Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.9
2.7
Journals
Animals
Special Issues
Adapting Novel Nutritional Practices to Enhance Product Quality and Environmental...
share announcement

Adapting Novel Nutritional Practices to Enhance Product Quality and Environmental Sustainability in Ruminant Livestock Sector

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2024) | Viewed by 12522

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ilias Giannenas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Nutrition, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: animal nutrition; health; antioxidants; feed additives; aromatic and medicinal plants; alternative feedstuffs with bioactive compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Globally, the ruminant livestock sector is facing two major concerns: product quality and environmental impacts. In this context, novel feed ingredients will serve as tools to address these issues. Aromatic and medicinal plants are rich in bioactive molecules and able to reach considerable concentrations in the final product, offering health benefits to consumers. In addition, they can modify rumen fermentation processes and microbiota populations, leading to lower methane production and N losses, with possible environmental and economical profits. In addition, alternative feedstuffs with diminished cultivation needs and environmental costs, compared to soybean meal and other raw materials which dominate ruminant diets, are being introduced worldwide. For example, lupin seeds and hemp cake, along with various by-products, could serve as ecofriendly feeds in dairy ruminants as well as in beef cattle. This Special Issue will focus on new developments in ruminant nutrition, reducing methane and N losses, and the enhancement of active biomolecules in milk and meat, which will lead to superior quality livestock products and minimize environmental impacts.

Dr. Ilias Giannenas
Guest Editor

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 nutrition
  • bioactive compounds
  • high-quality animal products
  • environmental burdens
  • green-house gas emissions

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

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

Published Papers (6 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

17 pages, 2525 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Lactobacillus plantarum, Bacillus subtilis, a Lignocellulolytic Enzyme System, and Their Combination on the Fermentation Profiles, Chemical Composition, Bacterial Community, and In Situ Rumen Digestion of Fresh Waxy Corn Stalk Silage
by Jiaqi Su, Ye Xue, Kunlun Zhang, Zihan Liu, Jingyi Lv, Qi Yang, Zhongqiu Li, Chunlong Liu and Hangshu Xin
Animals 2024, 14(23), 3442; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14233442 - 28 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1466
Abstract
The objective of this study was to assess the impact of Lactobacillus plantarum, Bacillus subtilis, and a lignocellulolytic enzyme system on the nutritional value, fermentation profiles, rumen digestion, and bacterial community of fresh waxy corn stalk silage. Fresh waxy corn stalks [...] Read more.
The objective of this study was to assess the impact of Lactobacillus plantarum, Bacillus subtilis, and a lignocellulolytic enzyme system on the nutritional value, fermentation profiles, rumen digestion, and bacterial community of fresh waxy corn stalk silage. Fresh waxy corn stalks harvested after 90 days of growth were treated with no additives (CON), compound multiple lactobacilli (ML, comprising Lactobacillus plantarum at 1.0 × 105 cfu/g fresh weight and Bacillus subtilis at 1.0 × 105 cfu/g fresh weight), a lignocellulolytic enzyme system (LE, at 500 g/t), and a combination of the lignocellulolytic enzyme system and multiple lactobacilli (MLLE). Throughout the fermentation process, the contents of dry matter (DM) and water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC), as well as the counts of lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and mold, continuously decreased with the extension of the fermentation time. In contrast, the concentrations of acetic acid, propionic acid, and ammonia N progressively increased over time. Notably, the pH initially decreased and then increased as fermentation progressed, while the lactic acid concentration first increased and then decreased with the extension of the fermentation time. After 45 days of fermentation, the DM contents of LE and MLLE were significantly lower than that of CON, while the WSC content of MLLE was significantly higher than that of CON. LE most effectively increased the ED of DM and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). Compared to ML and LE, MLLE showed a greater increase in the “a” value of DM and NDF. The DM content in LE and MLLE was lower than in CON, with a higher WSC content. Both ML and MLLE produced more lactic acid than CON and LE, resulting in a lower pH in these groups. Additionally, the acetic acid content and ammonia N content were lower in ML and MLLE compared to CON and LE. The counts of lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and mold declined over the fermentation period, dropping below detectable levels on the seventh and fifth days, respectively. Relative to CON, the three additives reduced the relative abundance of Weissella and Klebsiella and increased that of Lactobacillus. In conclusion, LE improved the nutritional value and rumen digestion of the silage, ML enhanced its fermentation profiles and bacterial community, and MLLE significantly improved the nutritional value, rumen digestion characteristics, fermentation profiles, and bacterial community of the fresh waxy corn stalk silage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adapting Novel Nutritional Practices to Enhance Product Quality and Environmental Sustainability in Ruminant Livestock Sector)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 4343 KiB  
Article
Does the Use of the Yeast Probiotic Saccharomyces cerevisiae Actisaf Sc 47 Reduce the Environmental Impacts of Beef Cattle? A Study Based on Life Cycle Assessment
by Nizar Salah, Héloïse Legendre, Erika Paiva, Julie Duclos, Maxime Briche, Florine Colbalchini, Armelle Gac, Thomas Kerihuel and Céline Garat Boute
Animals 2024, 14(21), 3107; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14213107 - 28 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1221
Abstract
Increasing animal protein, especially from beef, is necessary to satisfy the requirements of the growing global population. However, this is becoming increasingly challenging due to stakeholders prioritizing sustainable systems with low environmental impacts. To answer these challenges, the use of feed additives such [...] Read more.
Increasing animal protein, especially from beef, is necessary to satisfy the requirements of the growing global population. However, this is becoming increasingly challenging due to stakeholders prioritizing sustainable systems with low environmental impacts. To answer these challenges, the use of feed additives such as yeast probiotics seems to be an effective route for improvements in feed efficiency and growth performance. The current study was performed to quantify the environmental impacts of the production and use of a yeast probiotic (Actisaf® Sc 47) through an LCA method in four trials performed during the fattening period: France (French trial), Spain (Spanish trial), and Italy (Italian trials A and B). During each trial, two groups of animals with the same characteristics were compared during the fattening period: the control group without Actisaf® Sc 47 supplementation used as a baseline, and the experimental group with Actisaf® Sc 47 supplementation. The calves started the trial at the ages of 224, 92, and 186 days during the French, Spanish, and Italian trials A and B, respectively. Of the sixteen impact category indicators, nine were analyzed. In Italian trials A and B, the Spanish trial, and the French trial, the use of Actisaf® Sc 47 reduced CC by 4.8, 3.8, 6.6, and 5.4%; FE by 4.8, 3.9, 8.2, and 6.3%; ME by 4.9, 4.0, 6, and 6.4%; and TE by 5.3, 4.1, and 6.2%, respectively. Moreover, during the same trials, Actisaf® Sc 47 reduced AC by 6.0, 4.1, 6.3, and 7.1%; LU by 4.7, 3.9, 5.8, and 6.1%; WU by 4.5, 3.4, 5.2, and 5.9%; RU (fossils) by 4.8, 3.7, 7.3, and 4.8%; and PM by 5.2, 4.1, 6.3, and 7.1%, respectively. The use of Actisaf® Sc 47 has beneficial effects on the environment. Regarding Actisaf® Sc 47 production, the results showed that the production of 1 kg of Actisaf® Sc 47 emitted 2.1 kg of CO2 eq, 60% of which came from the fermentation process and 39% from drying. The results demonstrate the interest in using Actisaf® Sc during the fattening period for its multiple positive outcomes: improving performance and efficiency, while reducing the global carbon footprint. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adapting Novel Nutritional Practices to Enhance Product Quality and Environmental Sustainability in Ruminant Livestock Sector)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 2638 KiB  
Article
Performance, Meat Quality and Meat Metabolomics Outcomes: Efficacy of 3-Nitrooxypropanol in Feedlot Beef Cattle Diets
by Cibeli Almeida Pedrini, Fábio Souza Machado, Alexandre Rodrigo Mendes Fernandes, Nara Regina Brandão Cônsolo, Fernanda Maria Marins Ocampos, Luiz Alberto Colnago, Alexandre Perdigão, Victor Valério de Carvalho, Tiago Sabella Acedo, Luis Fernando Monteiro Tamassia, Maik Kindermann and Jefferson Rodrigues Gandra
Animals 2024, 14(17), 2576; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14172576 - 4 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1907
Abstract
30 Nellore animals with an average weight of 407.25 ± 2.04 kg, were distributed in a completely randomized design across the following treatments: 1—Control (without inclusion of 3-NOP); 2—BV75 (inclusion of 3-NOP at 75 mg/kg DM); 3—BV100 (inclusion of 3-NOP at 100 mg/kg [...] Read more.
30 Nellore animals with an average weight of 407.25 ± 2.04 kg, were distributed in a completely randomized design across the following treatments: 1—Control (without inclusion of 3-NOP); 2—BV75 (inclusion of 3-NOP at 75 mg/kg DM); 3—BV100 (inclusion of 3-NOP at 100 mg/kg DM). No significant effects were observed between treatments on ingestive behavior. However, the notable effect on the BWfinal and ADG of animals supplemented with 3-NOP compared to the control group was measurable. Cattle beef receiving 3-NOP exhibited reduced methane emissions (p < 0.0001) for all variables analyzed, resulting in an average decrease of 38.2% in methane emissions compared to the control, along with increased hydrogen emissions (g/day) (p < 0.0001). While supplementation with BV100 demonstrated lower methane emission, the performance was lower than BV75 in DMI, BWfinal, ADG, and ADG carcasses. Partial separation of metabolomics observed between groups indicated changes in meat metabolism when comparing the control group with the 3-NOP group, identifying metabolites with a variable importance projection (VIP) score > 1. In conclusion, supplementation with 3-NOP effectively reduced methane emissions and did not negatively influence animal performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adapting Novel Nutritional Practices to Enhance Product Quality and Environmental Sustainability in Ruminant Livestock Sector)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 1392 KiB  
Article
Quantification of the Environmental Impact of Feeding Yeast Probiotic Saccharomyces cerevisiae Actisaf Sc 47 in Dairy Cow: A Life Cycle Assessment Approach
by Nizar Salah, Héloïse Legendre, Erika Paiva, Julie Duclos, Maxime Briche, Mariem Maaoui, Jasper Scholten and Céline Garat Boute
Animals 2024, 14(15), 2202; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14152202 - 29 Jul 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2003
Abstract
Today, one of the major challenges of dairy farmers is to reduce their environmental footprint to establish more effective, efficient, and sustainable production systems. Feed additives such as yeast probiotics could potentially allow them to achieve these objectives through the improvement of milk [...] Read more.
Today, one of the major challenges of dairy farmers is to reduce their environmental footprint to establish more effective, efficient, and sustainable production systems. Feed additives such as yeast probiotics could potentially allow them to achieve these objectives through the improvement of milk production, feed efficiency, and ration valorization, hence mitigating the environmental impacts of milk production. In this study, the life cycle assessment (LCA) principle was performed to estimate the environmental impact of the production and supplementation of a commercial yeast probiotic (Actisaf Sc 47) in three trials performed in three different countries that are representative for around 50% of the milk production in Europe: France (French trial), United Kingdom (UK trial), and Germany (German trial). For each trial, two groups of animals were compared: control, without Actisaf Sc 47 supplementation, used as baseline; and experimental, with Actisaf Sc 47 supplementation at 5 or 10 g/cow/day. Different impact categories were analyzed for each group to calculate the impact of producing 1 kg of fat- and protein-corrected milk. An initial analysis was done only during the period of Actisaf Sc 47 supplementation and showed than the supplementation with Actisaf Sc 47 reduced, on average by 5%, the carbon footprint during the three trials. A second analysis was done via the extrapolation of all the data of each trial to an annual farm level, including the lactation period (305 days), dry period (60 days), and the period with and without Actisaf Sc 47 supplementation. Reported at a farm annual scale, the average reduction allowed by Actisaf Sc 47 supplementation was 2.9, 2.05, 2.47, 1.67, 2.28, 2.18, 2.14, and 2.28% of the carbon footprint, land use, water use, resource use, acidification, freshwater eutrophication, marine eutrophication, and terrestrial eutrophication, respectively. On average, the production of 1 kg of fat- and protein-corrected milk by using Actisaf Sc 47 was shown to improve environmental impacts compared to control. Regarding Actisaf Sc 47 production, the LCA showed that the production of 1 kg of Actisaf Sc 47 emitted 2.1 kg CO2 eq with a negligible contribution to total the carbon footprint of milk ranging from 0.005 to 0.016%. The use of Actisaf Sc 47 in dairy cows could then result in different positive outcomes: improving performance and efficiency while reducing the global carbon footprint. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adapting Novel Nutritional Practices to Enhance Product Quality and Environmental Sustainability in Ruminant Livestock Sector)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 3094 KiB  
Article
Mitigating the Environmental Impacts from Pig and Broiler Chicken Productions: Case Study on a Citrus Extract Feed Additive
by Hoa Bui, Sekhou Hedaly Cisse, Mathilde Ceccaldi, Aurélie Perrin, Mohammed El Amine Benarbia and Pierre Chicoteau
Animals 2023, 13(23), 3702; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13233702 - 29 Nov 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2419
Abstract
The rapid expansion of the livestock production sector to meet the world population’s demand is posing a big challenge to environmental sustainability. Plant-based feed additives extracted from agro-food byproducts could potentially result in multiple outcomes: reducing food-processing wastes and improving animal growth performances, [...] Read more.
The rapid expansion of the livestock production sector to meet the world population’s demand is posing a big challenge to environmental sustainability. Plant-based feed additives extracted from agro-food byproducts could potentially result in multiple outcomes: reducing food-processing wastes and improving animal growth performances, hence mitigating environmental impacts of meat production chains. This presented study was carried out to assess the environmental impacts of the use of a commercial citrus extract feed additive (CEFA) in swine and broiler chicken farming. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) was applied to assess the impact of manufacturing and distributing one 25 kg bag of CEFA and its use in feed in broiler chicken and swine productions. With regards to CEFA manufacturing and distribution, results showed that most of the impact came from the production of CEFA ingredients, accounting for 70% of the impact generated. The remaining 30% effect was divided between transportation to the customer (25%), CEFA packaging (3%), and CEFA manufacturing and production loss (2%). When enlarging the scope, the use of the CEFA in pigs and broilers’ diets was shown to improve the measured environmental indicators, compared to such standard systems. Indeed, CEFA-added feeds have demonstrated enhanced growth performances, hence reducing the required amount of consumed feed to achieve the same level of growth. Consequently, this helped reduce environmental issues from animal feed ingredients’ agriculture. To be more specific, the use of one 25 kg bag of CEFA in feed at 250 g per ton of feed led to a reduction of 6 tons of CO2 equivalent (CO2 eq) emitted along the life cycle of poultry production and 5 tons in the case of fattening pigs. The inclusion of this CEFA in the diet also led to a reduction in the land use footprint by 0.7 hectares and reductions in water consumption by 201 m3 and 82 m3 for broiler chicken and swine production, respectively. The environmental performance assessment thus showed the interest in using this CEFA in swine and broiler chicken diets to mitigate the environmental impacts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adapting Novel Nutritional Practices to Enhance Product Quality and Environmental Sustainability in Ruminant Livestock Sector)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 3978 KiB  
Article
Effects of Microorganisms on Growth Performance, Body Composition, Digestive Enzyme Activity, Intestinal Bacteria Flora and Antimicrobial Peptide (AMP) Content of Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Hermetia illucens)
by Yongqi Meng, Xiuxia Zhang, Zelong Zhang, Jiajun Li, Peihua Zheng, Juntao Li, Jiarui Xu, Jianan Xian and Yaopeng Lu
Animals 2023, 13(17), 2722; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13172722 - 26 Aug 2023
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2649
Abstract
Escherichia coli (EC), Staphylococcus aureus (SA), Bacillus subtilis (BS), Rhodopseudomonas palustris (RP), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) and Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) were selected as feed additives for black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) by tracking the growth performance, proximate composition, digestive ability and antibacterial peptides (AMPs) [...] Read more.
Escherichia coli (EC), Staphylococcus aureus (SA), Bacillus subtilis (BS), Rhodopseudomonas palustris (RP), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) and Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) were selected as feed additives for black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) by tracking the growth performance, proximate composition, digestive ability and antibacterial peptides (AMPs) content in the first trial. Microorganism efficiency screening results showed that RP could improve growth performance, digestive ability and AMP content of H. illucens. Therefore, RP was selected to prepare the diets and was incorporated into diets for H. illucens at levels of 0 (R0), 1.22 × 106 (R1), 1.22 × 107 (R2), 1.22 × 108 (R3), 1.22 × 109 (R4) and 1.22 × 1010 (R5) CFU/g. After 5 d of feeding, larvae fed the R2-R5 diets had higher weight gain and specific growth rates. Different concentrations of RP had no significant effect on larval body composition. R4–R5 could improve the digestibility and expression of AMPs in larvae. Moreover, RP could significantly increase the abundance of Lactobacillus and Rhodopseudomonas and decrease the abundance of Proteus and Corynebacterium. Therefore, RP is superior to the other strains as a feed additive for H. illucens larvae, and we recommend the addition of 1.22 × 109–1.22 × 1010 CFU/g RP to promote the growth and AMP content of H. illucens. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adapting Novel Nutritional Practices to Enhance Product Quality and Environmental Sustainability in Ruminant Livestock Sector)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-6
Back to TopTop