Metabolome fingerprints, performance and carcass quality of beef calves supplemented with antibiotic free additive.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of probiotics on pre-weaning performance, muscle, and fat deposition and serum metabolite profiles in male and female Senepol calves. Thirty new-born Senepol calves, 15 males and 15 females, were randomly allocated to the following treatments: CON a control group that received the basal creep feeding diet and PRO animals that received the basal diet with addition of 2 g/100 kg of body weight (BW) of probiotic. PRO supplementation did not change the DMI but increased average BW, final BW, ADG relative to animals fed CON. Additionally, PRO improved LMA and marbling. Regardless of the serum metabolite profile, the important metabolites for discriminating PRO and CON were glutamine, leucine, creatine, acetate, creatinine, arginine, glutamate, hippurate, glycerol, carnitine, lactate, carnosine, myo-inositol and histidine. According to gender, males had an overabundance of glutamine, glycerol, isoleucine, creatinine and glucose, whereas females had an overabundance of acetyl carnitine, glutamate and carnitine. In conclusion, the addition of PRO in the pre-weaning diet of calves increases performance, weight at weaning and muscle and fat deposition on the carcass, improving proteins and fatty acid metabolism, the immune system response and rumen development.

Chitosan associated with whole raw soybean in diets for Murrah buffaloes on ruminal fermentation, apparent digestibility and nutrients metabolism.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of chitosan and whole raw soybean on nutrient intake, apparent digestibility, nitrogen utilization, microbial protein synthesis, blood metabolites, feeding behavior, ruminal fermentation, digesta kinetics, and reticular flow of nutrients of buffaloes. Four ruminally-cannulated Murrah buffaloes (351 ± 15 kg of initial BW) were randomly assigned according to a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Treatments were arranged as 2 × 2 factorial arrangement: the first factor was whole raw soybean (WRS), and the second factor was chitosan (CHI) with or without their inclusion in diets. Intake and apparent digestibility of ether extract (p < .01; p = .04, respectively), non-fiber carbohydrates intake (p = .03) and apparent ruminal digestibility of dry matter (p = .01) were affected by diets. An interaction effect or tendency was observed for microbial nitrogen (p = .09), concentrations, ruminal ammonia nitrogen (p = .05), total volatile fatty acid (p = .03). Association of chitosan with whole raw soybean has potential effects as a modulator of rumen fermentation; therefore, chitosan can be applied as an alternative non-ionophore for Murrah buffaloes.