Featured Articles

  • Oct
    26
    Interpretive Summary: USDA expands school meal eligibility


    More students will have access to school meals due to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) recent announcement that expands the availability of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program. The announcement means that an estimated 3,000 more school districts in high-need areas will now have the option to serve breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost.

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  • Oct
    26
    Interpretive Summary: USDA increases access to school meals as well as new partnership


    The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a new partnership with the Urban School Food Alliance to help schools continue to invest in nutritious school meals. The over $60 million in grants will provide training and tools to school districts that will help them purchase high-quality foods while keeping costs low. In recent years schools have faced challenges in obtaining healthy foods consistently, efficiently, and effectively.

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  • Oct
    26
    Interpretive Summary: USDA invests in programs to reduce food waste


    The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced funding to expand efforts to prevent and reduce food loss and waste. The investment, funded under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), is part of a joint agency initiative between USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist (OCE). According to the USDA, over one-third of all available food goes uneaten through loss or waste, in the United States.

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  • Oct
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Supplementation with rumen-inert fat in the growing phase altered adipogenic gene expression and the size and number of adipocytes in Hanwoo steers


    Rumen inert fat (RIF) is a type of fat supplement that is used in the diets of beef cattle as early as 6 mo of age in calves and continues through the finishing period to improve the dietary energy density which can be used by the animal to deposit more lipid in the muscle tissue. However, for Hanwoo beef cattle, the precise time of RIF supplementation has not yet been determined.

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  • Oct
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation on plasma and follicular fluid resolvin D1 concentration and mRNA abundance in granulosa cells in ewes


    The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of increasing dietary omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation on plasma and follicular fluid resolvin D1 (RvD1) concentration, and the mRNA expression of genes related to RvD1 synthesis, inflammatory response, oxidative stress, reproductive hormone receptors and production, and free fatty acid receptors in ewes.

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  • Oct
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Environmental impact potential of insect production chains for food and feed in Europe


    The current food systems are facing several sustainability problems. One major issue is the environmental impact of food production, which contributes to climate change, deforestation, and biodiversity loss (Poore and Nemecek, 2018).

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  • Oct
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Are insects a solution for feeding ruminants? Legislation, scientific evidence, and future challenges


    The growing interest of the scientific community on the inclusion of insect-derived products in ruminant diets is leading to a boost of research papers on this topic. Even though in absolute terms the increase in the number of published papers is limited—because limited is also the literature on this topic...

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  • Oct
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Development of genetically improved tropical-adapted dairy cattle


    According to recent estimates, about 80% of cattle reside in tropical or subtropical regions (Cooke et al., 2020a). The number of farmers and consumers, as well as overall production (e.g., annual milk production), is also greater in the tropics. However, cattle productivity in these regions is underwhelming compared with most temperate zones characterized by high-input farming practices and yields correlated with the fitness of the breeds to their system.

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  • Oct
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Breeds and lines of sheep suitable for production in challenging environments


    The adaptability and success of sheep are confirmed by the fact that they are the world’s most diverse mammalian livestock species, contributing some 25% to the global number of farm animal breeds (Cottle, 2010). The latter author showed that the ovine species is indeed globally successful and present in farming landscapes throughout the world, ranging from arid to high rainfall areas and from sea level to the highest mountains.

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  • Oct
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Rumen and cecum bacteria of beef cattle that differ in feed efficiency fed a forage diet


    Feed is one of the greatest costs associated with beef production. Modifying the efficiency that feed is used offers a potential mechanism to improve production efficiency.

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  • Oct
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Effect of increasing concentration of ergot alkaloids in the diet of feedlot cattle: performance, welfare, and health parameters


    Ergot alkaloids (EA) are produced by a parasitic fungus (Claviceps purpurea) during the cereal grain growth cycle. Feeding cereal grain containing EA to beef cattle can cause constriction of blood vessels, hyperthermia, gangrene of extremities (ears, hoof, and tail), reduced feed intake and growth, and even death. Feed cleaning and processing technologies have been developed to remove EA from the human food chain, thus diverting contaminated feed for livestock use.

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  • Oct
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of wildfire smoke PM2.5 on indicators of inflammation, health, and metabolism of preweaned Holstein heifers


    Wildfires contribute to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution throughout the United States. Wildfire-PM2.5 exposure negatively affects human health and dairy cow production; however, the effects on calves are not known.

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  • Oct
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Genetic parameters for pulmonary arterial pressure, yearling performance, and carcass ultrasound traits in Angus cattle


    Beef cattle residing >1,500 m are subject to reduced atmospheric oxygen levels when compared with beef cattle at lower elevations which may result in hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension and right-side heart failure. Breeders use pulmonary arterial pressures to identify animals at risk of right-side heart failure and to select breeding animals that are less susceptible to the problem.

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  • Oct
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Changes in gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acids are involved in the process of canine obesity after neutering


    Neutering contributes to canine obesity risk. In this study, obesity rate of 60% at 21 mo after neutering was observed. Obese dogs had greater serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and leptin levels and lower adiponectin level than ideal weight dogs.

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  • Oct
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Efficient establishment of an optimized culture condition for cashmere goat primary hair follicle stem cells


    Hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) are indispensable for skin repair, hair growth, development, and regeneration. One major challenge in primary cell culture is achieving efficient growth while maintaining stemness to achieve a high yield.

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  • Oct
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Effect of voluntary waiting period on metabolism of dairy cows during different phases of the lactation


    Extending the voluntary waiting period (VWP) reduces the frequency of calvings. This may benefit cow health but includes the risk of fattening and low milk yield at the end of the lactation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the VWP on metabolism and body condition during different phases of the lactation and start of the next lactation.

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  • Oct
    05
    Writing Workshop September 2023


    ASAS hosted the first of two annual Writing workshops last week in Hollywood Beach, FL. The conference attendees were 25 ASAS member graduate students and young scientists from 12 different schools and agencies in the US and Canada.

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  • Oct
    05
    Interpretive Summary: Iron requirements of broiler chickens as affected by supplemental phytase


    Iron is routinely supplemented in broiler feeds to prevent possible dietary deficiencies. We carried out an experiment with the objective of evaluating the Fe requirements of broilers fed with the exogenous enzyme phytase.

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  • Oct
    05
    Interpretive Summary: Dietary lysolecithin supplementation improves growth performance of weaned piglets via improving nutrients absorption, lipid metabolism, and redox status


    Early weaning has been widely adopted to maximize productivity for swine production. However, the weaned piglets suffer from insufficient energy intake due to the reduced feed intake caused by weaning stress, which compromises the growth rate of piglets.

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  • Oct
    05
    Interpretive Summary: Influence of handling in corrals on the temperament of different breeds of beef cattle raised in Brazil


    Some scientific studies have shown the negative effect of poor handling on the welfare and temperament of animals. Furthermore, there is evidence that more reactive cattle present the highest blood cortisol concentrations indicative of stress.

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