Phytochemicals and Feed Additives in Ruminant Nutrition: Effects on Health, Microbiota, and Methane Emissions

Dear Colleagues,

With improvements in living standards, the demand for high-quality animal products is increasing. Animal diseases threaten production and product quality, but antibiotic treatments pose risks to ruminant health due to antibiotic residue issues. Thus, developing alternative phytogenic feed additives and novel plant extracts to enhance innate immune responses is crucial in improving ruminant productivity and health.

For this Special Issue, we invite original research papers and reviews exploring the use of phytogenic feed additives or plant extracts to improve ruminant productivity and health. We welcome submissions that focus on enhancing animal productivity and innate immune responses and reducing inflammation responses. Specific topics of interest include the interplay between feed additives and gut and mammary gland health in ruminant animals in vivo and the molecular mechanisms behind the use of novel plant extracts to reduce proinflammation responses in the rumen and gut epithelium in vitro.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Improving ruminant productivity by altering feeding methods;
• The impact of bioactive feed additives on ruminant health (including molecular mechanism research);
• Changes in the gut microbiota of ruminants and effective measures to alleviate methane emissions;
• The interplay between feed additives and gut and mammary gland health in ruminant animals in vivo;
• Influences on the immune response, oxidative stress, and overall animal health;
• The use of novel plant extracts to study molecular mechanisms to reduce proinflammation responses in the rumen and gut epithelium in vitro;
• In vitro and in vivo studies, as well as meta-analyses and modelling approaches.

Dr. Maocheng Jiang
Dr. Sijia Liu
Prof. Dr. Jianbo Cheng
Guest Editors

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