Publications by authors named "ZhiLiang Tan"

Introduction: In ruminants, a symbiotic rumen microbiota is responsible for supporting the digestion of dietary fiber and contributes to health traits closely associated with meat and milk quality. A holistic view of the physicochemical profiles of mixed rumen microbiota (MRM) is not well-illustrated.

Methods: The experiment was performed with a 3 × 4 factorial arrangement of the specific surface area (SSA: 3.

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This study aimed to investigate the temporal accumulation of odor fatty acids (OFAs) in the dorsal subcutaneous adipose tissue, and uncover their dynamic regulatory metabolic pathways from the transcriptomic perspective in lambs from birth to market. Thirty-two Hulun Buir lambs were selected and randomly assigned to four different sampling stages following their growth trajectories: neonatal (day 1), weaning (day 75), mid-fattening (day 150), and late-fattening (day 180) stages. Results indicated that the contents of three OFAs increased progressively as lambs matured, with the most drastic change occurred at mid-fattening vs.

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Unlike monogastric animals, ruminants exhibit significantly lower starch digestibility in the small intestine. A better understanding of the physiological mechanisms that regulate digestion patterns in ruminants could lead to an increased use of starch concentrates. Here we show more robust pancreatic exocrine function in adult goats (AG) than in neonatal goats (NG) by combining scRNA-seq and proteomic analysis.

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  • MCE is a new alternative to antibiotics that researchers tested on weanling goats to see how it affects their health.
  • Three groups of goats were fed different diets for three weeks: one group got no supplements, another got antibiotics, and the last group got MCE.
  • The results showed that while antibiotics harmed some health aspects, MCE helped the goats grow better and improved their immune response.
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The impact of a concentrate-rich (CR) diet on the gut microbiome and epithelium homeostasis is well documented. However, it has not been systematically studied whether and how host-microbial interaction contributes to the immune homeostasis in the rumen and colon of lambs fed alfalfa hay and wheat straw, alone or combined, in a CR diet. In all, 63 lambs (initial body weight, 16.

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  • This study looked at how different diets and whether lambs are raised alone or with twins affect their growth during the breastfeeding phase.
  • They found that individual growth rates varied a lot, even though the overall daily weight gain didn't change much between the groups.
  • The research showed that lambs with higher growth rates had better nutrition and their bodies worked differently, which could help them grow even better later on.
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  • Natural revegetation (VR) shows a greater increase in soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation compared to cropping over 24 years, primarily due to a higher contribution of plant-derived carbon.
  • The study reveals that recalcitrant organic carbon plays a larger role in SOC variation than easily oxidizable carbon, while microbial necromass percentages are similar between the two land use types.
  • Key factors influencing SOC formation include microbial and plant-derived sources, with soil nitrogen being significant in both VR and cropland; however, phosphorus content is crucial in cropland, whereas climatic factors are more important in VR.
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Bacteriophages (phages for short) are the most abundant biological entities on Earth and are natural enemies of bacteria. Genomics and molecular biology have identified subtle and complex relationships among phages, bacteria and their animal hosts. This review covers composition, diversity and factors affecting gut phage, their lifecycle in the body, and interactions with bacteria and hosts.

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The production performance of dairy cattle is closely related to their metabolic state. This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the production performance and metabolic features of Sanhe dairy cattle across different parities, with a specific focus on evaluating variations in milk traits and metabolites in both milk and serum. Sanhe dairy cattle from parities 1 to 4 (S1, n = 10; S2, n = 9; S3, n = 10; and S4, n = 10) at mid-lactation were maintained under the same feeding and management conditions.

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Background: Hesperidin is a citrus flavonoid with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential. However, its protective effects on bovine mammary epithelial cells (bMECs) exposed to oxidative stress have not been elucidated.

Results: In this study, we investigated the effects of hesperidin on HO-induced oxidative stress in bMECs and the underlying molecular mechanism.

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Goats are globally invaluable ruminants that balance food security and environmental impacts, and their commensal microbiome residing in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is associated with animal health and productivity. However, the reference genomes and functional repertoires of GIT microbes in goat kids have not been fully elucidated. Herein, we performed a comprehensive landscape survey of the GIT microbiome of goat kids using metagenomic sequencing and binning, spanning a dense sampling regime covering three gastrointestinal compartments spatially and five developmental ages temporally.

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  • * A study compared the H2 cycling and metabolic pathways of low-methane-emitting Holstein and high-methane-emitting Jersey dairy cattle using advanced scientific approaches, revealing different microbial activities linked to methane production.
  • * The Holstein microbiota showed better efficiency in reducing methane emissions through alternative H2 use for beneficial metabolite production, highlighting the potential for improving ruminant systems to cut down on methane and enhance food quality.
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The performance of dairy cows is closely tied to the metabolic state, and this performance varies depending on the number of times the cows have given birth. However, there is still a lack of research on the relationship between the metabolic state of Holstein cows and the performance of lactation across multiple parities. In this study, biochemical analyses and metabolomics studies were performed on the serum and milk from Holstein cows of parities 1-4 (H1, N = 10; H2, N = 7; H3, N = 9; H4, N = 9) in mid-lactation (DIM of 141 ± 4 days) to investigate the link between performance and metabolic changes.

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  • - The misuse of antibiotics in livestock has caused multi-drug resistance in animal pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) can transfer from animals to humans, threatening public health.
  • - As a response, research is focusing on using bacteriophages as an alternative to antibiotics, since they can improve gut health and immunity in animals.
  • - However, while bacteriophages can be beneficial, their ability to exchange genes may also risk spreading ARGs, making it important to understand both their effectiveness and the challenges they pose in livestock production.
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  • Weaning goats can get diarrhea and have weak immune systems because of stress related to their diet and environment.
  • A study tested a Chinese herb called UGAM to see if it helps improve the health and immunity of these goats.
  • Results showed that goats on a diet with UGAM had better immune responses and fewer bad germs in their intestines, suggesting UGAM could be good for keeping them healthy during the stressful weaning period.
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  • The research looked at how to use rape straw better for feeding animals and producing food sustainably.
  • They mixed rape straw with whole-crop corn and tested different treatments to see how it affected fermentation and gas production in animal stomachs.
  • The results showed that mixing these ingredients helped break down the straw better, produced less methane gas, and made the food healthier for animals to digest.
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Corn crop grown and ensiled at high temperature have lower water soluble carbohydrates (WSC), epiphytic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) population, lactic acid concentration, fermentation quality and aerobic stability. This study systematically investigated the effects of heterofermentative LAB (hetLAB), homofermentative LAB (homLAB), molasses and their mixture (MIX) on fermentation characteristics, chemical profiles, Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS) carbohydrate subfractions, digestibility (DMD), microbial count, and post-ensiling aerobic stability of whole crop corn silage during hot summer (30 to 45°C) condition. Corn hybrids (P30K08 and DK6789) were ensiled at targeted dry matter (DM) of 330 g/kg for 0, 3, 7, 21, and 150 days in 3 L silos, without additive (CCS) or treated with hetLAB (4×10 cfu/g ), homLAB (1×10 cfu/g of ), molasses (3% of fresh forage) or MIX (half of individual doses of homLAB, hetLAB and molasses) additives.

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Ewes undergo complex metabolic changes during pregnancy. Understanding the specific process of these changes is a necessary prerequisite in ewes for regulating and intervening in order to maintain pregnancies. However, there have been relatively few studies on the specific changes that occur in nutritional metabolism in pregnant ewes during early gestation, especially for some landrace ewes in highly cold areas.

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Background: Laboratory-scale experiments have shown that treatment with selective lignin-degrading white-rot fungi improves the nutritional value and ruminal degradability of lignocellulosic biomass (LCB). However, the lack of effective field-applicable pasteurization methods has long been recognized as a major obstacle for scaling up the technique for fungal treatment of large quantities of LCB for animal feeding. In this study, wheat straw (an LCB substrate) was subjected to four field-applicable pasteurization methods - hot-water, formaldehyde fumigation, steam, and hydrated lime - and cultured with Pleurotus ostreatus grain spawn for 10, 20, and 30 days under solid-state fermentation.

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Background: As a potential antibiotic alternative, macleaya cordata extract (MCE) has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties. This study was conducted to assess the impact of MCE supplementation on the gut microbiota and its interplay with the host in young goats. Thirty female black goats with similar body weight (5.

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  • Feeding a low protein (LP) diet to goats significantly disrupts their immune balance and alters the composition of ruminal microbiota and mucosal transcriptome profiles.
  • The study involved 24 Xiangdong black goats divided into LP and control (CON) groups, with various assessments made post-slaughter to measure changes in morphology, amino acids, and microbiota.
  • Results indicated that the LP diet resulted in reduced rumen health metrics and an increase in certain pathogenic and VFA-degrading microbial communities, alongside an upregulation of immune-related genes.
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Background: The liver is a principal metabolic organ and has a major role in regulating lipid metabolism. With the development of rapidly fattening livestock in the modern breeding industry, the incidence of hepatic steatosis and accumulation in animals was significantly increased. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for hepatic lipid metabolic disturbances in a high concentrate diet remain unclear.

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  • This experiment tested the effects of replacing corn silage with varying amounts of sweet sorghum silage on dairy cows' milk production and health parameters.
  • As the proportion of sorghum silage increased, milk yield and fat content generally improved, particularly at 50% and 75% substitutions.
  • However, cows with higher sorghum silage percentages showed reduced digestibility of dry matter and energy, but they also exhibited a healthier rumen microbial composition and increased levels of certain amino acids.
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Introduction: The Tibetan Plateau is characterized by low temperature and hypoxia. N-carbamylglutamic acid (NCG) can increase blood oxygen saturation, and have the potential to be used to prevent the high-altitude hypoxia stress state of cows. However, its beneficial effect on the rumen microbiota of Holstein dairy cows remains unclear.

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Selenium (Se) is an essential nutrient with multiple health benefits to humans and animals. Cattle generally require dietary Se supplementation to meet their daily requirements. The two main forms of dietary Se in cattle are organic Se and inorganic Se.

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