Dehydrated Natural Feed for Cats: Influence on Apparent Digestibility Coefficient, Feces Scores, and Serum Immune, Antioxidant, and Metabolic Biomarkers

The present study aimed to determine whether natural dehydrated feed (DNF) can replace dry extruded feed while preserving the required daily intake, nutrient digestibility and benefits for immunity and antioxidant response in cats. The animals were divided into two groups of seven animals each. One group received DNF, and the other consumed commercial extruded dry feed (DCF). The experiment lasted 45 days and we measured daily consumption and collected blood and feces samples. The animals in the DNF group showed greater digestibility of fiber and mineral matter than DCF. Cats in the DNF group had a higher volume of feces. DNF cats had lower leukocyte and granulocyte counts and cholesterol levels. Serum enzymatic antioxidant responses and non-enzymatic were higher in DNF cats. Cats in the DNF group showed lower serum acute phase proteins in addition to a tendency toward a higher concentration of transferrin than in the DCF group. Fecal Escherichia coli and total coliform counts of cats fed DNF were higher than DCF. We conclude that the daily consumption of cats is adequate. This feed had greater digestibility of fiber and mineral matter, in addition to an improvement in antioxidant and immunological responses.

Development and evaluation of a herbal formulation with antipathogenic activities and probiotics stimulatory effects

Searching alternative feed antibiotics is always a study hotspot in the field of animal production. In this study, the antipathogenic activities and probiotics stimulatory effects of 30 kinds of herbs were screened through Oxford cup method and Hungate roll method. 15 herbs showed significantly antibacterial activities（P〈0.05） against Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus. Seven herbs showed greatly stimulatory promoting effects on Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium longum. Finally, five herbs were combined for the developed formulation with selective antibacterial properties and they were Mume Fructus（35%）, Isatidis Folium（25%）, Moslae Herba（20%）, Chrysanthemi Indici Flos（13%） and Bupleuri Radix（7%）. The herbal formulation showed significantly antibacterial abilities against four pathogens and stimulatory promoting abilities on two probiotics in vitro and the equivalent activities in broiler chickens in vivo against E. coli and L. acidophilus. The toxicity study showed it had no toxicity, which indicated that it would be a kind of preferred candidate for an alternative antibiotic in future animal production.

Influence of Three Protein Sources on Performance of Grasscutters （Thryonomys swinderianus） Fed Diets with or without Fishmeal

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to assess the effect of soybean meal （SBM）, groundnut meal （GNM） and blood meal （BM） addition in diets with or without （1%） fishmeal on the performance, N-digestibility and cost of production of growing grasscutters. Fifty-four grasscutters （9-week-old） of mixed sexes were randomly assigned to six dietary treatments, using a completely randomized design （CRD） in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement, with three grasscutters per treatment and three replicates each. Treatments 1-3 （TI-T3） contained no fishmeal, whilst treatments 4-6 （T4-T6） had 1% fishmeal added. The diets were formulated to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous. N-digestibility was significantly high for SBM diets with or without fishmeal, 83.91% and 82.19%, respectively, followed by BM diets. Average daily gain （ADG） was significantly （P 〈 0.05） high （12.95 g） for BM diet without fishmeal. Feed cost per kg diet was the lowest （US$0.195） for the same BM diet. The results indicated that the inclusion of SBM and BM in the diet of grasscutters with or without 1% fishmeal could improve performance and it may be the most economical for feeding BM in the diet without fishmeal.

Valorization of the Caragana waste via two-stage bioaugmentation: Optimizing nutrition composition, palatability, and microbial contaminant control

Caragana korshinskii kom. (CKK) waste, a common forestry byproduct in northwest of China, presents challenges in its transformation into alternative ruminant feed due to its initial nutritional limitations and unappealing palatability. Conventional strategies, such as ensiling and fungal- based solid-state fermentation (SSF) cannot effectively address this issue in practice. Herein, a two-stage bioaugmentation (TBA) process was devised, leveraging the benefits of ensiling and SSF. During the anaerobic ensiling phase, CKK waste was inoculated with Lactiplantibacillus plan- tarum LP1, effectively suppressing potential animal pathogens such as Aspergillus and Nocardiop- sis while enriching the material with potential probiotics like Pediococcus and Lactiplantibacillus , reaching an abundance of 95.7%. In the subsequent aerobic SSF stage, the ensiled CKK under- went inoculation with the white-rot fungus Irpex lacteus F17, which became enriched to 87.9%. Comprehensive multi-omics analysis identified Irpex as the key taxon, possessing an extensive redox enzyme system that led to the improvement in nutrient composition, reduction of astrin- gent phenolic substances, and mitigation of mycotoxins. As a result, the crude protein content of the CKK increased by 39.2%, while lignin, total phenolic substances, and tannic acid content de- creased by 24.4%, 52.2%, and 51.4%, respectively. The mycotoxin levels, including aflatoxin B1 , zearalenone, and vomitoxin, were rendered negligible, confirming the safety. Overall, this study demonstrates the TBA strategy can successfully transform challenging and unpalatable CKK waste into a nutrient-enriched and safe mycelium-based bioproduct, thereby enabling the valorization of a previously underutilized forestry resource as a promising alternative feed.

Cassava chip(Manihot esculenta Crantz) as an energy source for ruminant feeding

Cassava(Manihot esculenta Crantz) is widely grown in sub-tropical and tropical areas, producing roots as an energy source while the top biomass including leaves and immature stems can be sun-dried and used as cassava hay. Cassava roots can be processed as dried chip or pellet. It is rich in soluble carbohydrate(75 to 85%) but low in crude protein(2 to 3%). Its energy value is comparable to corn meal but has a relatively higher rate of rumen degradation. Higher levels of non-protein nitrogen especially urea(1 to 4%) can be successfully incorporated in concentrates containing cassava chip as an energy source. Cassava chip can also be processed with urea and other ingredients(tallow, sulfur, raw banana meal, cassava hay, and soybean meal) to make products such as cassarea, cassa-ban, and cassaya. Various studies have been conducted in ruminants using cassava chip to replace corn meal in the concentrate mixtures and have revealed satisfactory results in rumen fermentation efficiency and the subsequent production of meat and milk. In addition, it was advantageous when used in combination with rice bran in the concentrate supplement. Practical home-made-concentrate using cassava chip can be easily prepared for use on farms. A recent development has involved enriching protein in cassava chips, yielding yeast fermented cassava chip protein(YEFECAP) of up to 47.5% crude protein, which can be used to replace soybean meal.It is therefore, recommended to use cassava chip as an alternative source of energy to corn meal when the price is economical and it is locally available.

Alternating nitrogen feeding strategy induced aerobic granulation:Influencing conditions and mechanism

Effective cultivation of stable aerobic granular sludge(AGS)is a crucial step in the successful application of this technology,and the formation of AGS could be facilitated by some environmental stress conditions.Four identical sequencing batch reactors(SBRs)were established to investigate the aerobic granulation process under the same alternating ammonia nitrogen feeding strategy superimposed with different environmental conditions(inorganic carbon source,temperature,N/COD).Although various superimposed conditions induced a significant difference in the size,settling velocity,mechanic strength of AGS,mature aerobic granules could be successfully obtained in all four reactors after 70 days’operation,indicating the alternating ammonia nitrogen feeding strategy was the most critical factor for AGS formation.Based on the results of redundancy analysis,the presence of an inorganic carbon source could facilitate the cultivation of AGS with nitrification function,while the moderate temperature and fluctuant N/COD might benefit the cultivation of more stable AGS.In addition,superimposed stress conditions could result in the difference in the microbial population between four reactors,but the population diversity and abundance of microorganisms were not the determinants of AGS formation.This study provided an effective method for the cultivation of AGS by using alternating ammonia nitrogen feeding strategy.

Defatted black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) in pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) diets: Effects on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fillet quality, economic and environmental sustainability

The use of insect meal in aquafeed formulations has recently gained attention.Detailed knowledge about the inclusion levels for pikeperch(Sander lucioperca),a promising candidate for intensive aquaculture in Europe remains,however,fragmented.In the present study,4 isoproteic(45%dry matter)and isoenergetic(21 MJ/kg)diets were formulated,including a control diet(H0)containing 30%fishmeal(FM)on an as-fed basis and the other 3 diets in which FM protein was replaced by defatted black soldier fly(Hemetia illucens)meal(HIM)at 25%,50%,and 100%(diet abbreviation H9,H18 and H36,corresponding to an inclusion level of 9%,18%and 36%,respectively).The feeding trial was performed in triplicate groups of 50 juvenile pikeperch(mean weight,68.7 g)fed with experimental diets for 84 d during which the growth performance,nutrient digestibility,fillet quality and economic and environmental sustainability of rearing pikeperch were evaluated.Our findings indicated that pikeperch in H0,H9,and H18 groups displayed better results regarding growth performance indices,except for survival rate where no significant difference among groups was recorded(P?0.642).A significantly lower organ-somatic index,including hepatosomatic,viscerosomatic and perivisceral fat index,was found in fish in H18 groups than other groups(P<0.05).Inclusion of HIM affected the digestibility of the nutrients and resulted in an almost linear reduction in the apparent digestibility coefficient of dry matter and protein.Concerning the fillet quality,dietary HIM negatively affected the protein and ash contents of the fish fillets,while the crude fat remained unchanged.Dietary HIM did not significantly modify total saturated,monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids in the fillets of fed pikeperch(P>0.05)but did reduce total n-3 fatty acids(P?0.001)and increased total n-6(P<0.001).Increasing inclusion levels of HIM reduced the environmental impacts associated with fish in-to-fish out ratio but entailed heavy burdens on energy use and eutrophication.Low and moderate inclusion levels of HIM did not negatively affect land use and water use compared to an HIM-free diet(P>0.05).The addition of HIM at a level as low as 9%elicited a similar carbon footprint to that of the control diet.The economic conversion ratio and economic profit index were negatively affected at increased insect meal inclusion levels.This study has shown that the incorporation of HIM in feed formulations for pikeperch is feasible at inclusion levels of 18%without adverse effects on growth performance parameters.The feasibility also highlighted the environmental benefits associated with land use and marine resources required to produce farmed fish.

Nutritional evaluation of integral cassava root silages for growing pigs

The experiment aimed at determining the nutritional value of integral cassava root silages with yogurt as inoculant or wastewater(manipueira) by liquid addition ensiling process. Eighteen crossbred piglets(Large White x Landrace), castrated males with an initial average weight of 50 kg were allocated in metabolism cages throughout 11-day trial duration(6 days for animal's adaptation to the cages and to the experimental diets, and 5 days of urine and faeces collection). The experimental design was a randomized block arrangement with 3 treatments and 6 replicates: basal diet(100%); mixture composed of75% basal diet and 25% integral cassava root silage with yogurt as inoculant; a mixture composed of 75%of basal diet and 25% integral cassava root silage with wastewater. The silages with wastewater and yogurt presented the following values of apparent digestibility of dry matter 89.96% and 90.01%,apparent digestibility of crude protein of 60.67% and 66.43%, apparent digestibility of gross energy of90.43% and 91.48%, gross energy metabolizability coefficients of 87.88% and 88.93%, digestible energy values of 3,705 and 3,783 kcal/kg on a dry matter(DM) basis, and metabolizable energy values of 3,600 and 3,676 kcal/kg DM, respectively. The results have demonstrated that integral cassava root silages with wastewater or yogurt have a high nutritional value and can be used as an alternative energy source in growing pig's diets.