Energy requirements of growing small ruminants raised for meat production in contrasting climatic regions: a meta-analysis.

The objective of this meta-regression was to evaluate the influence of ruminant species, sex, and climatic regions on the metabolizable energy () requirements for maintenance ( and weight gain () in growing small ruminants raised for meat production across different climatic regions. Data included 655 and 337 treatment means from 173 and 99 studies on sheep and goats, respectively. Metabolizable energy intake (; MJ/kg^) was regressed against average daily gain (; g/kg^), with the study included as a random effect.

The Effects of Incremental Doses of Aflatoxin B on In Vitro Ruminal Nutrient Digestibility and Fermentation Profile of a Lactating Dairy Cow Diet in a Dual-Flow Continuous Culture System.

Aflatoxin B (AFB) is a mycotoxin known to impair human and animal health. It is also believed to have a deleterious effect on ruminal nutrient digestibility under in vitro batch culture systems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of increasing the dose of AFB on ruminal dry matter and nutrient digestibility, fermentation profile, and N flows using a dual-flow continuous culture system fed a diet formulated for lactating dairy cows.

Burden of anemia and intestinal parasites in farmers and family members and owned livestock in two geographic locations in Senegal before and during the rainy seasons.

Different environmental conditions can impact the burden of anemia and intestinal parasite infections in human and livestock populations. The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence of anemia and intestinal parasite infections in farmers, family members, and owned sheep in two geographic locations along the Senegal River in June (end of the dry season) and September (rainy season). , the prevalence of anemia in humans was high in June (74%) and remained high in September (75%) (p = 0.

Assessment of peri-urban livestock producers' willingness to pay for improved forages as cash crops.

Availability of quality feed is a major constraint for livestock production in Burkina Faso. Despite previous efforts to test improved forages at research stations to overcome the dry-season feed gap, little has been done to promote them as cash crops that can contribute to meeting the growing feed demand in the country. This study was undertaken to evaluate the willingness to pay (WTP) for improved forage by livestock producers in the peri-urban livestock production systems of Burkina Faso.

Aflatoxin M1 in milk does not contribute substantially to global liver cancer incidence.

Background: For 60 y, it has been known that aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a mycotoxin produced by Aspergillus fungi in certain food and feed crops, causes hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer; HCC) in humans. The annual global burden of AFB1-related HCC has been estimated. However, much less is known about the potential carcinogenic impact of a metabolite of AFB1 called aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), which is secreted in milk when dairy animals consume AFB1-contaminated feed.

Anemia and intestinal parasites in farmers and family members and sheep in two agro-ecological zones in Senegal.

The burden of anemia in Senegal is high, particularly in children and women in rural households. The main objectives of the study reported here were (i) to measure and compare the prevalence of anemia and intestinal parasitic infections in farmers and family members and sheep in two agro-ecological zones in Senegal and (ii) to examine the association between anemia and age or sex in farmers and family members. The study was conducted in Mpal (250 km from Dakar, the capital city) and Diawara (700 km from Dakar, a remote location near the Malian border).

Effect of Lactobacillus hilgardii, Lactobacillus buchneri, or their combination on the fermentation and nutritive value of sorghum silage and corn silage.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of inoculation with Lactobacillus hilgardii with or without Lactobacillus buchneri on the fermentation, chemical composition, and aerobic stability of sorghum and corn silage after 2 ensiling durations. Sorghum forage was harvested at 27% dry matter (DM; experiment 1), and different corn hybrids were harvested at late (43.8% DM; experiment 2) or normal maturity (34% DM; experiment 3).

Aflatoxin in Dairy Cows: Toxicity, Occurrence in Feedstuffs and Milk and Dietary Mitigation Strategies.

Aflatoxins are poisonous carcinogens produced by fungi, mainly and . Aflatoxins can contaminate a variety of livestock feeds and cause enormous economic losses, estimated at between US$52.1 and US$1.

Meta-analysis of effects of inoculation with Lactobacillus buchneri, with or without other bacteria, on silage fermentation, aerobic stability, and performance of dairy cows.

A meta-analysis of 158 peer-reviewed articles was conducted to examine effects of inoculation with Lactobacillus buchneri (LB)-based inoculants (LBB) that did or did not include homolactic or obligate heterolactic bacteria on silage fermentation and aerobic stability. A complementary meta-analysis of 12 articles examined LBB inoculation effects on dairy cow performance. Raw mean differences between inoculant and control treatment means weighted by inverse variance were compared with a hierarchical effects model that included robust variance estimation.

Improving adoption of technologies and interventions for increasing supply of quality livestock feed in low- and middle-income countries.

The global increase in the demand for and production of animal-source foods (four-to five-fold increase between 1960 and 2015), which has been mostly concentrated in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), provides smallholder livestock producers with an opportunity for improving their livelihoods and food and nutrition security. However, across livestock production systems in many LMIC, limited supplies and high cost of good quality feed severely constrains exploitation of this opportunity. In many of such countries, feeds and feeding-related issues are often ranked as the primary constraint to livestock production and increased consumption of animal-source foods.

Effects of Wormwood () Essential Oils on Digestibility, Fermentation Indices, and Microbial Diversity in the Rumen.

This study investigated the effects of essential oil (EO) from three Korean wormwood () plants on in vitro ruminal digestibility, fermentation, and microbial diversity. Dried (0.5 g) soybean meal (SBM) or bermudagrass hay (BGH) were incubated in buffered rumen fluid (40 mL) for 72 h with or without EO (5 mg/kg) from Ganghwa (GA), Injin (IN), or San (SA) wormwood (Experiment 1).

MILK Symposium review: Improving control of mastitis in dairy animals in Nepal.

Dairy animals are an important source of income, food, and nutritional security, and improvements in the productivity of dairy animals substantially improve the wellbeing of smallholder dairy farmers. As in other developing countries, dairy animals are key for rural livelihoods in Nepal but often suffer from mastitis-a production disease causing economic losses to farmers, challenges to the dairy processing industry, and possible health hazards to consumers. Studies show that the prevalence of subclinical mastitis in Africa and Asia typically exceeds 50%, threatening animal wellbeing, farmers, dairy processors, and consumers.

MILK Symposium Introduction: Dairy production in developing countries.

In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), dairy production is highly valued, and demand for milk is projected to continue to increase markedly over the next few decades. This presents a tremendous opportunity to improve the nutrition, health, incomes, and livelihoods of millions of people with the high-quality protein and bioavailable micronutrients in dairy products. However, low dairy consumption levels, due to low affordability, accessibility, and availability, still typify several LMICs.

Effects of Class IIa Bacteriocin-Producing Species on Fermentation Quality and Aerobic Stability of Alfalfa Silage.

The effects of two strains of class IIa bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria, F17 and (BNCC 336943), or a non-bacteriocin MTD/1 (NCIMB 40027), on fermentation quality, microbial counts, and aerobic stability of alfalfa silage were investigated. Alfalfa was harvested at the initial flowering stage, wilted to a dry matter concentration of approximately 32%, and chopped to 1 to 2 cm length. Chopped samples were treated with nothing (control, CON), F17 (F17), (BNCC 336943) (LPB), or MTD/1 (NCIMB 40027) (LPN), each at an application rate of 1 × 10 colony-forming units/g of fresh weight.

An expansin-like protein expands forage cell walls and synergistically increases hydrolysis, digestibility and fermentation of livestock feeds by fibrolytic enzymes.

Bacterial expansin-like proteins have synergistically increased cellulose hydrolysis by cellulolytic enzymes during the initial stages of biofuel production, but they have not been tested on livestock feeds. The objectives of this study were to: isolate and express an expansin-like protein (BsEXLX1), to verify its disruptive activity (expansion) on cotton fibers by immunodetection (Experiment 1), and to determine the effect of dose, pH and temperature for BsEXLX1 and cellulase to synergistically hydrolyze filter paper (FP) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) under laboratory (Experiment 2) and simulated ruminal (Experiment 3) conditions. In addition, we determined the ability of BsEXLX1 to synergistically increase hydrolysis of corn and bermudagrass silages by an exogenous fibrolytic enzyme (EFE) (Experiment 4) and how different doses of BsEXLX1 and EFE affect the gas production (GP), in vitro digestibility and fermentation of a diet for dairy cows (Experiment 5).

Biomarker of Aflatoxin Ingestion: ¹H NMR-Based Plasma Metabolomics of Dairy Cows Fed Aflatoxin B₁ with or without Sequestering Agents.

The study applied ¹H NMR-based plasma metabolomics to identify candidate biomarkers of aflatoxin B1 (AFB₁) ingestion in dairy cows fed no sequestering agents and evaluate the effect of supplementing clay and/or a fermentation product (SCFP) on such biomarkers. Eight lactating cows were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatments in a balanced 4 × 4 Latin square design with 2 squares. Treatments were: control, toxin (T; 1725 µg AFB₁/head/day), T with clay (CL; 200 g/head/day), and CL with SCFP (CL + SCFP; 35 g of SCFP/head/day).

Tensile strength of warm and cool season forage grasses in Florida.

Unlabelled: The tensile strength (TS) of four warm-season and three cool-season forage grasses was measured with an Instron Universal machine, along with cell-wall analysis and determination of in vitro organic matter digestibility. The mean TS of the warm-season grasses was significantly higher than that of the cool season grasses (22 vs. 9 kg, respectively, p < .

Effects of hybrid and bacterial inoculation on fermentation quality and fatty acid profile of barley silage.

This study estimated the effects of hybrid and bacterial inoculant on fermentation quality and fatty acid profile of barley silages. Yuyeon (Silkless) and Youngyang (Silking) barley hybrids were harvested at 24.9 and 27.