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Animals
Special Issues
Novel Technologies in Ruminant Nutrition, Reproduction, Health, Production, and Sustainability
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Novel Technologies in Ruminant Nutrition, Reproduction, Health, Production, and Sustainability

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 1303

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Guoyao Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Interests: ruminant nutrition, reproduction, and production
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Fuller W. Bazer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Interests: ruminant nutrition, reproduction, and production
Prof. Dr. Kevin E. Washburn

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Interests: ruminant health, disease, and production

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ruminants (including cattle, sheep, and goats) are herbivores that consume forages and by-products of plants (e.g., pasture grasses, alfalfa, clovers, hays, straw, silages, wheat middlings, dried distillers grain with solubles from biofuels industry, and soybean hulls). Thus, these animals transform low-quality feedstuffs into high-quality protein and highly bioavailable essential minerals for humans. Thus, ruminant production plays an important role in improving human nutrition, growth and health, and also provides economic and social stability in society. However, ruminant production is affected by a plethora of factors, including nutrition, reproduction, disease, and the environment. These issues are highlighted in this Special Issue, which aims to improve the growth, embryonic survival, lactation, health and adaptation of ruminants to adverse climates in order to enhance the productivity and sustainability of animal agriculture.

Prof. Dr. Guoyao Wu
Prof. Dr. Fuller W. Bazer
Prof. Dr. Kevin E. Washburn
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 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

  • nutrition
  • reproduction
  • disease
  • environment
  • health
  • productivity
  • sustainability

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 1030 KB  
Article
Dietary Supplementation with L-Citrulline Between Days 1 and 60 of Gestation Enhances Embryonic Survival in Lactating Beef Cows
by Kyler R. Gilbreath, Michael Carey Satterfield, Lan Zhou, Fuller W. Bazer and Guoyao Wu
Animals 2025, 15(16), 2398; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15162398 - 15 Aug 2025
Viewed by 756
Abstract
Low fertility limits reproductive efficiency in cattle. This study was conducted with multiparous Brangus cows receiving dietary supplementation with or without L-citrulline [Cit; an immediate precursor of L-arginine (Arg)]. During the entire experimental period, cows grazed green pasture and had free access to [...] Read more.
Low fertility limits reproductive efficiency in cattle. This study was conducted with multiparous Brangus cows receiving dietary supplementation with or without L-citrulline [Cit; an immediate precursor of L-arginine (Arg)]. During the entire experimental period, cows grazed green pasture and had free access to drinking water and mineral blocks. One hundred and seven (107) cows were assigned randomly to one of three treatment groups: dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) without Cit supplement (n = 36); DDGS top-dressed with rumen-protected Cit product (RPAA; n = 36); or unprotected Cit product (RUAA; n = 35). After 2 months of lactation, all cows were synchronized to estrus and were bred once via artificial insemination. From Day 1 to Day 60 of gestation, cows were individually fed once daily 0.84 kg of a supplement (DDGS; control), 0.56 kg of DDGS plus 0.28 kg of RUAA (containing 0.07 kg of unencapsulated Cit), or 0.56 kg of DDGS plus 0.28 kg of RPAA (containing 0.07 kg of rumen-protected Cit). The supplemental dose of Cit was equivalent to 0.5% of the estimated daily intake of 14 kg dry matter from pasture. On Days 40 and 60 of gestation, ultrasound was used to determine pregnancy rates. Each pregnant cow had a single conceptus. On Day 60 of gestation, blood samples were obtained from the jugular vein. All cows grazed normally and appeared healthy. Birth rates for live-born calves were 22% and 35% in cows receiving DDGS alone and Cit supplementation, respectively (p < 0.05). The beneficial effect of Cit was associated with increases in concentrations of Cit (+19%), Arg (+20%), ornithine (+19%), proline (+17%), and insulin (+82%) but decreases in concentrations of ammonia (–14%) in maternal plasma (p < 0.05). Thus, dietary supplementation with Cit is a simple, novel, and cost-effective nutritional method to increase the reproductive efficiency of lactating beef cows. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Technologies in Ruminant Nutrition, Reproduction, Health, Production, and Sustainability)
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Review

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22 pages, 3465 KB  
Review
Novel Aspects of the Physiology of Pregnancy in Domestic Ruminants
by Fuller W. Bazer, Thainá Minela and Gregory A. Johnson
Animals 2025, 15(18), 2672; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15182672 - 12 Sep 2025
Viewed by 299
Abstract
Mammals exhibit unique and highly variable mechanisms for the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Ruminants (e.g., sheep, cows, and goats) have novel mechanisms whereby the conceptus (embryo and its extra-embryonic membranes) signals for the establishment of pregnancy and exhibits unique metabolic pathways favoring [...] Read more.
Mammals exhibit unique and highly variable mechanisms for the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Ruminants (e.g., sheep, cows, and goats) have novel mechanisms whereby the conceptus (embryo and its extra-embryonic membranes) signals for the establishment of pregnancy and exhibits unique metabolic pathways favoring conceptus development. Embryos of ruminants reach the spherical blastocyst stage at 5 to 10 mm in diameter and then elongate rapidly to elongated filamentous conceptuses of greater than 250 mm as they make contact with the uterine luminal epithelium (LE) for implantation. During conceptus elongation the trophectoderm cells secrete interferon tau (IFNT), a novel pregnancy recognition signal for ruminants to ensure maintenance of a functional corpus luteum (CL) to secrete progesterone (P4) required for pregnancy. P4 induces uterine epithelia cells to express the endogenous Jaagsiekte Retrovirus (enJSRV) that may transactivate toll-like receptors 7 and 8 in the conceptus trophectoderm to induce secretion of IFNT, a classical viral–antiviral mechanism. IFNT silences expression of receptors for estradiol (E2) and oxytocin (OXTR), which abrogates the mechanism whereby oxytocin from CL and posterior pituitary would otherwise induce large pulses of prostaglandin F2α (PGF) by uterine epithelia to cause regression of the CL and its secretion of P4. IFNT has another novel role in silencing expression of not only ESR1 and OXTR, but all classical interferon-stimulated genes in the uterine LE and superficial glandular epithelium (sGE), but with P4 increasing expression of genes for transport of nutrients such as glucose and arginine into the uterine lumen to support conceptus development. Ruminant conceptuses convert glucose to fructose, a novel hexose sugar that cannot be transported back to the maternal circulation. Fructose is converted to fructose-1-PO4 for metabolism, not via the pathway for glycolysis but via the novel fructolysis pathway uninhibited by low pH, citrate, or ATP as is the case for glycolysis. Thus, fructose and its metabolites support the pentose cycle, hexosamine biosynthesis pathway, one-carbon metabolism, and the citric acid cycle for all cells of the conceptus. Arginine is another key nutrient transported into the uterine lumen by the uterine LE/sGE in response to P4 and IFNT. Arginine is metabolized to generate nitric oxide, polyamines, and creatine, essential for conceptus growth and development, while enhancing production of IFNT as a novel pregnancy recognition signal, and upregulating expression of genes in the uterine LE/sGE for transport of nutrients. Fructose is the major hexose sugar supporting major metabolic pathways required for conceptus growth and development in ruminants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Technologies in Ruminant Nutrition, Reproduction, Health, Production, and Sustainability)
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