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This study investigated the effects of rumen bypass dandelion extract on the lactation performance, immune index, and mammary oxidative stress of lactating dairy cows fed a high-concentrate diet. This study used a complete randomized block design, and initial milk production, somatic cell counts, and parities were set as block factors. Sixty Holstein cows with similar health conditions and lactating periods (70 ± 15 d) were divided into three groups with 20 replicates per group. The treatments included the LCD group (low-concentrate diet, concentrate–forage = 4:6), HCD group (high-concentrate group, concentrate–forage = 6:4), and DAE group (dandelion aqueous extract group, HCD group with 0.5% DAE). The experimental period was 35 d, and cows were fed three times in the morning, afternoon, and night with free access to water. The results showed the following: (1) Milk production in the HCD and DAE groups was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that in the LCD group from WK4, and the milk quality differed during the experimental period. (2) The HCD group’s pH values significantly differed (p < 0.01) from those of the LCD and DAE groups. (3) In WK2 and WK4 of the experimental period, the somatic cell counts of dairy cows in the HCD group were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those in the DAE group. (4) The serum concentrations of 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and protein carbonyl (PC) in the HCD group were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those in the LCD group. The activity of catalase (CAT) in the LCD and DAE groups was stronger (p < 0.01) than that in the HCD group. (5) The correlation analysis revealed significantly positive correlations between the plasma LPS concentration and serum concentrations of 8-OHdG (p < 0.01), PC (p < 0.01), and malondialdehyde (MDA, p < 0.05) and significantly negative correlations (p < 0.01) between the plasma LPS concentration and activities of CAT and superoxide dismutase. (6) Compared with that in the HCD and DAE groups, the mRNA expression of α, β, and κ casein and acetyl CoA carboxylase in bovine mammary epithelial cells was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the LCD group, and the mRNA expression of fatty acid synthetase and stearoyl CoA desaturase in the LCD group was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than that in the HCD group. (7) Compared with that in the LCD and HCD groups, the mRNA expression of Nrf2 was significantly higher (p < 0.01) in the DAE group, and the mRNA expression of cystine/glutamate transporter and NAD (P) H quinone oxidoreductase 1 in the DAE group was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that in the HCD group. Overall, feeding a high-concentrate diet could increase the milk yield of dairy cows, but the milk quality, rumen homeostasis, and antioxidative capability were adversely affected. The supplementation of DAE in a high-concentrate diet enhanced antioxidative capability by activating the Nrf2 regulatory factor and improved rumen homeostasis and production performance.

The current study aimed to investigate the protective effects of dietary thiamine supplementation on the regulation of colonic integrity and mucosal inflammation in goats fed a high-concentrate (HC) diet. Twenty-four Boer goats (live weight of 35·62 (sem 2·4) kg) were allocated to three groups (CON: concentrate/forage = 30:70; HC; concentrate/forage = 70:30 and HCT: concentrate/forage = 70:30 with 200 mg thiamine/kg DMI) for 12 weeks. Results showed that compared with the HC treatment, the HCT group had a significantly higher ruminal pH value from 0 to 12 h after the feeding. The haematoxylin–eosin staining showed that desquamation and severe cellular damage were observed in the colon epithelium of the HC group, whereas the HCT group exhibited more structural integrity of the epithelial cell morphology. Compared with the HC treatment, the HCT group showed a markedly increase in pyruvate dehydrogenase and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase enzymes activity. The mRNA expressions in the colonic epithelium of SLC19A2, SLC19A3, SLC25A19, Bcl-2, occludin, claudin-1, claudin-4 and ZO-1 in the HCT group were significantly increased in comparison with the HC diet treatment. Compared with the HC treatment, the HCT diet significantly increased the protein expression of claudin-1 and significantly decreased the protein expression of NF-κB-related proteins p65. The results show that dietary thiamine supplementation could improve the colon epithelial barrier function and alleviate mucosal inflammation injury in goats after lipopolysaccharide and low pH challenge.

Ruminants fed high concentrate diets (HCD) are highly susceptible to foamy rumen bloat, but up to now the cause of rumen foam formation is unknown, making it difficult to prevent effectively. Exp. 1 of this study investigated the relationship between saccharide content in rumen fluid (RF) and foaming performance, and explored the effect of supplementing non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) enzymes to RF on foaming performance. The RF of 16 HCD-fed goats was used as experimental material to correlate RF viscosity, foaming performance, and saccharide content. Subsequently, the RF from 4 goats with severe rumen bloat was collected as experimental material, divided into 5 equal portions and randomly assigned to 5 treatment groups, namely adding 0, 100, 300, 500, and 700 mg/kg NSP enzymes to the RF. The viscosity and foaming performance of the RF, as well as the saccharide content, were determined for each treatment group. The results showed that polysaccharide was significantly and positively correlated with viscosity and foaming performance ( P  < 0.05). The supplementation of NSP enzymes notably decreased the polysaccharides content in RF and foaming performance ( P  < 0.05), with the best effect achieved by supplementing 500 mg/kg NSP enzymes. Exp. 2 further investigated the feasibility of supplementing NSP enzymes to HCD to prevent rumen bloat in goats. Twelve goats with rumen fistula were selected as experimental animals and were randomly assigned to 2 dietary treatment groups with 6 goats in each group, including CON (basal HCD) and E (basal HCD + 500 mg/kg NSP enzymes). The trial was conducted for 18d with a 6d sampling period. The rumen contents and RF were collected daily during the sampling period to determine rumen fermentation indexes, foaming performance and microbial structure and composition, and to determine nutrient digestibility in goat. The results showed that supplementation of NSP enzymes in HCD significantly reduced foaming performance in goat RF ( P  < 0.05), the effects on nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation, and microbial composition were not significant ( P  > 0.05). In summary, polysaccharide is an important factor affecting the foaming performance of RF, and supplementation of NSP enzymes in HCD can prevent the occurrence of rumen bloat.

The present experiment aimed to research the effects of glutamine (Gln) on the digestive and barrier function of the ruminal epithelium in Hu lambs fed a high-concentrate finishing diet containing some soybean meal and cottonseed meal. Thirty healthy 3-month-old male Hu lambs were randomly divided into three treatments. Lambs were fed a high-concentrate diet and supplemented with 0, 0.5, and 1% Gln on diet for 60 days. The experimental results show that the Gln treatment group had lower pepsin and cellulase enzyme activity, propionate acid concentration, and IL-6, TNF-α, claudin-1, and ZO-1 mRNA expression in the ruminal epithelium (p < 0.05); as well as increases in lipase enzyme activity, the ratio of propionic acid to acetic acid, the IL-10 content in the plasma, and the mRNA expression of IL-2 and IL-10 in the ruminal epithelium, in contrast to the CON (control group) treatment (p < 0.05). Taken together, the findings of this present study support the addition of Gln to improve digestive enzyme activity, the ruminal epithelium’s barrier, and fermentation and immune function by supplying energy to the mononuclear cells, improving the ruminal epithelium’s morphology and integrity, and mediating the mRNA expression of tight junction proteins (TJs) and cytokines.

ObjectiveTo investigate changes in rumen fermentation characteristics and bacterial community by a sudden change to a high concentrate diet (HC) in Korean domestic ruminants.MethodsMajor Korean domestic ruminants (each of four Hanwoo cows; 545.5±33.6 kg, Holstein cows; 516.3±42.7 kg, and Korean native goats; 19.1±1.4 kg) were used in this experiment. They were housed individually and were fed ad libitum with a same TMR (800 g/kg timothy hay and 200 g/kg concentrate mix) twice daily. After two-week feeding, only the concentrate mix was offered for one week in order to induce rapid rumen acidosis. The rumen fluid was collected from each animals twice (on week 2 and week 3) at 2 h after morning feeding using an oral stomach tube. Each collected rumen fluid was analyzed for pH, volatile fatty acid (VFA), and NH3-N. In addition, differences in microbial community among ruminant species and between normal and an acidosis condition were assessed using two culture-independent 16S polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and quantitative real-time PCR).ResultsThe HC decreased ruminal pH and altered relative concentrations of ruminal VFA (p<0.01). Total VFA concentration increased in Holstein cows only (p<0.01). Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and real-time quantitative PCR analysis using culture-independent 16S PCR-based techniques, revealed rumen bacterial diversity differed by species but not by HC (p<0.01); bacterial diversity was higher in Korean native goats than that in Holstein cows. HC changed the relative populations of rumen bacterial species. Specifically, the abundance of Fibrobacter succinogenes was decreased while Lactobacillus spp. and Megasphaera elsdenii were increased (p<0.01).ConclusionThe HC altered the relative populations, but not diversity, of the ruminal bacterial community, which differed by ruminant species.

Complex phytonutrients (CPS) have attracted extensive interest due to their anti-inflammatory effects. This investigation focused on the impact of CPS on rumen health in lambs on high-concentrate diets, emphasizing growth performance, ruminal fermentation, epithelial barrier integrity, ruminal metabolism, and microbial communities. A total of 54 lambs, 3 months old and with a 30.42 ± 0.54 kg body weight, were randomly assigned to three treatment groups, with six replicates per treatment and three lambs per replicate. The lambs received a basal diet (the ratio of concentrate to forage was 75:25) without CPS supplementation (CON) or with the inclusion of 2.5 g/kg (CPS2.5) or 5.0 g/kg CPS (CPS5.0) for a total of 60 days. The CPS groups exhibited increased growth performance and improved rumen fermentation parameters. Mechanistically, CPS enhanced rumen epithelial barrier function, thereby lowering inflammation and inhibiting the overactivation of the JNK/p38 MAPK signaling pathway, and the effect of CPS5.0 was better than that of CPS2.5. Notably, CPS5.0 could optimize the composition of rumen microbiota and increase the levels of Ursolic acid and other metabolites. The strong associations between rumen bacteria and health-related indicators and differential metabolites were further highlighted. Our findings suggest that adding CPS to lambs’ diets has widespread positive impacts, including improved growth performance, reduced inflammation and mRNA relative expression of apoptosis-related genes, enhanced barrier function, and beneficial changes in the rumen microbiome and metabolite profiles.

Rumen acidosis is a common nutritional metabolic disease in ruminants, and the developing of feed additives to prevent this disorder has great application prospect. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary niacin supplementation with different concentrate to roughage ratio on rumen fermentation evaluated by simulated rumen fermentation in vitro and in vivo. The cattle fed with basal feed (dietary concentrate-to-forage ratio was 5: 5) and high concentrate feed (dietary concentrate-to-forage ratio was 8: 2) were defined as Control stage and HC stage, respectively. The HCN was defined as the cattle were fed with high concentrate feed with supplementary niacin (800 mg/kg). Three healthy male Jinjiang cattle were used as rumen fluid donors in the in vitro experiment and in vivo experiment, finally the fermentation parameters were determined. The results showed: dietary niacin retards the decline of pH induced by high concentrate diet via regulation of lactic acid produce in both in vitro and in vivo fermentation; dietary niacin inhibited the increased production of VFAs induced by high concentrate diet in in vitro fermentation; dietary niacin also affected the production of microbial proteins (MCP), gas and NH3-N. The present study provided baseline data to indicate that the niacin had the potential to use as a feed additive to prevent the occurrence of rumen acidosis in cattle.

Background Regular use of high-concentrate diets can improve the growth of animals, especially high-yielding cattle and sheep. However, high-concentrate diets can alter rumen fermentation and microbial community structure, leading to rumen acidosis. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole (5,6-DMB) and cobalt supplementation in high-concentrate diets on rumen fermentation and microorganisms and ruminal fluid metabolome in sheep. Methods Twelve rumen-fistulated Kazakh rams (age: 8 months; average initial body weight [BW]: 39.23 ± 2.61 kg) were randomly allocated to two groups ( n  = 6 rams/group): control (CON) and DMB. Sheep in the CON group were fed a basal diet (concentrate-to-forage ratio of 70:30), whereas those in the DMB group were fed a basal diet supplemented with 100 mg/d 5,6-DMB (analytical purity ≥ 99%) and 0.5 mg/kg cobalt (cobalt chloride as supplementary Co, zeolite powder as carrier; Co content ≥ 1%). Notably, the study lasted for 32 days (adaptation period: 1–14 days; experimental period: 15–32 days). During the experiment, feed samples and residual feed were collected, weighed, and recorded. Rumen fluid samples were collected at 0 h before morning feeding and at 1, 3, 5, and 7 h after feeding on days 29–32 of the experiment to measure ruminal pH. Results Ruminal pH was significantly higher ( P  < 0.01) in the DMB group than in the CON group at 1, 3, 5, and 7 h after feeding. Microbiota analysis showed that the dominant phyla in the two groups were Firmicutes (46.70%), Bacteroidetes (43.79%), and Proteobacteria (2.66%). Additionally, the dominant genera were Prevotella (14.78%), Quinell a (7.47%), Succiniclasticum (7.40%), Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group (4.44%), NK4A214_group (3.89%), and Ruminococcus (3.67%). Alpha diversity analysis showed that Simpson and Shannon indices were significantly higher ( P  < 0.05) in the DMB group than in the CON group. Metabolome analysis identified 20 significantly different metabolites between the two groups, including 12 positive ions and 8 negative ions. Pathway enrichment analysis showed that the metabolites were mainly enriched in 16 differential metabolic pathways, including fatty acid metabolism and tricarboxylic acid cycle. Correlation analysis revealed an association between ruminal microorganisms and metabolites (propionate, L-malic acid, and arginine). Conclusions Supplementing high-concentrate diets with 5,6-DMB (100 mg/d) and cobalt (0.5 mg/kg) increased ruminal pH, ammonia nitrogen concentration, and propionate concentration to a certain extent, reduced lactate concentration and lactate dehydrogenase activity, regulated ruminal microbial community structure ( Quinella and Succinivibrio ), and improved rumen metabolite levels (L-malate, pyruvate, and acetate concentrations). Conclusively, these findings suggest that supplementing high-concentrate diets with 5,6-DMB and cobalt may promote vitamin B12 synthesis and improve energy utilization efficiency.

This research was financed by Exquim S.A, San Cugat, Barcelona, and the TRACER project (Ref: PET2008-0116). The authors thank the staff of the IRTA (Experimental station, Prat de Llobregat, Barcelona) and the Chemistry Departments of the IRTA and UAB for their assistance.