Nutritional Strategies to Improve Animal Health and Immunity

Dear Colleagues,

Optimal nutrition plays a pivotal role in sustaining animal health, growth, productivity, and welfare. In recent years, increasing concerns about antimicrobial resistance, emerging diseases, and the need for sustainable livestock production have underscored the importance of nutritional strategies that enhance immune competence and disease resilience.

Nutritional interventions—ranging from balanced macro- and micronutrient formulations to the supplementation of alternative feed ingredients and functional feed additives such as probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids, and phytochemicals—represent promising approaches to strengthen the host’s natural defense mechanisms and reduce reliance on antibiotics.

This Special Issue, titled “Nutritional Strategies to Improve Animal Health and Immunity”, aims to collect original research articles and comprehensive reviews exploring how diet composition, feeding strategies, functional ingredients, and feed additives influence immune function, gut integrity, oxidative status, and overall health across animal species, including both livestock and companion animals.

Studies elucidating the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying nutrition–immunity interactions, as well as innovative approaches for assessing immune responses are particularly encouraged.

By integrating fundamental and applied research, this Special Issue seeks to advance our understanding of the complex relationship between nutrition and immunity and to promote evidence-based nutritional strategies that contribute to improving animal health and welfare.

Dr. Luca Marchetti
Guest Editor

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. Veterinary Sciences 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 2100 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.