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Lycopene (Lyc) possesses strong antioxidant activity through its ability to scavenge singlet oxygen and modulate immune responses in livestock and poultry. As few studies have examined the effects of Lyc on hepatic antioxidant capacity in broilers, we evaluated the effects of dietary Lyc supplementation on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, intestinal morphology, and microflora composition in yellow-feather broilers. We randomly assigned 480 one-day-old yellow-feather broilers to four dietary treatments: a basal diet with no additive (Con), and a basal diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg (Lyc150), 250 mg/kg (Lyc250), or 500 mg/kg (Lyc500) of lycopene. Compared to Con, Lyc supplementations significantly increased average daily gain by more than 14% from days 29 to 56. Additionally, Lyc250 significantly increased by over 6.4% in average daily feed intake from days 1 to 28, as well as by over 50% in hepatic levels of total antioxidant capacity and 65% in catalase on day 56. Lyc250 significantly increased villus height and decreased the villus-to-crypt ratio. Moreover, both Lyc250 and Lyc500 significantly downregulated hepatic Bax mRNA expression. Further, Lyc150 and Lyc250 significantly increased the relative abundance of Fermentum_g_Lactobacilus, Enterococcus_cecorum_g_Enterococcus, and Ruminococcus sp_g_Ruminococcus, but decreased Acetobacter_lovaniensis_g_Acetobacter and Lactobacillus_amylolyicus_g_Lactobacilus. Overall, our study found that Lyc supplementation significantly improved growth performance, enhanced hepatic antioxidant capacity, and modulated cecal microflora through increasing beneficial species in yellow-feather broilers.

Large-scale coastal reclamation has become a significant land use issue worldwide for urban construction and economic development. The reclamation of coastal wetlands brings substantial economic benefits, however, the structure and function of coastal ecosystem are affected by drivers of human-caused landscape change. This research takes Hangzhou Bay and Zhoushan Islands as the case study to investigate the correlation between the coastal geomorphic complexity and the tidal range reduction rate, and to explore the control technical indexes of the design in reclamation area by a multidisciplinary approach that integrates the basic theories and quantitative methods of fractal geometry with the hydrodynamic mechanism of ocean dynamics. The results show that the coastal tidal range reduction rate is closely related to the coastline fractal dimension and patch shape index (D, S), and reveals the influence of the complexity of the coastal landscape on the tidal energy loss. In addition, based on model predictions, it can be found that the large-scale reclamation in Zhoushan will cause a serious decline in the complexity of the coastal landscape and the reduction of tidal energy, which is extremely detrimental to coastal disaster prevention. In the end, the scientific design theory and quantitative control indexes of reclamation are put forward to provide theoretical basis and design reference for future coastal reclamation and disaster prevention.

Addressing the pervasive issue of food adulteration and fraud driven by economic interests has long presented a complex challenge. Such adulteration not only compromises the safety of the food supply chain and destabilizes the market economy but also poses significant risks to public health. Food adulteration encompasses practices such as substitution, process manipulation, mislabeling, the introduction of undeclared ingredients, and the adulteration of genetically modified foods. Given the diverse range of deceptive methods employed, genomics-based identification techniques have increasingly been utilized for detecting food adulteration. Compared to traditional detection methods, technologies such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), next-generation sequencing (NGS), high-resolution melt (HRM) analysis, DNA barcoding, and the CRISPR–Cas system have demonstrated efficacy in accurately and sensitively detecting even trace amounts of adulterants. This paper provides an overview of genomics-based approaches for identifying food adulteration, summarizes the latest applications in certification procedures, discusses current limitations, and explores potential future trends, thereby offering new insights to enhance the control of food quality and contributing to the development of more robust regulatory frameworks and food safety policies.

Background Colibacillosis caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) results in economic losses in the poultry industry. Antibiotics are usually used to control colibacillosis, however, E. coli has varying degrees of resistance to different antibiotics. Therefore the use of probiotics is becoming accepted as an alternative to antibiotics. In this study, we evaluated the effects of Clostridium butyricum ( C. butyricum ) on growth performance, immune response, intestinal barrier function, and digestive enzyme activity in broiler chickens challenged with Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) K88. Methods The chickens were randomly divided into four treatment groups for 28 days. Negative control treatment (NC) consisted of birds fed a basal diet without E. coli K88 challenge and positive control treatment (PC) consisted of birds fed a basal diet and challenged with E. coli K88. C. butyricum probiotic treatment (CB) consisted of birds fed a diet containing 2 × 10 7  cfu C. butyricum /kg of diet and challenged with E. coli K88. Colistin sulfate antibiotic treatment (CS) consisted of birds fed a diet containing 20 mg colistin sulfate/kg of diet and challenged with E. coli K88. Results The body weight (BW) and average day gain (ADG) in the broilers of CB group were higher ( P  < 0.05) than the broilers in the PC group overall except the ADG in the 14-21 d post-challenge. The birds in CB treatment had higher ( P  < 0.05) concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) at 3 and 7 d post-challenge, and higher ( P  < 0.05) concentration of interleukin-4 (IL-4) at 14 d post-challenge than those in the PC treatment group. The concentration of serum endotoxin in CB birds was lower ( P  < 0.05) at 21 d post-challenge, and the concentrations of serum diamine oxidase in CB birds were lower (P < 0.05) at 14 and 21 d post-challenge than in PC birds. Birds in CB treatment group had higher ( P  < 0.05) jejunum villi height than those in PC, NC, or CS treatment at 7, 14, and 21 d post-challenge. In comparison to PC birds, the CB birds had lower ( P  < 0.05) jejunum crypt depth during the whole experiment. The birds in CB or CS treatment group had higher ( P  < 0.05) activities of amylase and protease at 3, 7, and 14 d post-challenge, and higher ( P  < 0.05) activity of lipase at 3, 7 d post-challenge than PC birds. Conclusions In all, these results indicate that dietary supplementation with C. butyricum promotes immune response, improves intestinal barrier function, and digestive enzyme activities in broiler chickens challenged with E. coli K88. There is no significant difference between the C. butyricum probiotic treatment and the colistin sulfate antibiotic treatment. Therefore, the C. butyricum probiotic may be an alternative to antibiotic for broiler chickens.

Bacillus licheniformis ( B. licheniformis ) is a well-accepted probiotic that has many benefits on both humans and animals. This study explored the effects of B. licheniformis on growth performance, intestinal mucosal barrier functions, immunity as well as serum metabolome in the weaned piglets exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). One hundred and twenty piglets weaned at four weeks of age were separated into two groups that received a basal diet (the control group, CON), and a basal diet complemented with B. licheniformis (500 mg/kg, the BL group, BL). Twenty-four piglets were chosen from the above two groups and 12 piglets were injected with LPS intraperitoneally at a concentration of 100 μg/kg and the others were injected with sterile saline solution of the same volume. All the piglets were sacrificed 4 h after LPS challenge. Results showed that B. licheniformis enhanced the ADG and final body weight and lowered the F/G and diarrhea rate. Pre-treatment with B. licheniformis markedly attenuated intestinal mucosal damage induced by LPS challenge. Supplementation with B. licheniformis strengthened immune function and suppressed inflammatory response by elevating the concentrations of serum immunoglobulin (Ig) A and jejunum mucosal IgA and IgG and decreasing serum IL-6 and jejunum mucosal IL-1β. In addition, B. licheniformis pretreatment prevented LPS-induced intestinal injury by regulating the NLRP3 inflammasome. Furthermore, pretreatment with B. licheniformis tended to reverse the reduction of acetate and propionic acids in the colonic contents that occurred due to LPS stress. B. licheniformis markedly modulated the metabolites of saccharopine and allantoin from lysine and purine metabolic pathways, respectively. Overall, these data emphasize the potentiality of B. licheniformis as a dietary supplement to overcome the challenge of bacterial LPS in the animal and to enhance the food safety.

Grape seed is rich in vitamin E, flavonoids, and proanthocyanidins and has the potential to be used as an antibiotic substitute in broilers. We investigated the effects of grape seed proanthocyanidin extract (GSPE) on growth performance, immune responses, cecal microflora, and serum metabolism in early stage broilers. Data indicated that GSPE improved broiler growth performance by strengthening antioxidant capacity, enhancing immune responses, and increasing cecal short chain fatty acids. 16S rRNA sequencing indicated that GSPE changed the predominant cecal microflora and induced the metabolism of amino acids, lipids, and carbohydrates. An UPLC-Q-TOF/MS-based metabolomics analysis identified 23 serum metabolites (mainly related to lipid, amino acid, and alkaloid) were extremely changed by GSPE treatment. The correlations between the changes of cecal microflora and serum metabolites in birds fed with GSPE were analyzed. Hence, GSPE potentially provides active ingredients that may be used as antibiotic substitute and reduces environmental pollution by grape by-products.

Probiotic supplementation has become a prominent method of decreasing ammonia emissions in poultry production. The present study was conducted to investigate the influence of Lactobacillus plantarum on ammonia emission, immune responses, antioxidant capacity, cecal microflora and short chain fatty acids, and serum metabolites in broilers challenged with ammonia. A total of 360 1-day-old yellow-feathered broilers were randomly divided into three treatment groups: birds fed with a basal diet (CON), a basal diet supplemented with ammonia (AN), and a basal diet supplemented with 2.5 × 108 CFU L. plantarum kg−1 and challenged with ammonia (LP). Data showed that L. plantarum supplementation decreased ammonia more than 30% from day 48, and significantly reduced the levels of serum urea nitrogen and ammonia, fecal urease, and ammonium nitrogen compared with those on CON. Compared with AN and CON treatments, LP administration increased (p < 0.05) the concentration of serum immunoglobulin Y (IgY), IgM, and IL-10, as well as the serum total-antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and GSH-Px, and decreased (p < 0.05) IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α. Furthermore, birds supplemented with LP had higher (p < 0.05) cecal contents of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) than AN birds and had more butyrate than CON birds. Data from 16s high throughput sequencing showed that LP supplementation significantly increased (p < 0.05) the Shannon and Simpson indices of bird cecal microflora, and Alloprevotella dominated the LP birds. The function prediction of cecal microflora indicated that LP treatment significantly increased alanine aspartate and glutamate metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, exosome, mismatch repair, homologous recombination, DNA repair and recombination proteins, and amino acid-related enzymes. The serum metabolome showed that LP supplementation significantly changed the aminoacyl-tRNA, pantothenate and acetyl-coenzyme A, arginine, phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan, valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis; purine, beta-alanine, galactose, histidine, alanine, aspartate and glutamate, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate, pyruvate and thiamine metabolism, melanogenesis, and citrate cycle.

We aimed to study the effects of dietary Bacillus coagulans ( B. coagulans ) and Lactobacillus p lantarum ( L. plantarum ) on broilers challenged by Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS). One-day-old Cobb 500 chicks (360) were divided randomly into three treatment groups for 47 days: no supplementation (control, CON), B. coagulans supplementation (BC), and L. plantarum supplementation (LA). Broilers were routinely fed for 42 days and intraperitoneally injected with 500 μg LPS per kg body weight at 43, 45, and 47 days of age, respectively. Samples were collected 3 h after the last injection. At 1–21 days of age, the ADG in the BC and LA groups was higher than that in the CON group, and the feed to gain ratio (F/G) in the BC group was significantly decreased ( P < 0.05). Compared with that in CON birds, the ADG was increased and the F/G was decreased in the BC and LA birds at 22–42 and 1–42 days of age, respectively ( P < 0.05). After LPS stimulation, the endotoxin (ET), diamine oxidase (DAO), and D-lactic acid (D-LA) levels in the BC group were lower than those in the CON group ( P < 0.05). The IgY, IgA, and IgM contents in the BC group and the IgY and IgM contents in the LA group were higher than those in the CON group ( P < 0.05). The pro-inflammatory factor and interferon-β (IFN-β) contents ( P < 0.05) decreased, and the anti-inflammatory factor content in the serum ( P < 0.05) increased in the BC and LA groups. Compared with the CON and LA treatments, the BC treatment increased the concentrations of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT), and decreased that of malondialdehyde (MDA) ( P < 0.05). In contrast with the CON treatment, the BC and LA treatments increased the abundance of Ruminococcaceae and reduced that of Desulfovibrio ( P < 0.05). Moreover, BC increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria. Overall, supplementation with B. coagulans and L. plantarum promoted the growth of broilers, improved their immunity and antioxidant capacity, and alleviated the LPS-stimulated inflammatory response by regulating the intestinal flora.

Agricultural straws (AS) may serve as potential base-substances in the production of Agaricus bisporus . Six AS that occur across China were investigated in a two-stage composting experiment; lignocellulose components, AS morphology, and the effects of different AS on mushroom yields from 2015–2017 were examined. In addition, microbial biodiversity and their impact on substrate degradation were studied using 16S gene sequenc based on six different AS on the 3rd (I.F), 6th (I.S), and 10th (I.T) day of Phase I, and Phase II (II). Results showed that the six different AS exhibited differences in the progression of degradation under the same compost condition; the wheat straw, rice straw, and cotton straw induced a significantly higher mushroom yield than did the others ( P < 0.05); Thermobispora , Thermopolyspora, and Vulgatibacter genera may play an important role in the different AS degradations. According to our experiments, we can adjust formulations and compost methods to obtain high-yield mushroom compost based on different AS in the future.

Background Dietary bamboo leaf flavonoids (BLFs) are rarely used in poultry production, and it is unknown whether they influence meat texture profile, perceived color, or microstructure. Results A total of 720 one-day-old Arbor Acres broilers were supplemented with a basal diet with 20 mg bacitracin/kg, 50 mg BLFs/kg, or 250 mg BLFs/kg or without additions. Data showed that the dietary BLFs significantly ( P  < 0.05) changed growth performance and the texture profile. In particular, BLFs increased birds’ average daily gain and average daily feed intake, decreased the feed:gain ratio and mortality rate, improved elasticity of breast meat, enhanced the gumminess of breast and leg meat, and decreased the hardness of breast meat. Moreover, a significant ( P  < 0.05) increase in redness (a*) and chroma (c*) of breast meat and c* and water-holding capacity of leg meat was found in BLF-supplemented broilers compared with control broilers. In addition, BLFs supplementation significantly decreased ( P  < 0.05) the β-sheet ratio and serum malondialdehyde and increased the β-turn ratio of protein secondary structure, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase of breast meat and total antioxidant capacity and catalase of serum. Based on the analysis of untargeted metabolome, BLFs treatment considerably altered 14 metabolites of the breast meat, including flavonoids, amino acids, and organic acids, as well as phenolic and aromatic compounds. Conclusions Dietary BLFs supplementation could play a beneficial role in improving meat quality and sensory color in the poultry industry by changing protein secondary structures and modulating metabolites.