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Agriculture
Special Issues
Alternative Approaches to Feed Selection and Animal Performance in Ruminants
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Alternative Approaches to Feed Selection and Animal Performance in Ruminants

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Farm Animal Production".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 988

Editors

Dr. Liwen He

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Interests: ruminant nutrition; feed processing; feed evaluation; product quality; fermentation technology; green production
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Yawei Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Animal Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China
Interests: ruminant nutrition; feed science; rumen microbiology; feed additive; feed resource exploitation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the increasing consumption demands of high quality and economical animal products, supporting the steady supply of feedstuff and healthy production in intensive production systems is becoming a challenge, especially in the midst of unsteady global situations. Therefore, a larger source of cost-effective feeds and additives is urgently necessary to maintain the healthy development of livestock husbandry. Therefore, more unconventional feedstuff and efficient additives must be investigated and popularized, ultimately improving production efficiency and economic–environmental benefits.

This Special Issue focuses on the development and assessment of innovative feed processing technology, unconventional feed resources or new additive applications for sustainable livestock development. This Special Issue, in the Farm Animal Production section of Agriculture, will include interdisciplinary studies embracing animal husbandry with the disciplines of chemistry, engineering, optics, biology, environmental science, etc. Research articles will cover a broad range of feed resource/additive exploitation and applications, as well as their underlying functional mechanism. All types of articles, such as original research and reviews, are welcome.

Dr. Liwen He
Dr. Yawei Zhang
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

  • ruminant
  • feed resource
  • feed additive
  • feed processing
  • feeding value
  • animal performance
  • emission reduction

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 1713 KB  
Article
Astragalus Straw Inhibited Methane Emissions by Regulating Ruminal Fermentation Parameters and Microbial Community Dynamics in Lanzhou Fat-Tailed Sheep
by Juanshan Zheng, Wangmei Feng, Chi Ma, Xiang Pan, Tong Wang, Honghe Li, Junsong Zhang, Xiaofang Feng, Na Jiao, Siqiu Yang and Penghui Guo
Agriculture 2026, 16(2), 216; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16020216 - 14 Jan 2026
Viewed by 573
Abstract
Methane (CH4), a significant greenhouse gas, ranks second only to carbon dioxide in its contribution to global warming. The application of Chinese herbs as a strategy to mitigate CH4 emissions in ruminants has shown promise. However, there is limited information [...] Read more.
Methane (CH4), a significant greenhouse gas, ranks second only to carbon dioxide in its contribution to global warming. The application of Chinese herbs as a strategy to mitigate CH4 emissions in ruminants has shown promise. However, there is limited information regarding the efficacy of Chinese herb straw in reducing CH4 emissions in ruminants. This research aimed to investigate the beneficial effects of varying levels of Astragalus straw supplementation on methane emissions and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. The study examined the effects of different supplementation levels (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%) on in vitro rumen fermentation, CH4 emissions, and ruminal microbial community in Lanzhou fat-tailed sheep using an in vitro fermentation method. The findings indicated that IVDMD, gas production, and CH4 production significantly decreased with increasing levels of Astragalus straw supplementation (p < 0.05). Simultaneously, the lowest levels of AA, AA/PA, and NH3-N, along with the highest concentrations of PA, BA, and MCP, were observed in the 20% supplementation group after 48 h of fermentation. In addition, supplementation with Astragalus straw resulted in an increased abundance of Bacteroidota, Spirochaetota, and Actinobacteriota, while decreasing the abundance of Firmicutes, Fibrobacterota, and Verrucomicrobiota. At the genus level, there was an observed increase in the abundance of Prevotella and Streptococcus, accompanied by a decrease in Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group. In conclusion, the supplementation of Astragalus straw has the potential to reduce CH4 production by altering ruminal fermentation patterns, fermentation parameters, and microbial dynamics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative Approaches to Feed Selection and Animal Performance in Ruminants)
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