Plant Bioactives for Improving Health and Sustainability in Livestock Production Systems
A Special Issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615) belonging to the section "Animal Nutrition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 777
Editors
Interests: foraging behavior; plant-herbivore interactions; landscape Interventions; diet selection; animal health and self-medication; rangelands; environmental impact; sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: foraging behavior; plant-herbivore interactions; animal health; diet selection; rangelands; environmental impact; sustainability
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue focuses on how plant-derived bioactives, such as polyphenols, terpenes, and saponins, can be harnessed through grazing management, forage diversity, and diet formulation to improve animal health and productivity while enhancing sustainability in livestock production systems. We welcome the submission of mechanistic and applied studies across species, with particular relevance to grazing ruminants, that clarify effects on diet selection and feeding behavior, rumen fermentation and microbiome function, nutrient-use efficiency, and immune, antioxidant, and metabolic responses.
Submissions that connect plant bioactives to environmental performance are encouraged, including life-cycle assessment, greenhouse gas and nutrient loss outcomes, ecosystem services, and soil carbon dynamics. We also welcome research exploring links to human health and food quality, including how soil–plant–animal interactions influence product composition and system resilience. By integrating fundamental mechanisms with field-scale evidence and management-ready strategies, this issue aims to identify research gaps and priorities for future directions that can translate plant bioactives into practical programs to enhance animal health, welfare, and productivity while improving system sustainability and food quality, with potential benefits for consumer health.
Prof. Dr. Juan J. Villalba
Dr. Fred Provenza
Dr. Gary Kleppel
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. 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
- plant bioactives
- phyto-components
- secondary metabolites
- ruminants
- grazing
- animal health
- human health
- soil health
- product quality
- nutrient-use efficiency
- ecosystem services
- environmental impact.
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