Featured Articles

  • Jun
    29
    Interpretive Summary: Study finds carbon footprint of lab-grown beef might be worse than real beef


    A new preprint article from researchers at The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) has found that lab-grown meat’s environmental impact is likely to be higher than retail beef based on current and near-term production methods. Lab-grown meat is growing in popularity. It is cultured from animal cells and is often thought to be more environmentally friendly than beef due to the need for less land, water, and greenhouse gases compared to raising cattle.

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  • Jun
    29
    Interpretive Summary: SAVE Act is introduced


    The Safeguarding American Value-Added Exports Act (SAVE Act) was recently introduced in the House and Senate, to protect American food products from foreign trade practices.

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  • Jun
    29
    Interpretive Summary: New bill would support ag education at community colleges


    A new bill introduced by Senators John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Todd Young (R-IN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Roger Wicker (R-MS) would fund community college workforce training, education, and research programs in agriculture.

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  • Jun
    29
    Interpretive Summary: NAMI launches the Protein PACT Academic Advisory Council


    The North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) recently announced the launch of the Protein PACT Academic Advisory Council. The advisory council was formed to advise on research priorities and the latest evidence related to meat production and consumption.

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  • Jun
    29
    Interpretive Summary: Lawmakers request funding for land-grant institutions


    House Ag Committee Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Ranking Member David Scott (D-GA) recently sent an open letter to 18 state governors calling for increased funding for 1890 Land-Grand Institutions. The 1890 land-grant institutions are historically black universities that were established under the Second Morrill Act of 1890. The United States of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA's) 1890 land-grant institutions programs are intended to strengthen research, extension, and teaching in the food and agricultural sciences by building the institutional capacities of the 1890 Institutions.

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  • Jun
    29
    Interpretive Summary: FMMO hearing set for August


    The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has set August 23, 2023, as the date for the hearing to revise the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) system. If all goes to plan, an updated FMMO system could be actively benefiting farmers in late 2024.

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  • Jun
    22
    Interpretive Summary: Nutrient profile, amino acid digestibility, true metabolizable energy, and indispensable amino acid scoring of whole hemp seeds for use in canine and feline diets


    Hemp products have become popular in the human food and health industry over the past few years. Due to this, a growing interest in using hemp ingredients in animal products has developed as well.

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  • Jun
    22
    Interpretive Summary: The 13C-bicarbonate technique as a tool for measurement of energy expenditure in overweight dogs undergoing body weight reduction and the effect of different dietary composition


    The most common nutritional disorder in dogs is overweight, and knowledge about dogs’ energy requirement is therefore important to adjust daily feed allowance. Changes in body weight may affect energy expenditure (EE) and, thereby, energy requirement. This study aimed to measure such potential changes under resting conditions in overweight dogs.

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  • Jun
    22
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of five carbohydrate sources on cat diet digestibility, postprandial glucose, insulin response, and gut microbiomes


    Pet obesity is becoming increasingly common and may have a negative impact on pet health. The exploration of measures to alleviate pet obesity is urgently needed.

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  • Jun
    22
    Interpretive Summary: Short communication: Analysis of the nasal microbiota in newly received feedlot heifers according to subsequent incidence of bovine respiratory disease


    Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the most common disease in feedlot cattle and costs the US cattle industry more than $2 billion annually. Such economical losses include mortality, wasted feed resources, pharmaceutical inputs, and decreased performance of morbid cattle.

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  • Jun
    22
    Interpretive Summary: Measuring welfare in rearing piglets: test–retest reliability of selected animal-based indicators


    The present study tested selected animal welfare indicators from different welfare assessment protocols, such as the Welfare Quality protocol (WQP) for pigs, with regard to test–retest reliability (TRR), consistency over time, in an on-farm study on rearing pigs. The WQP is based on the four welfare principles: 1) “good feeding”, 2) “good housing”, 3) “good health”, and 4) “appropriate behavior”, which are assessed by different welfare indicators.

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  • Jun
    22
    Interpretive Summary: Evaluating a novel consensus bacterial 6-phytase variant on growth performance of broilers fed U.S. commercial diets deficient in nutrients and energy through 63 days of age


    As any reduction in dietary nutrients can negatively impact broiler productivity mitigating these effects is imperative. Dietary reductions in minerals, amino acids, and energy can all result in decreased growth and performance.

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  • Jun
    15
    Interpretive Summary: Are infrared thermography, feeding behavior, and heart rate variability measures capable of characterizing group-housed sow social hierarchies?


    Sows that are housed in groups establish a social hierarchy to gain preferential access to needed resources, such as feed. The establishment and maintenance of this social hierarchy may lead to reduced welfare and performance for certain sows.

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  • Jun
    15
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of early intermittent maternal separation on behavior, physiological, and growth performance in piglets


    Although management methods, such as split-suckling and foster care, in pig production can improve piglet survival rates, these methods inevitably lead to neonatal maternal separation which is an early stress on the body, and can have serious negative effects on the body. In this experiment, we investigated the effect level of neonatal maternal separation on behavior, physiology, and growth performance of piglets.

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  • Jun
    15
    Interpretive Summary: Plasma protein levels of young healthy pigs as indicators of disease resilience


    A challenge of selection for disease resilience is that it is difficult to directly select pigs that have greater resilience to multiple diseases in the healthy nucleus herd environment which is essential for breeding programs. A possible alternative is to select an indicator trait or marker that can be measured in a healthy setting, is heritable, and is associated with the genetics of disease resilience.

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  • Jun
    15
    Interpretive Summary: Genetic parameters for fleece uniformity in alpacas


    The quality of alpaca fiber is mainly assessed by a low fiber diameter. However, the fiber diameter can greatly vary along the different body locations of the animal, the industry demands not only the fineness of the fiber but also the fleece uniformity.

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  • Jun
    15
    Interpretive Summary: Genetic parameters for mouth size and their influence on growth traits in pasture-raised Nelore cattle


    Evaluating traits that allow breeders to increase production efficiency in beef production systems is important. The mouth size (MS) score is a trait easily measured and implemented by breeders. Our results showed that MS in Nelore cattle is a heritable trait, and it is favorably associated with growth traits, indicating that animals with larger mouth are heavier at weaning and gain more weight after weaning on pasture.

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  • Jun
    15
    Interpretive Summary: Reproductive performance and transcriptome analysis of ovaries at different parities in female rabbits


    The pregnancy data of 658 female rabbits from the first to sixth parities (P1 to P6) under the same mating pattern were used to assess the rate of conception at different parities. The reproductive performance and follicular development of P1, P2, and P6 female rabbits were analyzed. The results showed that conception rate was dramatically reduced in P6.

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  • Jun
    08
    Interpretive Summary: Impact of shade in beef feedyards on performance, ear temperature, and heat stress measures


    This study was performed over two separate summers to evaluate natural exposure to heat and quantify the impact that providing shade has on stress measures, estimates of body temperature, and feedlot performance.

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  • Jun
    08
    Interpretive Summary: Inclusion of Berberis vulgaris leaf in the diet of fattening lambs: effects on performance, nutrient intake, rumen fermentation, and carcass traits


    Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) leaf (BVL) is an agricultural by-product rich in plant secondary compounds such as alkaloids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and tannin. The present study was aimed to first, evaluate in vitro nutritional value of BVL and second, explore the effects of BVL inclusion in finishing lambs diet (at levels of 0%, 7.5%, and 15% dry matter [DM] of diet), in partial replacement of alfalfa hay, on performance, carcass characteristics, and ruminal fermentation.

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