Special Issue "Natural Feed Additives and Novel Approaches for Healthy Rabbit Breeding"

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Iveta Plachá
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Animal Physiology, Centre of Biosciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovakia
Interests: phytoadditives; essential oils; bioavailability; absorption; deposition; oxidative stress; safety foods
Dr. Monika Pogány Simonová
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Animal Physiology, Centre of Biosciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovakia
Interests: beneficial bacteria and their benefit, as well as bacteriocins produced by them, especially by the representatives of the genus Enterococcus; application in food-producing but also in other animals, in food of animal origin as well as the environment (animal waste) in in vitro, in situ and in vivo studies influencing physiological parameters and meat
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Andrea Lauková
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Animal Physiology, Centre of Biosciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovakia
Interests: beneficial bacteria and their benefit, as well as bacteriocins produced by them, especially by the representatives of the genus Enterococcus; application in food-producing but also in other animals, in food of animal origin as well as the environment (animal waste) in in vitro, in situ and in vivo studies
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rabbit meat offers excellent nutritive and dietetic properties, but digestive disturbances mainly during the post-weaning period create important economic losses for rabbit farmers. Recently, many studies have focused on feed additives which are able to improve the intestinal health and productivity of broiler rabbits. The main objectives of animal agriculture production are to produce safe food products, eliminating antibiotics with a low impact on environmental pollution. A great deal of interest has been expressed for safe and natural rabbit food with increased nutritional value without inducing bacterial resistance and potential side effect to animals. Natural feed additives such as prebiotics, beneficial microorganisms, organic acids, bacteriocins, and phytogenic compounds are able to match these requirements and can satisfy the increasing consumer demand for natural substances, but since they are represented as novel valuable substances, their research is an ongoing discipline.

 

Highly advanced research on these fields is welcomed in this Special Issue:

  • Herbal feed additives for functional food, modes of action;
  • Phytoadditives—current and future;
  • Effect of natural substances on rabbit production, performance, gastrointestinal microbiota, intestinal immunity and morphology, and health parameters;
  • Bacteriocins/enterocins—novel feed additives in rabbit nutrition;
  • Bioactive compounds—novel approaches to prevent gastrointestinal diseases and microbial disbalance (maintaining the intestinal health, microbial balance, stable intestinal immunity, and morphology);
  • Improvement of nutritional quality of rabbit meat.

Dr. Iveta Plachá
Dr. Monika Pogány Simonová
Dr. Andrea Lauková
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 papers will be 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 monthly 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 1800 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

  • natural additives
  • rabbit health
  • safety foods
  • bioactive compounds
  • phytoadditives
  • herbal extracts
  • bacteriocins
  • enterocins
  • feed efficiency
  • gut health and immunity
  • intestinal microbiota
  • caecal fermentation
  • blood biochemistry
  • intestinal morphology
  • rabbit meat as functional food

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Effect of Goji Berry (Lycium barbarum) Supplementation on Reproductive Performance of Rabbit Does
Animals 2021, 11(6), 1672; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061672 - 03 Jun 2021
Viewed by 1018
Abstract
Goji berry shows a wide range of beneficial properties in human health, but only a few studies evaluated its effects in livestock animals. The objective of this research was to assess the effects of goji berry supplementation on the hormonal profile, productive, and [...] Read more.
Goji berry shows a wide range of beneficial properties in human health, but only a few studies evaluated its effects in livestock animals. The objective of this research was to assess the effects of goji berry supplementation on the hormonal profile, productive, and reproductive performance of does. Two months before artificial insemination, 105 nulliparous does were randomly divided into three groups (n = 35) based on the dietary treatment: commercial diet (C), or a diet supplemented with either 1% (G1), or 3% (G3) of goji berry, respectively. The results showed that receptivity was higher in G1 than in the C group (p < 0.05). Trends toward significance for differences between the G1 and G3 groups in marginal means of LH concentrations (p = 0.059), and between G1 and C in LH AUC values (p = 0.078), were evidenced. Estrogen concentrations showed a more fluctuating trend but a significant interaction effect (p < 0.001). The G1 group showed higher litter weight than C at birth (p = 0.008) and weaning (p < 0.001), as well as higher litter size at weaning (p = 0.020). The G1 group also exhibited the highest mean milk production (p < 0.01). In conclusion, goji berry influenced reproductive and productive performance, probably via modulating hormonal patterns and milk production in rabbits. However, further studies are needed to validate these preliminary results. Full article
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