Special Issue "Innovative Instruments and Methods to Analyse Feedstuffs"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Sonia Tassone
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Sciences, University of Torino, 10095 - Grugliasco, Italy
Interests: animal nutrition; feeds digestibility; in vitro fermentation.
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Pier Giorgio Peiretti
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Institute of Sciences of Food Production, National Research Council, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy
Interests: animal nutrition; feed digestibility; food of animal origin
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past few decades, the livestock sector in developed countries has been rapidly changing in response to the growing demand for high-quality animal foods that are sustainably produced.
Animal nutrition has a fundamental influence over these aspects. The feeding of a balanced and correctly formulated ration increases animal productivity, quality of products, and animal welfare and decreases the pollution of environment associated with livestock. If the diet is not balanced, nutrients are excreted into the environment, resulting in emissions of ammonia, methane, and nitrous oxide.
For these reasons, feed analysis is an extremely important subject for animal nutrition research. In this field, analytical methods are fundamental as they form the basis for interpreting data. Without reliable and nutritionally significant methods, scientific advances are impeded, as is proper diet formulation.
Over time, numerous studies have developed and modified instruments and methods to analyse feedstuffs. The developed and adapted procedures aim to reduce labour demand, costs, and consumed time while improving prediction capacity, accuracy, and precision.
At present, there are numerous methods and instruments to analyse feedstuffs, and the associated terminology is often confused or incorrectly used, which can lead to misunderstandings among scientists in relation to the meaning of these feed assays.
Considering that the sustainability of animal nutrition and diet formulation follows advances in analytical methodology, the objective of this Special Issue is to present the new developed feed analysis methods, procedure modifications, and instruments and terminology currently in use.

Dr. Sonia Tassone
Dr. Pier Giorgio Peiretti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • animal nutrition
  • feed analysis
  • methodologies
  • instruments
  • chemical characteristics
  • physical characteristics
  • spectroscopic characteristics
  • nutraceutical characteristics
  • NIRS
  • digestibility

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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Communication
Use of Undigested NDF for Estimation of Diet Digestibility in Growing Pigs
Animals 2020, 10(11), 2007; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10112007 - 31 Oct 2020
Viewed by 639
Abstract
Undigested neutral detergent fibre (uNDF) is commonly used as an internal marker for the estimation of diet digestibility in ruminants. This work aimed to verify (i) whether the in vivo method with uNDF could be used to evaluate diet digestibility in growing pigs, [...] Read more.
Undigested neutral detergent fibre (uNDF) is commonly used as an internal marker for the estimation of diet digestibility in ruminants. This work aimed to verify (i) whether the in vivo method with uNDF could be used to evaluate diet digestibility in growing pigs, and (ii) whether pre-treating the samples with neutral detergent solution (NDS) and α-amylase improves the accuracy of the estimates. Samples from a previously published work of two diets with known in vivo digestibility values estimated by the total faecal collection method and 16 individual samples of faeces were used. For each sample, four Ankom F57 bags were weighed. Before the incubation, two F57 bags were pre-treated with NDS and α-amylase. All the samples were incubated for 240 h in the Ankom DaisyII incubator and then analysed for their uNDF contents. Dry matter, organic matter, and neutral detergent fibre digestibilities were estimated using the uNDF contents, and the results were compared with those of the former study. The digestibility values obtained using the uNDF method with pre-treatment were not statistically different from those determined with the total faecal collection. On the contrary, the uNDF method without the pre-treatment could not satisfactorily predict the digestibilities of pig diets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Instruments and Methods to Analyse Feedstuffs)
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Article
In Vivo Screening and Antidiabetic Potential of Polyphenol Extracts from Guava Pulp, Seeds and Leaves
Animals 2020, 10(9), 1714; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10091714 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 855
Abstract
The present study investigates the antidiabetic potential of polyphenol extracts purified from guava pulp, seeds and leaves using an in vivo experiment on albino rats. The polyphenols from guava pulp, seeds and leaves were extracted using methanol solvent and the sonication method while [...] Read more.
The present study investigates the antidiabetic potential of polyphenol extracts purified from guava pulp, seeds and leaves using an in vivo experiment on albino rats. The polyphenols from guava pulp, seeds and leaves were extracted using methanol solvent and the sonication method while being evaluated by total phenolic contents and radical scavenging activity assay. The proximate composition of powders revealed that ash, protein and total sugars were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in leaves and seeds, while vitamin C was highest in pulp. Total phenolic and antioxidant activities were highest in pulp followed by leaves and seeds. The findings of feed intake and body gain revealed that the supplementation of polyphenols, especially from pulp, significantly (p < 0.05) increased the feed intake, which resulted in increased body weight. Moreover, total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels were significantly (p < 0.05) decreased, while the level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was increased in groups fed with polyphenols from guava pulp compared to both (+ive and –ive) control groups. Furthermore, blood glucose and triglycerides were significantly (p < 0.05) decreased in supplemented groups compared to the control group of diabetes mice, which resulted in the inhibition of α-amylase and glucose transport. Besides this, packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), hemoglobin, red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs) and platelet levels were increased significantly (p < 0.05) in pulp’s extract followed by leaves and seeds compared to both control groups. Overall, the antidiabetic potential of different extracts was in the following order: pulp > leaves > seeds. The findings suggest the feasibility of adding 200–250 mg/kg.bw of polyphenol extracts of pulp as an alternative to diabetic drugs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Instruments and Methods to Analyse Feedstuffs)
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Article
Effect of Dietary Forage: Concentrate Ratio on Pre-Caecal and Total Digestive Tract Digestibility of Diverse Feedstuffs in Donkeys as Measured by the Mobile Nylon Bag Technique
Animals 2020, 10(6), 1070; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10061070 - 20 Jun 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 693
Abstract
The domestic donkey is a unique equid species with specific nutritional requirements, however, limited laboratory evidences are available to address the digestibility contribution of the prececum in relation to the total digestive tract. In the present study, six caecum-fistulated adult female Xinjiang donkeys [...] Read more.
The domestic donkey is a unique equid species with specific nutritional requirements, however, limited laboratory evidences are available to address the digestibility contribution of the prececum in relation to the total digestive tract. In the present study, six caecum-fistulated adult female Xinjiang donkeys served as the experimental animals in a 3 × 3 Latin square design, and mobile nylon bag technique was applied to determine the effect of dietary F:C ratio on pre-caececum and total digestive tract digestibility of rice straw, alfalfa hay, corn meal, and soybean meal. The dietary treatments included: (1) HF, a high-fiber ration (F:C = 80:20), (2) MF, a medium-fiber ration (F:C = 55:45), and (3), LF, a low-fiber ration (F:C = 35:65). The experiment consisted of three consecutive Latin square periods, and each period lasted 25 days. In each period, the animals were administrated naso-gastrically nylon bags (38 μm pore size) containing aforementioned feeds. After 1.5 h intubation, the bags were checked once an hour and collected at the ileo-caecal junction (small intestine bag, D1) and in the feces (fecal bag, D2). Regardless whatever feeds were introduced, the percentage of bag collected (BC) was quadratically (HF) or linearly (MF and LF) increased against different fixed bag collection time. The highest BC occurred in MF (73.8%), but no significant difference was observed between HF (62.3%) and LF (50.8%). The lowest mean bag retention time was observed in HF (2.7 h), and no significant difference occurred between MF (4.6 h) and LF (5.0 h) diets. For each feed, D1 and D2 digestibility for DM, CP, NDF, and ADF did not differ among three dietary treatments (p > 0.05). Regardless of whatever diets were fed to the donkeys, D2 digestibility for DM and CP among the feeds ranked as: soybean meal > corn meal > alfalfa hay > rice straw (p < 0.01). D1 digestibility for DM among the feeds ranked as: corn meal > soybean meal > alfalfa hay > rice straw (p < 0.01). D1 digestibility for CP among the feeds ranked as: soybean meal > corn meal > alfalfa hay > rice straw (p < 0.01). In summary, dietary forage: concentrate ratio did not affect pre-caecal or total tract nutrient digestibility. The fiber level in feeds was the main limiting factor to affect the digestibility contribution of the pre-caecum in relation to the total digestive tract. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Instruments and Methods to Analyse Feedstuffs)
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Review

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Review
Fitting of the In Vitro Gas Production Technique to the Study of High Concentrate Diets
Animals 2020, 10(10), 1935; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10101935 - 21 Oct 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 583
Abstract
In vitro rumen fermentation systems are often adapted to forage feeding conditions, with pH values ranging in a range close to neutrality (between 6.5 and 7.0). Several attempts using different buffers have been made to control incubation pH in order to evaluate microbial [...] Read more.
In vitro rumen fermentation systems are often adapted to forage feeding conditions, with pH values ranging in a range close to neutrality (between 6.5 and 7.0). Several attempts using different buffers have been made to control incubation pH in order to evaluate microbial fermentation under conditions simulating high concentrate feeding, but results have not been completely successful because of rapid exhaustion of buffering capacity. Recently, a modification of bicarbonate ion concentration in the buffer of incubation solution has been proposed, which, together with using rumen inoculum from donor ruminants given high-concentrate diets, allows for mimicking such conditions in vitro. It is important to consider that the gas volume recorded is in part directly produced from microbial fermentation of substrates, but also indirectly from the buffering capacity of the medium. Thus, the contribution of each (direct and indirect) gas source to the overall production should be estimated. Another major factor affecting fermentation is the rate of passage, but closed batch systems cannot be adapted to its consideration. Therefore, a simple semicontinuous incubation system has been developed, which studies the rate and extent of fermentation by gas production at the time it allows for controlling medium pH and rate of passage by manual replacement of incubation medium by fresh saliva without including rumen inoculum. The application of this system to studies using high concentrate feeding conditions will also be reviewed here. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Instruments and Methods to Analyse Feedstuffs)
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