Effects of selenium-enriched yeast dietary supplementation on egg quality, gut morphology and caecal microflora of laying hens.

Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for humans and animals and is a powerful antioxidant that can promote reproductive and immune functions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplemental dietary selenium-enriched yeast (SeY) on egg quality, gut morphology and microflora in laying hens. In total, 100 HY-Line Brown laying hens (45-week old) were randomly allocated to two groups with 10 replicates and fed either a basal diet (without Se supplementation) or a basal diet containing 0.2 mg/kg Se in the form of SeY for 8 weeks. The Se supplementation did not have a significant effect on egg quality and intestinal morphology of laying hens. Based on the 16S rRNA sequencing, SeY dietary supplementation effectively modulated the cecal microbiota structure. An alpha diversity analysis demonstrated that birds fed 100 mg/kg SeY had a higher cecal bacterial diversity. SeY dietary addition elevated Erysipelotrichia (class), Lachnospiraceae (family), Erysipelotrichaceae (family) and Ruminococcus_torques_group (genus; p < .05). Analysis of microbial community-level phenotypes revealed that SeY supplementation decreased the microorganism abundance of facultatively anaerobic and potentially pathogenic phenotypes. Overall, SeY supplementation cannot significantly improve intestinal morphology; however, it modulated the composition of cecal microbiota toward a healthier gut.

Aroma and taste analysis of pickled tea from spontaneous and yeast-enhanced fermentation by mass spectrometry and sensory evaluation.

Anaerobically fermented pickled tea (PT) can be produced by spontaneous fermentation (SF) or yeast-enhanced fermentation (YF). Aroma and taste characteristics of PT during YF and SF were investigated using sensory evaluation, odour activity, aroma character impact values, HS-SPME-GC-MS, UPLC-QQQ-MS/MS, and spectrophotometry, annotating 198 volatile and 115 non-volatile components. The main contributing volatile components were ß-ionone, and 1-octanol, promoted by YF and SF, and yielding floral and fruity aromas respectively. Additionally, compared with SF, YF promoted the formation of citronellol yielding a floral aroma, inhibited the stale aroma of methoxybenzenes, and reduced bitter, astringent, and sour tastes. Furthermore, partial least-squares regression analysis identified the main components related to the 'acides aroma' of PT as linalool oxide, n-decanoic acid, hexanoic acid, 3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadienoic acid, 3-methyl-1-dodecyn-3-ol, and nerolidol. This application could be used as methodology for the comprehensive analysis of tea aroma and taste and these results can act as guidelines for PT production and quality control.

Effects of dietary supplementation with tea polyphenols and probiotics on laying performance, biochemical parameters intestinal morphology and microflora of laying hens.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of tea polyphenols (TP) and probiotics (PB) on the production performance, biochemical indices, and gut health of laying hens. A total of 400 Hy-line Brown layers (45 weeks old) were randomly assigned to 8 diet groups for 8-week feeding trial. Compared with the control basal diet (CT), dietary high dosage of TP and PB (HTP-PB) increased egg mass (P < 0.05). Supplementation with HTP-PB improved the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and decreased the malonic dialdehyde (MDA) content (P < 0.05) without affecting the contents of immunoglobulins in the serum. The combination of HTP and PB supplementation promoted the secretion of estradiol (E2) and progesterone (PROG) compared with treatment with TP or PB alone (P < 0.05). The combined use of HTP and PB induced higher jejunal villus height (VH) than the CT group (P < 0.05). Dietary TP and PB could optimize the functional network of intestinal microflora and the interactions between the intestinal microflora and the host. Therefore, the combined use of the high dosage of TP and PB affected laying performance, improved antioxidant capacity, and promoted intestinal health, which may be associated with regulation of the intestinal microbiota.

Transcriptome profiling of the fertile parent and sterile hybrid in tea plant flower buds.

BACKGROUND: The tea plant is a crucial economic crop. The floral organ development consumes a large amount of nutrients, which affects the leaf yield. To understand the mechanism by which the tea plant produces sterile floral buds, we obtained a sterile tea plant by artificial hybridization. RNA-sequencing based transcriptome analysis was implemented in three samples to determine the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to flower development. RESULTS: In this study, a total of 1991 DEGs were identified; 1057 genes were up-regulated and 934 genes were down-regulated in sterile hybrid floral buds. These were mainly distributed in the regulation of biological and metabolic processes. Significantly, auxin biosynthesis genes YUCCA, AUX1 and PIN were dramatically down-regulated, and ARF gene was up-regulated in the sterile hybrid floral buds, and flower development-related genes AP1, AP2 and SPL were changed. A total of 12 energy transfer-related genes were significantly decreased. Furthermore, the expression of 11 transcription factor genes was significantly different. CONCLUSION: The transcriptome analysis suggested that the production of sterile floral buds is a complex bioprocess, and that low auxin-related gene levels result in the formation of sterile floral buds in the tea plant.

Chemosystematics of tea trees based on tea leaf polyphenols as phenetic markers.

This study examined the polyphenols of tea leaves as chemotaxonomic markers to investigate the phenetic relationship between 89 wild (the small-leaved C.sinensis var. sinensis and large-leaved C. sinensis var. assamica), hybrid, and cultivated tea trees from China and Japan. (-)-Epigallocatechin 3-O-gallate, EGCG (1); (-)-epigallocatechin, EGC (2); (-)-epicatechin 3-O-gallate, ECG (3); (-)-epicatechin, EC (4); (+)-catechin, CA (5); strictinin, STR (6); and gallic acid, GA (7) were used as polyphenolic markers. Of the 13 polyphenol patterns observed, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated that the structure-types of the flavonoid B-rings, such as the pyrogallol-(EGCG (1) and EGC (2)) and catechol-(ECG (3) and EC (4)) types, greatly influenced the classification. Ward's minimum-variance cluster analysis was used to produce a dendrogram that consisted of three sub-clusters. One sub-cluster (A) was composed of old tea trees 'Gushu' cha (C. sinensis var. assamica) and cv 'Taidi' cha, suggesting that relatively primitive tea trees contain greater amounts of compounds 3 and 4 and lower amounts of compounds 1 and 2. The other two sub-clusters B and C, made up of Chinese hybrids (sub-cluster B) and Japanese and Taiwanese tea trees (sub-cluster C), had lower contents of 3 and 4 than sub-cluster A. Therefore, PCA and cluster analysis indicated that the greater the amounts of 1 and 2 (and the lower of 3 and 4), the more recent the origin of the tea line. Based on morphological characteristics, geographical information, and the historical information on tea trees, these results show good agreement with the current theory of tea tree origins, and this suggests that the Xishuangbanna district and Puer City are among the original sites of the tea tree species.