Metabolic Regulation for Sustainable Animal Production and Health

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable animal production under the pressures of climate change and resource limitation requires a more precise understanding of how animals convert nutrients into health and productive performance. This Special Issue, “Metabolic Regulation for Sustainable Animal Production and Health”, will address the interconnected physiological and metabolic processes that link nutrient supply, feed efficiency, gut function, and whole-animal resilience. 

Particular emphasis will be placed on the regulation of nutrient utilization and feed efficiency, which are fundamental to improving production efficiency while reducing economic and environmental costs. We will further highlight gut health, including the microbiome, intestinal barrier integrity, and mucosal immunity, as a central regulator of nutrient digestion, immune homeostasis, metabolic balance, and overall physiological function. Because these processes operate as an integrated network, disruption at any level may compromise animal health, productivity, and the sustainability of production systems. 

This Special Issue welcomes original research articles, reviews, and perspectives spanning fundamental mechanisms to translational applications. Relevant topics include nutrient sensing and partitioning, digestive and absorptive kinetics, gut–host interactions, metabolic adaptation to environmental, production, and immune challenges, and novel nutritional, managerial, or genetic approaches to enhancing animal health and performance. 

By integrating advances in animal nutrition, physiology, microbiology, immunology, and metabolism, this Special Issue aims to provide a multidisciplinary platform and a stronger scientific foundation for the development of precise, efficient, and low-carbon animal production systems.

Dr. Liuting Wu
Prof. Dr. Yan Wang
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites 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 2700 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.