Featured Articles

  • Jul
    17
    Summary: Physiology and Endocrinology Symposium


    As the ASAS Annual Meeting headed into full swing, the Monday morning session featured a discussion on Physiology and Endocrinology. The symposium entitled “An Update on the Brain,” focused on new insights into the inner workings of the hypothalamus and pituitary glands.

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  • Jul
    17
    Summary: WSASAS Beef Symposium: Climate Adaptation Strategies for the Beef Industry of the Great Plains and Western US


    On Sunday, July 15, the ASAS Annual Meeting kicked off in Albuquerque, New Mexico with a Beef Symposium sponsored by the Western Section. The session was led by Dr. Glenn Duff of New Mexico State and focused on climate adaptation strategies for the beef industry of the Great Plains and Western United States.

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  • Jul
    12
    Interpretive Summary: A systems approach to evaluate nitrogen utilization efficiency and environmental impacts of swine growing-finishing feeding programs in U.S. pork production systems


    Four growing-finishing feeding programs consisting of typical corn-soybean meal (CSBM) diets, low protein CSBM diets containing supplemental crystalline amino acids (LP), CSBM diets containing 30% corn dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), and DDGS diets containing supplemental crystalline Ile, Val, and Trp were evaluated to compare their effects on growth performance, carcass composition, nitrogen and phosphorus utilization efficiency, and several environmental impact measures.

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  • Jul
    12
    Infographic: A Holistic Perspective of the Societal Relevance of Beef Production and Its Impacts On Climate Change


    This infographic highlights a recently published paper titled “A Holistic Perspective of the Societal Relevance of Beef Production and Its Impacts On Climate Change” (Tedeschi and Beauchemin, 2023). A key component of the paper is the discussion about the relevance of the U.S. beef cattle industry to society and on its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

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  • Jul
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Substrate degradation and postbiotic analysis of alternative fiber ingredients fermented using an in vitro canine fecal inoculum model


    Fibers fermented in the gut result in the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) acetate, propionate, and butyrate. These postbiotic compounds, particularly butyrate, play an important role in colonic and host health. Fibers not degraded by the microbiota aid in stool formation and promote laxation.

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  • Jul
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Heritability and genetic trend of body weight in dogs of different breeds in Sweden


    High body weight in dogs is often considered to cause problems, for instance, resulting in hip and elbow diseases. Furthermore, there is a huge variation in body conformation and size between different dog breeds, which is related to breeding for specific appearances and genetic traits.

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  • Jul
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Excavation and characterization of key circRNAs for milk fat percentage in Holstein cattle


    Milk is an important food source, consisting of a complex mixture of lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and other factors, of which milk fat not only affects the flavor and nutritional value of milk but also plays an important role in the metabolism of nutrients during human growth and development.

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  • Jul
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Genetic associations between human-directed behavior and intraspecific social aggression in growing pigs


    We estimated genetic and phenotypic correlations and heritabilities for temperament indicators in growing pigs such as fearfulness (i.e., vocal and physical withdrawal response to an approaching human while isolated in an arena; attempts to escape from a weigh crate); boldness (i.e., biting, following or nosing a human walking inside their home pen) and aggression (i.e., skin lesions). Our results indicate that the studied traits were heritable, and some of these traits could potentially be useful for genetic selection.

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  • Jul
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Monoammonium glycyrrhizinate improves antioxidant capacity of calf intestinal epithelial cells exposed to heat stress in vitro


    In this study, we investigated the antioxidant effect of monoammonium glycyrrhizinate (MAG) on calf intestinal epithelial cells (CIECs) exposed to heat stress in vitro. Calves are sensitive to heat stress, and high temperatures can stimulate heat stress and produce a large number of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to induce oxidative stress.

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  • Jul
    06
    Infographic: Conceptualization and implementation of the Fiber Utilization and Cell Wall Constituents Symposium


    In 1991, researchers in animal and plant sciences met at the International Symposium on Forage Cell Wall Structure and Digestibility in Madison, WI (Front Matter, 1993). At that meeting, seven sessions were organized, representing some of the biggest names in forages and ruminant nutrition, to discuss and debate the cell wall, its role in ruminant nutrition, and the advances made in the science of forage nutrition.

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  • Jul
    06
    Interpretive Summary: Forages and pastures symposium: forage biodegradation: advances in ruminal microbial ecology


    Forage degradation in the rumen is critical to producing ruminant animals. For many years, scientists were limited to biochemical techniques to understand how ruminal microbes degraded forage, impairing our understanding of which microbes were involved with degrading which forage components.

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  • Jul
    06
    Interpretive Summary: Mineral composition of serially slaughtered Holstein steers supplemented with zilpaterol hydrochloride


    Mineral requirements for feedlot cattle are largely based on measured mineral concentration in the body at harvest. Fairly extensive research has been done quantifying Ca and P in the body of cattle, but data on Mg, K, and S are sparse. Serial harvest experiments are expensive and labor intensive and therefore not conducted frequently. A group of 115 Holstein steers was fed a finishing diet with serial harvest every 28 d.

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  • Jul
    06
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of starch sources varying in particle sizes on ruminal fermentation, nutrient flow, starch digestibility, and lactation performance of dairy cows


    Starch digestibility varies greatly depending on starch source (SS), grain processing, and potentially interactions between these factors. Four ruminally cannulated lactating Holstein cows were fed a total mixed ration that varied in SS and particle sizes (PS) to evaluate the interactions between SS and PS on ruminal fermentation, nutrient flow, starch digestibility, and lactation performance of dairy cows.

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  • Jul
    06
    Interpretive Summary: Enzymatic degradation of ochratoxin A in the gastrointestinal tract of piglets


    Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a potent toxin frequently present in animal feeds, which accumulates in the animal tissues for human consumption. This results in critical animal welfare issues, as well as food safety issues. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to show that OTA can be degraded by an enzyme supplemented with pigs’ feed.

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  • Jul
    06
    Interpretive Summary: Comparison of methods for the effective evaluation of the energy content of poultry byproduct meal for beagles


    The scale of the global pet food market is expanding daily, but there are relatively few evaluations that have been performed on many of the common ingredients in pet food recently. This study compares direct, difference, and regression methods of evaluating the effects of the energy values of poultry byproduct meal (PBM), which is commonly used in beagle foods.

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  • Jul
    06
    Interpretive Summary: Cell adhesion function was altered during the seasonal regression of the seminiferous epithelium in the mink species Neovison vison


    Here, we report for the first time the molecular mechanisms of testicular regression in mink. Our results, together with studies on other animals’ characteristic reproductive features, identify a cluster of events crucial to the seminiferous epithelium regression process in mammalian seasonal breeders and highlight perspectives unique to the mink.

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  • Jun
    29
    Interpretive Summary: USTR calls for dispute settlement consultations over Mexican GMO corn restrictions


    The United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai has requested dispute settlement consultations with Mexico under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). These consultations regard certain Mexican measures concerning products of agricultural biotechnology.

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  • Jun
    29
    Interpretive Summary: The EATS Act is introduced


    In response to the Supreme Court’s decision on California Proposition 12 (Prop 12), The Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act was introduced to prevent states like California from regulating farmers and ranchers nationwide.

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  • Jun
    29
    Interpretive Summary: Texas Governor signs meat labelling law


    Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently signed a bill into law that will require labels for meat alternatives and lab-grown meat sold in the state. The law directs plant-based and other alternative products to have clarifying verbiage appear next to the label with similar size text as the product being sold.

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  • Jun
    29
    Interpretive Summary: Supreme Court rules on WOTUS


    The United States Supreme Court recently published a ruling on Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, involving the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Biden Administration’s revised Clean Water Act. The ruling limits the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in regulating certain bodies of water that qualify as WOTUS. This is a huge win for farmers and landowners.

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