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Agriculture
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Dairy Animal Nutrition and Milk Quality
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Dairy Animal Nutrition and Milk Quality

A Special Issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472) belonging to the section "Farm Animal Production".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 October 2026 | Viewed by 3744

Editors

Prof. Dr. Jiaqi Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Interests: animal health and milk quality; risk assessment of milk products; evaluation of milk bioactive compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Juan Han

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Food and Nutrition Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: milk quality; milk nutritional function evaluation; milk health effects research; food nutrition and metabolism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Humans use a rich variety of dairy resources, including dairy not only from cows, but also camels, horses, yaks and buffalos, etc. Milk from different dairy animals has various physiological and nutritional characteristics, as well as special health functions that vary from individual to individual. However, the number of studies and publications in this field is limited, which constrains the utilization of valuable resources. The development of new molecular and omics technologies in biology will help elucidate the metabolic interactions between animals, milk composition, and human health, as well as improve the understanding of various milk resources that serve not only as a source of regular dietary nutrients but as a source of bioactive compounds with direct health benefits, as well.

Therefore, this Special Issue will publish papers on dairy animal nutrition and feeding and the physiological and nutritional characteristics of milk, as well as its bioactive compounds and their health benefits. The Special Issue welcomes high-quality interdisciplinary studies in dairy animal husbandry and milk production, in addition to accepting original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Jiaqi Wang
Dr. Juan Han
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture 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 2600 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

  • dairy animal
  • nutrition
  • milk
  • physiological characteristics
  • quality
  • safety

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

31 pages, 19906 KB  
Article
Maternal HMB-Ca Supplementation Is Associated with Milk Yield, Foal Growth-Related Outcomes, and Serum and Milk Metabolomic Profiles in Yili Mares: An Exploratory Pilot Study
by Yonggang Li, Xinjie Xie, Yusong Shen, Jian Zhang, Zhen Yang, Kailun Yang, Yong Chen, Fengming Li and Changjiang Zang
Agriculture 2026, 16(14), 1569; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16141569 - 22 Jul 2026
Viewed by 520
Abstract
Lactation imposes substantial metabolic demands on mares, and milk composition is a major determinant of neonatal development. Although β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) can regulate protein turnover and energy metabolism in several livestock species, its role in the lactation-growth axis of equids remains insufficiently defined. This [...] Read more.
Lactation imposes substantial metabolic demands on mares, and milk composition is a major determinant of neonatal development. Although β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) can regulate protein turnover and energy metabolism in several livestock species, its role in the lactation-growth axis of equids remains insufficiently defined. This study evaluated maternal HMB-Ca supplementation in lactating Yili mares, focusing on milk yield measured during a standardized five-session daytime collection schedule, calculated milk-component output during that schedule, foal growth, and day-30 serum and milk metabolomic profiles. Maternal HMB-Ca supplementation was associated with greater milk yield at day 30 and with greater foal average daily gain during early lactation. To reduce over-interpretation of pathway enrichment alone, we performed a structured phenotype-metabolite correlation analysis. First, the day-30 milk-yield endpoint was correlated with serum differential metabolites; second, the serum features showing strong correlations with this endpoint were compared with milk differential metabolites; third, these serum features were related exploratorily to foal body weight and ADG. This analysis identified 26 serum features with |rho| ≥ 0.60 and nominal p < 0.05 for milk yield, 15 of which met FDR q < 0.10. Several of these features showed annotation-level overlap with the milk differential metabolome and exploratory associations with early foal growth traits. These findings support candidate serum-milk-growth metabolic links accompanying improved lactation performance, but they do not establish a causal pathway. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dairy Animal Nutrition and Milk Quality)
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19 pages, 5545 KB  
Article
Exploratory Lipidomic Comparison of Neutral and Polar Lipid Profiles Between Mare and Cow Milk Under a Shared Grazing Environment
by Di Wen, Hui Chen, Lin Zhu, Yong Chen, Changjiang Zang and Fengming Li
Agriculture 2026, 16(14), 1540; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16141540 - 19 Jul 2026
Viewed by 434
Abstract
This exploratory study used UHPLC-HRMS/MS-based non-targeted lipidomics to compare milk lipid profiles between eight Yili mares and eight Xinjiang Brown cows maintained under a shared grazing environment. A total of 2460 lipid molecules were annotated across all confidence levels, and 1013 high-confidence Grade [...] Read more.
This exploratory study used UHPLC-HRMS/MS-based non-targeted lipidomics to compare milk lipid profiles between eight Yili mares and eight Xinjiang Brown cows maintained under a shared grazing environment. A total of 2460 lipid molecules were annotated across all confidence levels, and 1013 high-confidence Grade A/B lipids were retained for differential analysis. Forty-five differential lipids were identified, including 21 enriched in mare milk and 24 enriched in cow milk. Cow-milk-enriched lipids were mainly triacylglycerols with low double-bond numbers, consistent with neutral lipid deposition and glycerolipid-related features. In contrast, mare-milk-enriched lipids were more widely distributed among polar-lipid and membrane-related classes, including phosphatidylethanolamine, lysophosphatidylethanolamine, lysophosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylinositol, and ceramide, and showed broader unsaturation patterns. KEGG analysis provided supplementary, positive-ion-mode pathway support for lipid digestion and absorption, glycerolipid metabolism, cholesterol metabolism, and lipolysis-related processes, whereas negative-ion-mode mappings were not statistically significant. Overall, Yili mare milk and Xinjiang Brown cow milk shared a similar major lipid framework but differed in selected neutral-lipid and polar-lipid molecular profiles under the sampled conditions. These candidate features require validation in larger, multi-breed, multi-season datasets before being generalized as robust markers of mare-versus-cow milk differences. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dairy Animal Nutrition and Milk Quality)
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22 pages, 544 KB  
Article
Dynamic Changes in Milk Production, Nutritional Composition, and Bioactive Substances of Milk from Yili Horses Across Different Lactation Stages
by Long Sun, Yingying Yu, Mengfei Li, Zihao Xu, Zhiqiang Cheng, Yong Chen, Fengming Li and Changjiang Zang
Agriculture 2026, 16(12), 1314; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16121314 - 14 Jun 2026
Viewed by 773
Abstract
Mare milk is rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds, and its composition changes throughout lactation. This study investigated variations in the production, nutritional composition, and bioactive components of Yili mare milk across lactation stages. Twenty-six healthy grazing Yili mares were sampled on days [...] Read more.
Mare milk is rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds, and its composition changes throughout lactation. This study investigated variations in the production, nutritional composition, and bioactive components of Yili mare milk across lactation stages. Twenty-six healthy grazing Yili mares were sampled on days 1, 10, 30, 60, 90, and 120 of lactation. Milk production, nutritional components, amino acids, fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, and immunologically active proteins were analyzed. Milk production peaked on day 30 and then declined. Colostrum contained significantly higher fat, protein, solids-not-fat, total solids, minerals, lactoferrin, lysozyme, and immunoglobulins than mature milk (p < 0.05), whereas lactose increased and stabilized after day 30. Essential amino acids peaked on day 30. As lactation progressed, saturated fatty acids decreased while polyunsaturated fatty acids increased. Vitamin profiles also varied across lactation, with ascorbic acid increasing during late lactation. β-casein content was higher during mid-lactation. In summary, colostrum is enriched in immunoactive proteins and minerals, whereas mature milk exhibits a more balanced amino acid and fatty acid profile. While these observed variations likely reflect the combined effect of lactation stage and seasonal pasture fluctuations under natural grazing, these findings provide practical insights into changes in milk composition in grazing Yili mares and may support the development of mare milk products under similar grazing systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dairy Animal Nutrition and Milk Quality)
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16 pages, 1573 KB  
Article
Descriptive Profiles of Milk Titratable Acidity and Its Within-Species Associations with Milk Composition and Quality Parameters Across Eight Dairy Animal Species
by Qiaoyan Ye, Nan Zheng, Huimin Liu, Li Min, Lu Meng, Xinyu Hao, Yangdong Zhang, Shengguo Zhao, Yaxin Yang, Yong Chen, Changjiang Zang and Jiaqi Wang
Agriculture 2026, 16(12), 1310; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16121310 - 13 Jun 2026
Viewed by 734
Abstract
Milk titratable acidity is a key indicator of raw milk freshness and quality, but its variation across different dairy animal species remains incompletely characterized. Based on 16,984 raw milk samples from eight dairy animal species (Holstein cow, goat, buffalo, camel, sheep, yak, donkey, [...] Read more.
Milk titratable acidity is a key indicator of raw milk freshness and quality, but its variation across different dairy animal species remains incompletely characterized. Based on 16,984 raw milk samples from eight dairy animal species (Holstein cow, goat, buffalo, camel, sheep, yak, donkey, and horse) collected within a retrospective raw milk quality monitoring framework in China from 2016 to 2024, this study provides a large-scale descriptive comparison of milk titratable acidity across species. Distinct titratable acidity profiles were observed among species, with camel and yak milk showing relatively high values, sheep, Holstein, and buffalo milk exhibiting intermediate values, and donkey and horse milk presenting markedly low values. Calendar-season-associated patterns also differed among species. Correlations between titratable acidity and milk components varied by species, with relatively stronger positive associations with protein and solids-not-fat (SNF) in several ruminant milks, suggesting that milk composition may contribute to differences in titratable acidity. However, because this study was based on an unbalanced observational dataset with limited animal-level, farm-level, feeding, management, physiological, and environmental metadata, these observations should be interpreted as descriptive and exploratory patterns rather than causal biological mechanisms. This dataset provides preliminary reference information for future studies on species-associated variation in raw milk titratable acidity and for discussions on species-specific raw milk quality evaluation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dairy Animal Nutrition and Milk Quality)
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21 pages, 1618 KB  
Article
Effects of Concentrate Supplementation Under Grazing Conditions on Milk Yield and Milk Nutritional Composition in Yili Mares
by Zihao Xu, Mengfei Li, Long Sun, Zhiqiang Cheng, Yingying Yu, Yong Chen, Fengming Li and Changjiang Zang
Agriculture 2026, 16(10), 1071; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16101071 - 14 May 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 458
Abstract
Under grazing conditions, it is difficult for lactating Yili mares to meet their nutritional requirements and those of their suckling foals solely through the consumption of natural pasture. Furthermore, seasonal variations and rainfall significantly influence the quality and nutrient content of forage, which [...] Read more.
Under grazing conditions, it is difficult for lactating Yili mares to meet their nutritional requirements and those of their suckling foals solely through the consumption of natural pasture. Furthermore, seasonal variations and rainfall significantly influence the quality and nutrient content of forage, which severely constrains the healthy breeding of Yili horses and the industrial development of mare milk resources. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of concentrate supplementation on lactation performance and milk concentrations of amino acids, fatty acids, and mineral elements in Yili horses under grazing conditions. Twenty-two healthy Yili mares in early lactation, with similar ages (3–4 years), foaling dates, and body weights (391.5 ± 13.74 kg), were randomly assigned to either a grazing group (G, n = 11) or a grazing + supplementation group (GS, n = 11). Mares in group G grazed naturally on pasture, while those in group GS received 1 kg of concentrate supplement twice daily (totaling 2 kg/day) in addition to grazing. The experimental period lasted for 100 days, including a 10-day adaptation period and a 90-day formal experimental period. The results showed that: (1) In terms of lactation performance, the GS group exhibited highly significant increases in milk yield and lactose yield (p < 0.01), as well as significant increases in milk protein and milk fat yields (p < 0.05), with an extended duration of the peak lactation period. (2) Regarding the amino acid profile, the concentrations of threonine (Thr), serine (Ser), glycine (Gly), and alanine (Ala) in the milk of the GS group were significantly higher than those in the G group (p < 0.05), whereas the proline (Pro) content was significantly lower (p < 0.01); supplementation improved the uptake of certain functional amino acids by the mammary gland. (3) Concerning the fatty acid profile, the concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and alpha-linolenic acid in the milk of the G group were significantly or highly significantly higher than those in the GS group (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). (4) For mineral elements, concentrate supplementation highly significantly decreased the potassium (K) content and the K/Na ratio in horse milk (p < 0.01), highly significantly increased the levels of iron (Fe) and cobalt (Co) (p < 0.01), and significantly enhanced the chromium (Cr) content (p < 0.05). In conclusion, concentrate supplementation during grazing improved lactation performance in Yili mares, primarily by increasing milk yield and extending the peak lactation period. However, grazing alone was more favorable for maintaining higher PUFA and α-linolenic acid proportions in milk. Therefore, concentrate supplementation should be regarded as a nutritional strategy that increases milk output and modifies amino acid and mineral element composition, but may involve a trade-off with some beneficial fatty acids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dairy Animal Nutrition and Milk Quality)
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