American ginseng residue is an industrial by-product of ginseng saponin extraction, including polysaccharides and amino acids; however, it is often discarded into the natural environment, representing a waste of resources as well as an environmental issue. In this study, we examined the effects of adding American ginseng residue to the basal diet of sika deer. Twelve antler-bearing male sika deer were assigned randomly to groups fed a diet supplemented with 0% (CON), 1% (LGR), and 3% (HGR) American ginseng residue, respectively, (n = 4 per group) for 5 weeks. Supplementation with 3% American ginseng residue significantly increased antler production and feed utilization efficiency in antler-bearing sika deer (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in serum biochemical indexes among the three groups, but serum immunoglobulin A and glutathione peroxidase levels were significantly increased in the LGR and HGR groups (p < 0.05). Supplementation with American ginseng residue affected rumen fermentation in sika deer, significantly increasing the rumen contents of acetic acid, propionic acid, and total volatile fatty acids, and decreasing rumen fluid pH (p < 0.05), but had no significant effect on microbial protein or ammoniacal nitrogen content. American ginseng residue also affected the rumen bacterial composition, with significant up-regulation of Bacteroidota abundance in the HGR group, significant increases in Fibrobacterota and Fibrobacter abundance in the LGR group, and a significant decrease in Oscillospiraceae_UCG-005. Supplementation with ginseng residue had no significant effect on volatile fatty acids in the feces of sika deer, but did affect the composition of fecal bacteria, with significant decreases in Desulfobacterota and Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group in the HGR group, and a significant increase in Ruminococcus in the LGR group (p < 0.05). In addition, the abundance of Paeniclostridium in the feces decreased linearly with increasing concentration of ginseng residue, with a significant difference among the groups (p < 0.05). This study comprehensively evaluated the effects of American ginseng residue as a potential feed additive on the production performance and gastrointestinal bacterial community in antler-bearing sika deer. The results indicated that ginseng residue was a suitable feed additive for improving production performance and health in sika deer.
The raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) is a typical omnivore possessing wide dietary adaptability and tolerance to rough feeding, which may be attributed to its intestinal microbiota. The study aimed to investigate the effect of dietary alfalfa meal levels on the growth performance, nutrient apparent digestibility, serum parameters, and intestinal microbiota of raccoon dogs. Sixty raccoon dogs were randomly divided into four dietary treatments containing 0% (AM0), 5% (AM5), 10% (AM10), and 15% (AM15) alfalfa meal for a 60-day experiment. The results showed that compared to raccoon dogs fed the AM0 diet, those fed the AM5 and AM10 diets had no significant difference in growth performance, while those fed the AM15 diet experienced a significant decrease. Raccoon dogs fed the AM5 diet had no significant effect on the nutrient apparent digestibility. Dietary supplementation with alfalfa meal significantly decreased serum urea levels and increased the antioxidant capacity of raccoon dogs. The intestinal microbiome analysis showed that the richness and diversity of colonic microbiota significantly increased in the AM15 group. With the increase in dietary alfalfa meal levels, the relative abundance of fiber-degrading bacteria in the colon of raccoon dogs, such as Treponema, Phascolarctobacterium, and Christensenellaceae R-7 group, increased. However, the relative abundance of pathogenic bacteria, including Anaerobiospirillum, decreased. In conclusion, the inclusion of 5% alfalfa meal in the raccoon dogs' diet had no effect on growth performance, but it exhibited the potential to improve serum antioxidant capacity and intestinal microbiota. This indicates that raccoon dogs have a certain tolerance to the addition of alfalfa meal in their diet.
Transverse spin of surface waves is a universal phenomenon which has recently attracted significant attention in optics and acoustics. It appears in gravity water waves, surface plasmon polaritons, surface acoustic waves, and exhibits remarkable intrinsic spin-momentum locking, which has found useful applications for efficient spin-direction couplers. Here we demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, that the transverse spin of surface elastic (Rayleigh) waves has an anomalous sign near the surface, opposite to that in the case of electromagnetic, sound, or water surface waves. This anomalous sign appears due to the hybrid (neither transverse nor longitudinal) nature of elastic surface waves. Furthermore, we show that this sign anomaly can be employed for the selective spin-controlled excitation of symmetric and antisymmetric Lamb modes propagating in opposite directions in an elastic plate. Our results pave the way for spin-controlled manipulation of elastic waves and can be important for a variety of areas, from phononic spin-based devices to seismic waves.
Platycladus orientalis leaves are rich in flavonoids and polysaccharides, which offer high medicinal and nutritional benefits. This study aimed to investigate the impact of P. orientalis leaf extract (PLE) on the growth performance, fur quality, serum parameters, and intestinal microbiota of raccoon dogs. Sixty healthy male black raccoon dogs, aged 85 (±5) days, were randomly assigned to four groups and fed a basal diet supplemented with 0, 0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 g/kg PLE for 125 days (designated as groups P0, P1, P2, and P3, respectively). The results revealed that the raccoon dogs in group P1 exhibited increased average daily gain and underfur length while showing a decreased feed/gain ratio compared to group P0 (p < 0.05). However, the heart index in group P2 was significantly lower than in group P0 (p < 0.05), and the kidney index and serum alanine aminotransferase activities in group P3 were higher than in groups P2 and P0 (p < 0.05), suggesting potential adverse effects at higher PLE dosages. Notably, dietary PLE supplementation led to a reduction in serum glucose concentrations (p < 0.05), which may have implications for glucose regulation. Furthermore, the study explored the impact of dietary supplementation with 0.25 g/kg PLE on the raccoon dogs' intestinal microbiota using high-throughput sequencing. The results showed significant alterations in the microbial community structure, with a notable decrease in the abundance of Prevotella copri in response to 0.25 g/kg PLE supplementation (p < 0.05). In conclusion, supplementing raccoon dogs' diet with 0.25 g/kg PLE can lead to improved growth performance and a positive influence on the intestinal microbiota. However, caution should be exercised regarding higher dosages, as they may have adverse effects on certain parameters. As a result, PLE holds promise as a potential feed additive for fur animal production.
Amino acid balance is central to improving the efficiency of feed protein utilization and for reducing environmental pollution caused by intensive farming. In previous studies, supplementation with limiting amino acids has been shown to be an effective means of improving animal nutrient utilization and performance. In this experiment, the effects of methionine on the apparent digestibility of nutrients, antler nutrient composition, rumen fluid amino acid composition, fecal volatile fatty acids and intestinal bacteria in antler-growing sika deer were investigated by randomly adding different levels of methionine to the diets of three groups of four deer at 0 g/day (CON), 4 g/day (LMet) and 6 g/day (HMet). Methionine supplementation significantly increased the apparent digestibility of organic matter, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) in the LMet group (p < 0.05). The crude protein and collagen protein of antlers were significantly higher in the LMet and HMet groups compared to the CON group and also significantly higher in the HMet group compared to the LMet group, while the calcium content of antlers was significantly lower in the HMet group (p < 0.05). Ruminal fluid free amino acid composition was altered in the three groups of sika deer, with significant changes in aspartic acid, citrulline, valine, cysteine, methionine, histidine and proline. At the phylum level, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were highest in the rectal microflora. Unidentified bacterial abundance was significantly decreased in the HMet group compared to the CON group. Based on the results of principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and Adonis analysis, there was a significant difference in the composition of the intestinal flora between the CON and HMet groups (p < 0.05). At the genus level, compared with the CON group, the abundance of Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group and Lachnospiraceae_UCG-010 in the LMet group increased significantly (p < 0.05), the abundance of dgA-11_gut_group in the HMet group decreased significantly (p < 0.05) and the abundance of Lachnospiraceae_UCG-010, Saccharofermentans and Lachnospiraceae_NK3A20_group increased significantly. Taken together, the results showed that methionine supplementation was beneficial in increasing the feed utilization efficiency and improving antler quality in sika deer, while affecting the composition of fecal bacteria.
Distinct from the phononic valley pseudospin, the real physical spin of elastic waves adds a novel tool kit capable of envisaging the valley-spin physics of topological valley phononic crystals from a local viewpoint. Here, we report the observation of local elastic valley spin as well as the hidden elastic spin-valley locking mechanism overlooked before. We demonstrate that the selective one-way routing of valley phonon states along the topological interface can be reversed by imposing the elastic spin metasource at different interface locations with opposite valley-spin correspondence. We unveil the physical mechanism of selective directionality as the elastic spin controlled chiral coupling of valley phonon states, through both analytical theory and experimental measurement of the opposite local elastic spin density at different interface locations for different transport directions. The elastic spin of valley topological edge phonons can be extended to other topological states and offers new tool to explore topological metamaterials.
Directional routing of one-way classical wave has raised tremendous interests about spin-related phenomena. This sparks specifically the elastic wave study of pseudo-spin in meta-structures to perform robust manipulations. Unlike pseudo-spin in mathematics, the intrinsic spin angular momentum of elastic wave is predicted quite recently which exhibits selective excitation of unidirectional propagation even in conventional solids. However, due to the challenge of building up chiral elastic sources, the experimental observation of intrinsic spin of elastic wave is still missing. Here, we successfully measure the elastic spin in Rayleigh and Lamb modes by adopting elaborately designed chiral meta-sources that excite locally rotating displacement polarization. We observe the unidirectional routing of chiral elastic waves, characterize the different elastic spins along different directions, and demonstrate the spin-momentum locking in broad frequency ranges. We also find the selective one-way Lamb wave carries opposite elastic spin on two plate surfaces in additional to the source chirality.
Automatic design of mechanical procedures solving abstract problems is a relevant scientific challenge. In particular, automatic design of membranes systems performing some prefixed tasks is an important and useful research topic in the area of Natural Computing. In this context, deterministic membrane systems were designed in order to capture the values of polynomials with natural numbers coefficients. Following that work, this paper extends the previous result to polynomials with integer numbers coefficients. Specifically, a deterministic transition P system using priorities in the weak interpretation, associated with an arbitrary such kind polynomial, is presented. The configuration of the unique computation of the system will be encoded by means of two distinguished objects, the values of the polynomial for natural numbers. The descriptive computational resources required by the designed membrane system are also analyzed.
Computers, Molecular , Neural Networks, Computer , Algorithms , Computational Biology , Computer Simulation
