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Animals
Special Issues
Advanced Welfare-Oriented, Efficient, and High-Quality Ruminant Production: Mechanisms and Practices
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Advanced Welfare-Oriented, Efficient, and High-Quality Ruminant Production: Mechanisms and Practices

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 1169

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hanfang Zeng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Interests: physiological regulation of ruminants
Dr. Xiangyu Pan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, China
Interests: ruminants host-microbial crosstalk; genetic improvment of meat quality traits; transtriptional regulation of ruminants complex traits
Dr. Yongfu La

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Animal Science Department, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Interests: ruminants meat quality improvement; improvement of production performance in ruminants
Dr. Chao Yang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai Univerity, Xining 810016, China
Interests: nutritional regulation of gastro-intestinal health in ruminants; ruminants meat quality improvement; low-protein-diet and application of functional nutrients in ruminants

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid advancement of modern biological technologies and agricultural engineering offers novel approaches to enhancing animal welfare, boosting the efficiency of production, and improving the quality of products in ruminant production systems.

This Special Issue welcomes the submission of articles that address the application of cutting-edge technologies—including bio-based feeds, microbial fermentation and other innovative feed processing techniques, advanced breeding strategies, intelligent livestock farming equipment, and novel feed additives—to improve animal health (e.g., gut microbial balance, antioxidation, and stress resilience) and enhance the efficiency of production and quality of ruminant-derived products (e.g., meat and milk). We also welcome studies utilizing multi-omics approaches (e.g., phenomics, genomics, metabolomics, metagenomics, etc.) to explore key scientific questions related to achieving welfare-oriented, efficient, and high-quality ruminant production.

Dr. Hanfang Zeng
Dr. Xiangyu Pan
Dr. Yongfu La
Dr. Chao Yang
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • animal health
  • efficient ruminant production
  • precision livestock farming
  • feed innovation
  • multi-omics integration

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1703 KB  
Article
Whole-Genome Resequencing Identifies Candidate Genes for Tail Fat Deposition in Sheep
by Xiaowen Zhang, Yufei Li, Yongqing Zhao, Penghui Guo, Yong Cai, Hongwei Xu, Xin Cao, Qiongyi Li, Xiaoxia Ma, Derong Zhang and Jialin Bai
Animals 2025, 15(20), 3046; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15203046 - 20 Oct 2025
Abstract
Excessive adipose tissue accumulation in sheep disrupts insulin signaling, inducing insulin resistance, and alters energy partitioning mechanisms. These changes adversely affect both ovine health and production efficiency. This study employed whole-genome resequencing to conduct selection signal analysis in long-fat-tailed (Lanzhou fat-tailed sheep) and [...] Read more.
Excessive adipose tissue accumulation in sheep disrupts insulin signaling, inducing insulin resistance, and alters energy partitioning mechanisms. These changes adversely affect both ovine health and production efficiency. This study employed whole-genome resequencing to conduct selection signal analysis in long-fat-tailed (Lanzhou fat-tailed sheep) and short-fat-tailed (Hu sheep) breeds, investigating the genetic basis underlying divergent lipid metabolism-related traits between these distinct tail phenotypes. Fifteen healthy adult individuals, each from long-fat-tailed (Lanzhou Large-tailed sheep) and short-fat-tailed (Hu sheep) breeds, underwent whole-genome resequencing. Whole-genome resequencing analyses via FST, XP-CLR, and XP-EHH identified 75 significantly selected regions (p < 0.01), revealing eight key candidate genes (DAB1, DPP10, EPHA6, GPC5, KLF12, PAK7, PTPN3, TENM3). Subsequent functional enrichment analysis demonstrated significant enrichment of DAB1 and GPC5 in lipid metabolic processes (GO:0006629). Employing whole-genome resequencing-based selection signal analysis in long-fat-tailed (Lanzhou Large-tailed sheep) and short-fat-tailed (Hu sheep) breeds, this study identified two key lipid metabolism-associated genes (DAB1 and GPC5). These findings provide critical insights for conserving genetic resources and informing molecular breeding strategies targeting divergent tail phenotypes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Welfare-Oriented, Efficient, and High-Quality Ruminant Production: Mechanisms and Practices)
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17 pages, 1001 KB  
Article
Effect of Rumen-Protected Lysine Supplementation on Growth Performance, Blood Metabolites, Rumen Fermentation and Bacterial Community on Feedlot Yaks Offered Corn-Based Diets
by Yan Li, Yuzhong Chen, Peng Wu, Abraham Allan Degen, Kelei He, Qianyun Zhang, Xinsheng Zhao, Wanyu Li, Aiwen Zhang and Jianwei Zhou
Animals 2025, 15(19), 2901; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15192901 - 4 Oct 2025
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Abstract
Feedlots rely on corn-based total mixed rations (TMR) to finish yaks. However, corn is markedly deficient in lysine and, therefore, we hypothesized that feedlot yaks supplemented with rumen-protected lysine (RPLys) would improve performance. To test this hypothesis, twelve 2.5-year-old male yaks (122 ± [...] Read more.
Feedlots rely on corn-based total mixed rations (TMR) to finish yaks. However, corn is markedly deficient in lysine and, therefore, we hypothesized that feedlot yaks supplemented with rumen-protected lysine (RPLys) would improve performance. To test this hypothesis, twelve 2.5-year-old male yaks (122 ± 5.3 kg) were selected, and divided into a control (CON) and RPLys-supplemented (RPL) group. All yaks were provided with a pelleted diet that consisted of 25.0% corn stalk, 31.6% corn grain, and 24.0% corn by-products; while RPL yaks were supplemented with 37.0 g/d RPLys. Dry matter intake was not affected (p = 0.671) by RPLys supplementation, but the average daily gain was greater (p < 0.05; 1.46 vs. 1.25 kg/d) and the feed-to-gain ratio was lesser (p < 0.01; 3.39 vs. 3.90) in RPL than CON yaks. Serum urea nitrogen concentration and aspartate aminotransferase were greater (p < 0.05) in the CON than the RPL group. However, plasma lysine concentration was greater (p < 0.05), while threonine tended to be greater (p = 0.065) in RPL than CON yaks. Rumen ammonia-N concentration was lesser (p < 0.05) in RPL than CON yaks, but pH and volatile fatty acids concentration did not differ (p > 0.10) between groups. The relative abundances of the ruminal bacterial phyla of Firmicutes and Elusimicrobiota were greater (p < 0.05), whereas of the phylum Bacteroidota and genus Butyrivibrio were lesser (p < 0.05) in RPL than CON yaks. In general, the rumen microbiota was altered toward more abundant N utilization taxa in RPLys-supplemented yaks. RPLys-supplemented yaks had elevated plasma lysine and improved feed conversion ratio, providing the first evidence that bypass lysine improves the growth performance of yaks on corn-based diets in feedlots. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Welfare-Oriented, Efficient, and High-Quality Ruminant Production: Mechanisms and Practices)
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17 pages, 1305 KB  
Article
Daidzein Changes Production Performance, Meat Quality, and Transcriptome of Muscle in Heat-Stressed Jinjiang Cattle
by Huan Liang, Kun Fu, Lin Li, Xiaozhen Song, Long Wang, Lanjiao Xu and Mingren Qu
Animals 2025, 15(18), 2650; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15182650 - 10 Sep 2025
Viewed by 474
Abstract
This research was carried out to assess the impact of daidzein supplementation on production performance, serum biochemical indexes, meat quality, and the transcriptome of the longissimus dorsi (LM) muscle in heat-stressed Jinjiang cattle. Twenty 20-month-old Jinjiang cattle (initial mean ± SE: 438 ± [...] Read more.
This research was carried out to assess the impact of daidzein supplementation on production performance, serum biochemical indexes, meat quality, and the transcriptome of the longissimus dorsi (LM) muscle in heat-stressed Jinjiang cattle. Twenty 20-month-old Jinjiang cattle (initial mean ± SE: 438 ± 34.6 kg of body weight) were randomly divided into two treatment groups (n = 10 per treatment): control treatment and daidzein treatment (1000 mg/kg concentrate). After a 100-day feeding trial (consisting of a 10-day adaptation period and a 90-day daidzein feeding period), blood and LM muscle samples were collected on day 100. Daidzein significantly increased the average daily dry matter intake (ADMI), the concentration of free fatty acid (FFA) and glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (ALT) in serum, and the marbling score of the LM muscle. Additionally, daidzein significantly decreased the concentration of total cholesterol (TC) and leptin in serum, along with the shear force and L* value of LM in heat-stressed Jinjiang cattle. The transcriptome analysis demonstrated that 238 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified through differential expression analysis, among which 168 genes were downregulated and 70 genes were upregulated. The results of KEGG pathways showed that these DEGs were significantly enriched in pathways related to beef tenderness, including the FoxO signaling pathway, Notch signaling pathway, and regulation of the actin cytoskeleton. Daidzein significantly affected the candidate genes (FOSL1, DGKH, Gadd45G, GAL, SEMA3, TOB, FABP8, TRIB2, Nech1, and GSTA3) involved in adipocyte differentiation, as well as genes (CSTB and ACTN) related to connective tissue structure in heat-stressed Jinjiang cattle. Daidzein plays a positive role in relieving heat stress and improving beef quality in heat-stressed Jinjiang cattle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Welfare-Oriented, Efficient, and High-Quality Ruminant Production: Mechanisms and Practices)
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