Effects of Cellulase Supplementation on Nutrient Digestibility, Energy Utilization and Methane Emission by Boer Crossbred Goats

This study examined the effect of supplementing exogenous cellulase on nutrient and energy utilization. Twelve desexed Boer crossbred goats were used in a replicated 3×3 Latin square design with 23-d periods. Dietary treatments were basal diet (control, no cellulase), basal diet plus 2 g unitary cellulase/kg of total mixed ration dry matter (DM), and basal diet plus 2 g compound cellulase/kg of total mixed ration DM. Three stages of feeding trials were used corresponding to the three treatments, each comprised 23 d, with the first 14 d as the preliminary period and the following 9 d as formal trial period for metabolism trial. Total collection of feces and urine were conducted from the 4th d of the formal trial, and gas exchange measures were determined in indirect respiratory chambers in the last 3 d of the formal trial. Results showed that cellulase addition had no effect (p>0.05) on nutrient digestibility. Dietary supplementation of cellulase did not affect (p>0.05) N intake and retention in goats. Gross energy (GE) intake, fecal energy and urinary energy excretion, heat production were not affected (p>0.05) by the cellulase supplementation. Total methane emission (g/d), CH4 emission as a proportion of live weight or feed intake (DM, organic matter [OM], digestible DM or digestible OM), or CH4 energy output (CH4-E) as a proportion of energy intake (GE, digestible energy, or metabolizable energy), were similar (p>0.05) among treatments. There was a significant (p<0.001) relationship between CH4 and live weight (y = 0.645x+0.2, R2 = 0.54), CH4 and DM intake (y = 16.7x+1.4, R2 = 0.51), CH4 and OM intake (y = 18.8x+1.3, R2 = 0.51) and CH4-E and GE intake. Results from this study revealed that dietary supplementation of cellulase may have no effect on nutrient digestibility, nitrogen retention, energy metabolism, and methane emission in goat

Multiscale Superpixel Structured Difference Graph Convolutional Network for VL Representation

Within the multimodal field, the key to integrating vision and language lies in establishing a good alignment strategy. Recently, benefiting from the success of self-supervised learning, significant progress has been made in multimodal semantic representation based on pre-trained models for vision and language. However, there is still room for improvement in visual semantic representation. The lack of spatial semantic coherence and vulnerability to noise makes it challenging for current pixel or patch-based methods to accurately extract complex scene boundaries. To this end, this paper develops superpixel as a comprehensive compact representation of learnable image data, which effectively reduces the number of visual primitives for subsequent processing by clustering perceptually similar pixels. To mine more precise topological relations, we propose a Multiscale Difference Graph Convolutional Network (MDGCN). It parses the entire image as a fine-to-coarse hierarchical structure of constituent visual patterns, and captures multiscale features by progressively merging adjacent superpixels as graph nodes. Moreover, we predict the differences between adjacent nodes through the graph structure, facilitating key information aggregation of graph nodes to reason actual semantic relations. Afterward, we design a multi-level fusion rule in a bottom-up manner to avoid understanding deviation by learning complementary spatial information at different regional scales. Our proposed method can be well applied to multiple downstream task learning. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method is competitive with other state-of-the-art methods in visual reasoning. Our code will be released upon publication

Dai-Huang-Fu-Zi-Tang Alleviates Intestinal Injury Associated with Severe Acute Pancreatitis by Regulating Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore of Intestinal Mucosa Epithelial Cells

Objective. The aim of the present study was to examine whether Dai-Huang-Fu-Zi-Tang (DHFZT) could regulate mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) of intestinal mucosa epithelial cells for alleviating intestinal injury associated with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Methods. A total of 72 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups (sham group, SAP group, and DHFZT group, n=24 per group). The rats in each group were divided into 4 subgroups (n=6 per subgroup) accordingly at 1, 3, 6, and 12 h after the operation. The contents of serum amylase, D-lactic acid, diamine oxidase activity, and degree of MPTP were measured by dry chemical method and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The change of mitochondria of intestinal epithelial cells was observed by transmission electron microscopy. Results. The present study showed that DHFZT inhibited the openness of MPTP at 3, 6, and 12 h after the operation. Meanwhile, it reduced the contents of serum D-lactic acid and activity of diamine oxidase activity and also drastically relieved histopathological manifestations and epithelial cells injury of intestine. Conclusion. DHFZT alleviates intestinal injury associated SAP via reducing the openness of MPTP. In addition, DHFZT could also decrease the content of serum diamine oxidase activity and D-lactic acid after SAP

Relationship between the structure and composition of rumen microorganisms and the digestibility of neutral detergent fibre in goats

Publication history: Accepted - 7 June 2018; Published online - 26 July 2018; Published print - January 2019.Objective: This experiment was conducted to compare the structure and composition of ruminal microorganisms in goats with high and low neutral detergent fibre (NDF) digestibility. Methods: Nineteen crossbred goats were used as experimental animals and fed the same total mixed rations during the 30-day pre-treatment and 6-day digestion trialperiods. All faeces were collected during the digestion period for measuring the NDF digestibility. Then, high and the low NDF digestibility individuals were chosen for the high NDF digestibility group (HFD) and low NDF digestibility group (LFD), respectively. Rumen contents were collected for total microbial DNA extraction. The V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified using universal primers of bacteria and sequenced using high-throughput sequencer. The sequences were mainly analysed by QIIME 1.8.0. Results: A total of 18,694 operational taxonomic units were obtained, within 81.98% belonged to bacteria, 6.64% belonged to archaea and 11.38% was unassigned microorganisms. Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria were the predominant microbial phyla in both groups. At the genus level, the relative abundance of fifteen microorganisms were significantly higher (p<0.05) and six microorganisms were extremely significantly higher (p<0.01) in LFD than HFD. Overall, 176 core shared genera were identified in the two groups. The relative abundance of 2 phyla, 5 classes, 10 orders, 13 families and 15 genera had a negative correlation with NDF digestibility, but only the relative abundance of Pyramidobacter had a positive correlation with NDF digestibility. Conclusion: There were substantial differences in NDF digestibility among the individual goats, and the NDF digestibility had significant correlation with the relative abundance of some ruminal microorganisms.The authors would like to thank the National Key R&D Program of China (grant number: 2017YFD0502005) and Sichuan Beef Cattle Innovation Team (grant number: 035Z389) for the financial support

Bacterial Community Diversity Associated With Different Utilization Efficiencies of Nitrogen in the Gastrointestinal Tract of Goats

The objective of this study was to examine the association between bacterial community structure and the utilization efficiency of nitrogen (UEN) phenotypes by determining the bacterial community in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of goats that differ in UEN using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Thirty Nubian goats were selected as experimental animals, and their UEN was determined in a metabolic experiment. Subsequently, eight individuals were grouped into the high nitrogen utilization (HNU) phenotype, and seven were grouped into the low nitrogen utilization (LNU) phenotype. The bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicons from the rumen, abomasum, jejunum, cecum and colon contents of these animals were sequenced using next-generation high-throughput sequencing technology. Two hundred thirty-nine genera belonging to 23 phyla in the rumen, 319 genera belonging to 30 phyla in the abomasum, 248 genera belonging to 36 phyla in the jejunum, 248 genera belonging to 25 phyla in the colon and 246 genera belonging to 23 phyla in the cecum were detected, with Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes predominating. In addition, a significant correlation was observed between the UEN and the genera Succiniclasticum, Bacteroides, Ruminobacter, Methanimicrococcus, Mogibacterium, Eubacterium_hallii_group and Ruminococcus_1 in the rumen; Bacteroidales_S24-7_group, Bacteroidales_RF16_group, Bacteroidales_UCG-001 and Anaerovibrio in the abomasum; Ruminococcus_2, Candidatus_Saccharimonas, Candidatus_Arthromitus and Coprococcus_1 in the jejunum; Erysipelotrichaceae_UCG-004, Akkermansia, Senegalimassilia, Candidatus_Soleaferrea and Methanocorpusculum in the colon; and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-002, Anaerovibrio and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-007 in the cecum. Furthermore, the real-time PCR results showed that the ruminal copies of Fibrobacter_succinogenes, Butyrivibrio_fibrisolvens, Ruminococcus_sp._HUN007, Prevotella ruminicola and Streptococcus bovis in the HNU animals were significantly higher than those in the LNU animals. This study suggests an association of GIT microbial communities as a factor that influences UEN in goats

Effects of the particle of ground alfalfa hay on the growth performance, methane production and archaeal populations of rabbits

Publication history: Accepted - 20 August 2018; Published online - 17 September 2018.The world's annual output of rabbits is over 1.2 billion, therefore this sector is also one of the sources of greenhouse gases in livestock production. One hundred-twenty New Zealand rabbits were allocated into four treatments, five replicates in each treatment and six rabbits in each replicate to examine the effect of grinding alfalfa hay to different sizes on growth performance, methane production and cecal archaeal populations. The particle sizes of the alfalfa meal in the four treatment diets were 2500, 1000, 100 and 10 μm, while the other ingredients were ground through a 2.5 mm sieve. The average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) increased (P<0.001) as the particle size decreased, but the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was not affected (P = 0.305). The digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (P = 0.006) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) (P<0.006) increased while the greatest digestibility of crude protein (CP) was obtained in 1000 um group (P = 0.015). The rabbits produced more methane (CH4, L/kgBM0.75/d) with decreasing alfalfa particle size (P<0.001). The molar proportion of acetic acid and propionic acid decreased (P<0.001) at the cost of butyric acid (P<0.001). The greatest villus height:crypt depth ratio were obtained in 1000 μm group, and the decrease in the alfalfa hay particle size decreased the jejunum and ilem villus height:crypt depth ratio (P<0.05). The gastric muscular and mucosal thickness decreased with decreasing alfalfa particle size (P<0.05). Archaea diversity decreased with decreasing alfalfa particle size, and the relative abundance of genus Methanobrevibacter increased (P<0.001) while the genus Methanosphaera decreased (P<0.001). It is concluded that a finer particle size favors the growth of genus Methanobrevibacter, which produces more methane but promotes the growth performance of rabbits.The financial support was provided by the International Cooperation Project of Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2014DFA32860), http://www.most.gov.cn/eng/. LZ Wang received the funding. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Nutritional Interventions Improved Rumen Functions and Promoted Compensatory Growth of Growth-Retarded Yaks as Revealed by Integrated Transcripts and Microbiome Analyses

Growth retardation reduces the incomes of livestock farming. However, effective nutritional interventions to promote compensatory growth and the mechanisms involving digestive tract microbiomes and transcripts have yet to be elucidated. In this study, Qinghai plateau yaks, which frequently suffer from growth retardation due to malnutrition, were used as an experimental model. Young growth-retarded yaks were pastured (GRP), fed basal ration (GRB), fed basal ration addition cysteamine hydrochloride (CSH; GRBC) or active dry yeast (ADY; GRBY). Another group of growth normal yak was pastured as a positive control (GNP). After 60-day nutritional interventions, the results showed that the average daily gain (ADG) of GRB was similar to the level of GNP, and the growth rates of GRBC and GRBY were significantly higher than the level of GNP (P &lt; 0.05). Basal rations addition of CSH or ADY either improved the serum biochemical indexes, decreased serum LPS concentration, facilitated ruminal epithelium development and volatile fatty acids (VFA) fermentation of growth-retarded yaks. Comparative transcriptome in rumen epithelium between growth-retarded and normal yaks identified the differentially expressed genes mainly enriched in immune system, digestive system, extracellular matrix and cell adhesion pathways. CSH addition and ADY addition in basal rations upregulated ruminal VFA absorption (SLC26A3, PAT1, MCT1) and cell junction (CLDN1, CDH1, OCLN) gene expression, and downregulated complement system (C2, C7) gene expression in the growth-retarded yaks. 16S rDNA results showed that CSH addition and ADY addition in basal rations increased the rumen beneficial bacterial populations (Prevotella_1, Butyrivibrio_2, Fibrobacter) of growth-retarded yaks. The correlation analysis identified that ruminal VFAs and beneficial bacteria abundance were significantly positively correlated with cell junction and VFA absorption gene expressions and negatively correlated with complement system gene expressions on the ruminal epithelium. Therefore, CSH addition and ADY addition in basal rations promoted rumen health and body growth of growth-retarded yaks, of which basal ration addition of ADY had the optimal growth-promoting effects. These results suggested that improving nutrition and probiotics addition is a more effective method to improve growth retardation caused by gastrointestinal function deficiencies

Efficacy of Chinese Herbal Medicine as an Adjunctive Therapy on in-Hospital Mortality in Patients with Acute Kidney Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective. We aimed to systematically assess the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) as an adjunctive therapy on in-hospital mortality in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). Methods. We did a systematic review of articles published in any language up until Jun 23, 2015, by searching PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CBM, and CNKI. We included all RCTs that compared outcomes of patients with AKI taking CHM plus Western treatment (WT) with those taking WT alone. We applied Cochrane risk-of-bias tool to assess the methodological quality of the included trials. Results. Of 832 citations, 15 studies involving 966 patients met inclusion criteria. The methodological quality was assessed with unclear risk of bias. In the primary outcome of meta-analysis, pooled outcome of in-hospital mortality showed that patients randomly assigned to CHM treatment group were associated with low risk of in-hospital mortality compared with those randomly assigned to WT alone (RR = 0.41; 95% CI = 0.24 to 0.71; P=0.001). Conclusions. CHM as an adjunctive therapy is associated with a decreased risk of in-hospital mortality compared with WT in patients with AKI. Further studies with high quality and large sample size are needed to verify our conclusions

Metabonomic Responses of Grazing Yak to Different Concentrate Supplementations in Cold Season

Supplementation plays an important role in reversing the weight loss of grazing yaks during cold season. However, little is known about the effect of supplementation on the serum metabolites of grazing yaks. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of supplementary feeding on average daily gain (ADG) and serum metabolites with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics method in growing yaks during cold season on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Twenty 1.5-year-old female yaks (91.38 &plusmn; 10.43 kg LW) were evenly divided into three treatment groups and a control group (CON) (n = 5 per group). All the yaks were released to graze during daytime, whereas the yaks in the treatment groups were supplemented with highland barley (HLB), rapeseed meal (RSM), and highland barley plus rapeseed meal (HLB + RSM) at night. The whole experiment lasted for 120 days. Results indicated that the ADG of growing yak heifers was increased by concentrate supplementations, and ADG under HLB and HLB + RSM group was 37.5% higher (p &lt; 0.05) than that with RSM supplementation. Supplementary feeding increased the plasma concentrations of total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) of those in the CON group, and concentrations of BUN were higher in the RSM group than in the HLB and HLB + RSM group. Compared with the CON group, serum levels of glutamine, glycine, &beta;-glucose were lower and that of choline was higher in the HLB group; serum levels of lactate were lower and that of choline, glutamate were higher in the HLB + RSM group. Compared with the HLB + RSM group, serum levels of glycerophosphoryl choline (GPC) and lactate were higher, and those of choline, glutamine, glutamate, leucine, N-acetyaspartate, &alpha;-glucose, and &beta;-glucose were lower in the HLB group; serum levels of citrate, GPC and lactate were higher, and those of 3-Hydroxybutyrate, betaine, choline, glutamate, glutamine, N-acetylglycoprotein, N-acetyaspartate, &alpha;-glucose, and &beta;-glucose were lower in the RSM group. It could be concluded that concentrate supplementations significantly improved the growth performance of growing yaks and supplementation with HBL or HLB plus RSM was better than RSM during the cold season. Supplementation with HBL or HLB plus RSM affected the serum metabolites of grazing yaks, and both treatments promoted lipid synthesis. Supplementation of yaks with HBL plus RSM could improve energy-supply efficiency, protein and lipid deposition compared with HLB and RSM