The microbial community in donkey milk and its impact on the nutritional value of donkey milk are still unclear. We evaluated the effects of different lactation stages on the composition and function of donkey milk microbiota. The milk samples were c...
Objective pain assessment in donkeys is of vital importance for improving welfare in a species that is considered stoic. This study presents the construction and testing of two pain scales, the Equine Utrecht University Scale for Donkey Composite Pai...
The fibrolytic enzymes and the hindgut fungi in donkey cecum-colon ecosystem play an important role in dietary fiber digestion. A better understanding of the fibrolytic enzyme profiles and the fungal community along donkey caecum and colon is key for...
This review comprehensively examines the molecular basis of donkey meat characteristics and growth-associated genes, integrating findings from multiple omics approaches. This study examines the nutritional profile of donkey meat, which is rich in pro...
The gut microbiota plays an important role in the digestion, absorption, and metabolism of nutrients, as well as in the immunity, health, and behavior of donkeys. While reference genomes and gut microbial gene catalogs have been helpful in understand...
The HOX gene family plays an indispensable role in regulating embryonic development, cell differentiation, and morphogenesis. This study employed bioinformatics approaches for systematic analysis, ultimately identifying 33 HOX gene family members fro...
The lipid molecules and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in milk are heavily influenced by diet. However, little is known about how roughage affects the lipid and VOC contents of donkey milk. Accordingly, in the present study, donkeys were fed corn...
Donkeys (Equus asinus) are economically and ecologically important livestock species whose genetic potential remains underexplored. This review synthesizes recent advances in donkey genomics, tracing their evolutionary history while evaluating curren...
DNA methylation represents a predominant epigenetic modification with broad implications in various biological functions. Its role is particularly significant in the process of collagen deposition, a fundamental aspect of dermal development in donkey...
The growing recognition of the role of milk-derived exosomes in metabolic and immunological processes has brought attention to the potential utility of donkey milk. However, the efficacy and bioactive components of donkey milk are underexplored. This...
The Wnt gene family encodes highly conserved signaling molecules involved in vertebrate development, tissue homeostasis, and cell fate regulation. However, the evolutionary characteristics and potential biological functions of Wnt genes in the domest...
This study aimed to elucidate the dynamic changes in meat quality attributes and metabolomic profiles of Dezhou donkey longissimus lumborum (LL) during extended chilled storage. Donkey longissimus lumborum (LL) muscles (n = 4) were vacuum-packaged 24...
Several studies have shown the association between the ligand-dependent nuclear receptor compression-like protein (LCORL) gene and body size in horses, pigs and donkeys. Based on previous studies, the LCORL gene was hypothesized to be associated with...
Donkey meat has gained popularity as an emerging meat product due to its superior nutritional value and distinctive flavor. Despite this, research on the molecular mechanisms that contribute to meat quality, particularly within the field of proteomic...
Proteins in donkey milk (DM) have special biological activities. However, the bioactive proteins and their expression regulation in donkey milk are still unclear. Thus, the differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in DM in different lactation stages...
The objectives of this study were to establish a donkey ethogram, followed by a donkey grimace scale to be applied to donkeys pre- and post-castration and to test if there was a notable difference in scores based on observer knowledge, gender, and ex...
Donkey hindgut is an enlarged fermentative chamber that harbors a highly complex and extremely abundant community of anaerobic bacteria. It can be divided into two different ecological sites: liquid (Lq) phase and adherent fraction (Ad) colonized by...
Grazing environment plays a key role in the welfare of domestic herbivores. In the UK, donkeys are typically kept on species-poor, agriculturally improved grasslands that offer limited dietary and behavioural opportunities. Obesity, driven by low exe...
Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) is a significant pathogen that causes substantial economic losses in the equine industry worldwide, which leads to severe respiratory diseases and abortions in horses. However, reports of EHV-1 infection in donkeys are li...
Hotpot dishes are widely favored by consumers for their flavor profiles developed during the cooking process. This study investigated the quality characteristics and volatile compounds (VOCs) of donkey meat slices across varying boiling durations (0&...
The number of thoracolumbar vertebrae is a quantitative trait positively correlated with the economic traits of livestock. More thoracolumbar vertebrae individuals could genetically be used to improve the livestock population, as more thoracolumbar v...
Equid anaesthetic mortality is of interest to practitioners. Data for donkey and hybrid mortality have not been specifically described. The main aim of this worldwide observational, prospective, multicentre cohort study was to report on mortality in...
The number of donkey-breeding farms is variable around the world despite the growing popularity of this species as working animals, companion pets, for show events, in asinotherapy for children and adults with physical and mental disorders, and as a...
Background: Metabolic changes in donkey meat during the early postmortem period have not been previously reported. Methods: The LC–MS-based metabolomics technique was conducted to understand the metabolic profiles and identify the key metabolit...
Lack of archaeological and whole-genome diversity data has restricted current knowledge of the evolutionary history of donkeys. With the advancement of science and technology, the discovery of archaeological evidence, the development of molecular gen...
In order to explore the quality variation and flavor formation of dry-cured donkey leg, the changes in physical–chemical composition, lipolytic, free amino acids content and volatile flavor compounds were investigated in this study. Six fresh,...
Donkeys (Equus asinus) hold significant agricultural value in China, particularly for their hides and meat, which possess notable medicinal and dietary importance. However, their reproductive efficiency remains suboptimal compared with other livestoc...
The Martina Franca (MF) donkey breed (Equus asinus) primarily inhabits the rural areas surrounding the homonymous municipality, as well as neighboring municipalities in the provinces of Bari and Brindisi, all located in the Apulia region of Italy. Th...
Background: Donkey milk is used in infant nutrition for the treatment of children affected by cow’s milk protein allergy, thanks to its hypo-allergenicity, mainly due to its protein profile, which is very close to that of human milk. Furthermor...
The demand for donkey hides for ejiao, a Traditional Chinese Medicine, has resulted in rapidly increasing prices for donkey hides and donkeys. This has put pressure on donkey populations globally and has implications for donkey welfare and the liveli...
As the initiation point of digestion, the oral microbiome is important in maintaining oral and systemic health. However, the composition of oral microbial communities and the influence of weaning on the oral microbiota of donkey foals remains poorly...
Donkey milk has received increasing attention in recent years due to its unique nutritional composition and potential biological activities. This comprehensive review analyzed the main nutritional components of donkey milk, including proteins, lipids...
This study investigated the effects of adding methionine (Met) in milk production and the milk and blood metabolites of lactating donkeys. Eighteen healthy multiparous donkeys in early-stage lactation were selected for this study. The donkeys were ra...
Due to increasing attention from consumers on non-bovine milk types, and to the increase in the number of small dairy donkey farms in Italy, farmers require more advanced and reliable processing devices, in order to guarantee a safe product of high q...
Blood group distribution and serological compatibility are poorly characterized in donkeys. We estimated the apparent Ca positive-test frequency in 84 domestic donkeys and assessed donkey–donkey and horse–donkey crossmatch reactivity. Ca...
The production of high-quality specialty meats has emerged as a prominent research focus within the livestock industry, under the broader concept of big food. However, the composition and variances of volatile compounds (VOCs) in donkey meat (DM) and...
Miranda’s donkey, originating in northern Portugal, is an autochthonous breed that is deeply intertwined with the region’s culture and economy. Knowledge of the physiological characteristics of the breed is important for its preservation,...
The feral donkey (Equus asinus L.) is an invasive species in Saudi Arabia and can cause severe damage to natural and cultural heritage. Over the last 30 years, feral donkeys have become a serious problem, as their abundance and geographic distributio...
The aim of this study was to compare the carcass characteristics and the chemical and physical parameters of the meat produced by 10 male crossbred donkeys and 10 male mules slaughtered at 16 ± 1 years of age. The carcass weight and dressing p...
Donkeys (Equus asinus) play a critical role in agricultural, transport, and livelihood systems across Asia, yet they remain among the most neglected domestic species in terms of welfare, management, and research attention. This review synthesizes rec...
Podliveni cheese is a traditional fresh cheese produced in Serbia, typically made from fresh cow’s milk. Donkey milk is recognized for its nutritional benefits, particularly its hypoallergenic properties; however, its use in cheese production i...
International trade has become a major threat to biodiversity in the telecoupled world. The literature on biodiversity loss mostly concentrates on wild species; however, the increasing loss of and demand for domesticated species are overlooked. Donke...
This review article highlights the surveillance of bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases in donkey populations in China. Key findings highlight significant threats from Equine herpesviruses (EHV-8 and EHV-1), which cause encephalitis, abortion, an...
The problem of the erosion of animal genetic resources is evident in certain local donkey breeds, and their long-term sustainability can be achieved by economically repositioning them. To develop alternative and sustainable commercial programs, the m...
The increase of knowledge on the composition of donkey milk has revealed marked similarities to human milk, which led to a growing number of investigations focused on testing the potential effects of donkey milk in vitro and in vivo. This paper exami...
Donkey milk production is an emerging livestock sector in Europe. However, information on its environmental sustainability remains limited. The present study aimed to quantify the potential environmental impacts of donkey milk production through a li...
Background: Whole milk is a good source of all the nutrients, and it also contains a sufficient number of vitamins to permit regular the growth of the neonate. Dairy cow milk can create allergy in infants less than 12 months old because of the high c...
Despite the substantial contribution donkeys make to the livelihood of the world’s poorest populations, the existence of donkeys has received little notice worldwide. This article reviews the value of donkeys in a variety of sectors, including...
Background: Endometritis is a common reproductive disease in equine animals. No investigation about the bacterial characteristics and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of donkeys with endometritis has thus far been reported. Objectives: To determi...
This study looked at how methionine (Met) affects on serum biochemical indicators, antioxidant indicators, and the fecal microbiota of lactating donkeys. A total of 18 healthy donkeys at the mid-lactation stage were used in this study. They were give...
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