extremely important. The pollution coefficient method was used to figure out the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) emissions of livestock manure nutrient in soil of the Yangtze River Delta from 1980 to 2018. High-risk areas for livestock manure pollution were determined by matching degree assessment between livestock manure nutrient supply and crop nutrient requirements. Clustering and principal component analysis were applied to select main control factors. The results found that the total discharge and manure N and P loads in animal manure nutrient showed an overall trend of increasing first and then decreasing in the Yangtze River Delta in the soil from 1980 to 2018. The center of manure N and P loads shifted from the central region to the northeastern and southwestern regions. There were four typical patterns for manure N emissions, the main control factors were meat production and primary industry. Meanwhile, the main control factors for the four typical patterns of manure P emissions were meat production and cultivated land area. This research provides a theoretical basis for the sustainable development of the livestock breeding industry and is of significance for promoting a balance between planting and breeding in the Yangtze River Delta.

Repeatability and sensitivity of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor array modified with four sensitive materials

With continuous expansion of livestock and poultry breeding industry, the emission of harmful gases has inevitably increased which has also prompted the rapid development of research on harmful gases detection, such as quartz crystal microbalance(QCM)sensors. In this research, a gas-sensing system based on QCM sensor array modified with ethyl cellulose (EC), polyethyleneimine (PEI), tetramethylammonium fluoride tetrahydrate (TMAF), and polypyrrole (PPy) was established to detect three standard harmful gases, namely CO2, NH3, and H2S. It has been observed that the QCM sensors modified with four materials had a good repeatability and a significant response to the three standard harmful gases. Furthermore, the suitable concentrations of the sensitive materials were 20 mg/ml for EC, 10 mg/ml for TMAF, 35 mg/ml for PEI, and 7 mg/ml for PPy. The frequency shift resulted by modified mass of the sensors for the four materials with the best concentrations were 21,343.1 Hz for EC, 21,065.5 Hz for TMAF, 2736.9 Hz for PEI, and 5292.4 Hz for PPy. Additionally, there was a linear relationship between the frequency shift and the concentration of three sample gases in different ranges with a high linear fit coefficient (R2>0.92), except TMAF versus CO2. Moreover, R2 with blank quartz wafer compensation was slightly smaller than which one without compensation. Therefore, the gas-sensing system based on QCM sensor array has an ideal repeatability and recovery response to the three standard gases, and the sensitivity performance was good. This work provides basic information for the research on QCM sensor array in gas detection.

Treatment of piggery waste in an ectopic microbial fermentation system and safety evaluation of generated organic fertilizer

AbstractBACKGROUNDWith the development of China’s livestock breeding industry, a large amount of waste was discharged and the local environment was seriously polluted. In this research, treatment performance of piggery waste in an ectopic fermentation system (EFS) using different padding materials and safety evaluation of generated organic fertilizer were studied in a pilot experiment.RESULTSDuring the whole fermentation process, temperature in the EFS fluctuated with addition of fresh feces and its consumption, and the pH value varied between 6.5 and 9.5. The absorption coefficient of pig breeding wastewater and feces per kilogram of padding (maize straw) at the end was 2.52 and 1.88, respectively. Bacteria played a major role in decomposing organic matter, and its number was basically maintained at 107–108 orders of magnitude. The C:N ratio in two EFS beds decreased gradually and was below 14:1 at the end, indicating the maturity of fermentation. Moreover, operation of the EFS with addition of rice husk/coconut shell mixture was more stable than that of EFS with maize straw. After fermentation, the heavy metal, total nutrient content, ascaris egg mortality and fecal coliform population of the generated organic fertilizer from two fermentation beds all met the limits of the Organic Fertilizer Standard of China, and the seed germination index of the product increased.CONCLUSIONSEFS employing maize straw or rice husk/coconut shell mixture as padding material can be used to treat both solid and liquid waste from pig farms. EFS technology reduced the biotoxicity of piggery waste. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

Microwave-assisted iron oxide process for efficient removal of tetracycline

Excess tetracycline produced by livestock and poultry breeding industry not only pollute the environment, but also enter the human body with the spread of the food chain, which will produce drug-resistant genes and threaten human health. In this paper, the adsoption of tetracycline from wastewater using iron oxide under microwave oxidation condition was explored. The effect of initial pollutant concentrations, the dosage of iron oxide, pH value, and temperature on the hybrid treatment process was investigated. Under the normal iron oxide and microwave oxidation conditions, when the dosage of iron oxide was 40 g/L and 30 g/L, pH was 10 and the temperature was 318 K, the removal rate of tetracycline was significantly improved. The adsorption of tetracycline by iron oxide under the two conditions conformed to the Freundlich isotherm model and pseudo-second-order dynamics model. In addition, the associated adsorption mechanism was unveiled. Under the microwave oxidation condition, the hot spot effect generated by the microwave oxidation effect would rapidly increase its surface temperature to form the active center and the electrostatic gravity to promote the reaction. The results indicated that microwave oxidation could promote the removal of antibiotics by iron oxide in livestock and poultry breeding wastewater.

Association between Fatty Acid Composition, Cryotolerance and Fertility Competence of Progressively Motile Bovine Spermatozoa.

Simple SummarySpermatozoa move forward in the female reproductive tract in a linear pattern defined as progressive motility (PM). PM is associated with fertilization competence and used as a parameter to evaluate the spermatozoa’s quality. The livestock-breeding industry is based on artificial insemination with cryopreserved spermatozoa, making the relationship between PM and cryosurvival important. This study explores the association between PM and spermatozoa’s quality, cryotolerance and fertilization competence. The number of progressively motile spermatozoa within a standard insemination straw positively correlates with conception rate, making progressively motile spermatozoa’s survival during cryopreservation a potentially relevant parameter for spermatozoa evaluation.An association between progressive motility (PM) and spermatozoa fertility competence has been suggested. However, the mechanism that underlies PM is not clear enough. We examined physiological characteristics and fatty acid composition of fresh spermatozoa with high and low PM. Additional analysis of fatty acid composition and structural characteristics was performed on spermatozoa samples with high and low progressively motile spermatozoa’s survival (PMSS), i.e., the ratio between the proportion of progressively motile spermatozoa after and before cryopreservation. Finally, a fertility field trial was conducted to examine the association between the number of PM spermatozoa within the insemination straw post thawing and conception rate. Analysis of fresh spermatozoa revealed a higher omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in ejaculates with low PM relative to those with high PM (p < 0.01). The proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids was higher in low-PMSS fresh samples (p < 0.05) relative to their high-PMSS counterparts. Fresh samples with high-PMSS expressed a higher mitochondrial membrane potential (p < 0.05) and a higher proportion of viable cells that expressed reactive oxygen species (ROS; p < 0.05). Post-thawing evaluation revealed a reduced proportion of progressively motile sperm, with a prominent effect in samples with high PM relative to low PM, defined before freezing (p < 0.01). No differences in spermatozoa mitochondrial membrane potential or ROS level were found post-thawing. A fertility study revealed a positive correlation between the number of progressively motile spermatozoa within a standard insemination straw and conception rate (p < 0.05). Considering these, the bull PMSS is suggested to be taken into account at the time of straw preparation.

Adjusting to precarity: how and why the Roslin Institute forged a leading role for itself in international networks of pig genomics research.

From the 1980s onwards, the Roslin Institute and its predecessor organizations faced budget cuts, organizational upheaval and considerable insecurity. Over the next few decades, it was transformed by the introduction of molecular biology and transgenic research, but remained a hub of animal geneticists conducting research aimed at the livestock-breeding industry. This paper explores how these animal geneticists embraced genomics in response to the many-faceted precarity that the Roslin Institute faced, establishing it as a global centre for pig genomics research through forging and leading the Pig Gene Mapping Project (PiGMaP); developing and hosting resources, such as a database for genetic linkage data; and producing associated statistical and software tools to analyse the data. The Roslin Institute leveraged these resources to play a key role in further international collaborations as a hedge against precarity. This adoption of genomics was strategically useful, as it took advantage of policy shifts at the national and European levels towards funding research with biotechnological potential. As genomics constitutes a set of infrastructures and resources with manifold uses, the development of capabilities in this domain also helped Roslin to diversify as a response to precarity.