Nutritional Interventions in Young Ruminants
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Nutrition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 8066
Special Issue Editors
Interests: rumen fermentation; gut microbial colonization; ruminant nutrition; microbial community analysis
Interests: methane emissions; feed additives; nutrition physiology; gut health; early-life nutritional interventions
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In recent decades, a substantial research effort has been focused on the development of nutritional interventions to modulate the gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota and increase their productivity in adult animals. Recent research suggests that the mature GI microbiota are highly redundant and resilient to changes, making it difficult to persistently modify them in the adult animal.
On the contrary, much less research has been dedicated to exploring the GI microbiota in young animals. Early life, especially before and during weaning, is a critical period during which the developmental plasticity can be profoundly affected, with long-term consequences. This also applies to the development of the GI microbiota and its function. Modifying the microbial groups that first colonize the developing gut in the young animal has the potential to change our thoughts on how digestive processes could be manipulated; however, a complete understanding of the GI microbiome–host interactions is still lacking.
This research topic aims to provide a key breakthrough to help us understand the factors that shape the GI microbiome in the young ruminant, its implications on animal digestive physiology and health, and to test whether nutritional interventions in early life can boost animals’ productivity and adaptability to nutritional challenges later in life.
Innovative papers from different research areas including nutrition, microbiology, physiology and immunology are invited to this Special Issue, with the aim of bringing together the latest findings in the nutrition of young ruminants.
Dr. Alejandro Belanche
Dr. David R. Yanez-Ruiz
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- prebiotics and probiotics
- feed additives and plant extracts
- alternatives to antimicrobials
- feeding management
- gut microbial stability
- ruminant production and health
