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Bentonite is considered the most effective adsorbent for aflatoxin (AF) decontamination, and recent studies have shown that changing its structure in nano form improves its physicochemical properties and chemical stability. This study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of different types of bentonites as binders on performance, plasma metabolites, and aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) levels in contaminated milk of Baluchi ewes. The study was conducted with 12 ewes randomly assigned to four different experimental diets. The experimental diets were: (1) control (the basal diet had no supplements and contained bakery waste naturally contaminated with AF); (2) control diet supplemented with natural bentonite (NB) (5 g/kg DM); (3) control diet supplemented with modified bentonite (MB) (5 g/kg DM) and (4) control diet supplemented with magnetic bentonite nanocomposite (MBNC) (5 g/kg DM). The study found that adding bentonite clays to the diet of ewes resulted in increased milk yield (P<0.01) and milk components (P<0.01) such as fat, protein, lactose, total solids, and solids not fat. The highest milk yield and milk components were observed in the MBNC treatment. However, there was no significant difference in glucose, urea, cholesterol, albumin, globulin, and total protein among the diets (P>0.05). The study also found that increasing aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) intake resulted in a decreased carryover of AFB1 into AFM1 (P<0.01), with MBNC having the lowest carryover compared to other treatments (P<0.01). These results suggest that modification of bentonite structure in nanocomposite form improves chemical stability, physicochemical properties, and efficiency as novel toxin binders for crops and animal products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aimed to evaluate the nutritional potential of some rangeland plants by in vitro gas production kinetics and ruminal fermentation parameters in the Torbat-e Jam region using a meta-analysis approach. A comprehensive literature searches in the scientific databases was carried out to identify studies that investigated the variables of interest. The data analyzed were extracted from 13 peer-reviewed publications. The effect size of all outcomes was reported as a standardized means difference (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Q test and I² were calculated to determine the heterogeneity, and a metaregression was also used to investigate sources of heterogeneity. A significant increase for 24 h in vitro gas production (IVGP) was observed (P<0.01). Among the estimated gas parameters, potential GP (bgas) and fractional rate of GP (cgas) were increased significantly (P<0.05). Also, short chain fatty acids (SCFA) (P<0.05), microbial protein yield (MPY) (P<0.01), and ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) (P<0.01) of culture medium were increased. The values of I² (>50) and Q (P<0.05) for 24 h IVGP, bgas, cgas, SCFA, MPY and NH3-N indicated high heterogeneity. No publication bias was found for 24 h IVGP, bgas, and SCFA. With the evaluation of funnel plots, only one study on the right of each plot indicates publication bias for cgas, MPY, and NH3-N. A strong regression relation (P<0.01) between some chemical compositions (dry matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber) and MPY and NH3-N was suggested from meta-regression analysis. In conclusion, the current meta-analysis confirmed that there were differences in fermentation parameters among all rangeland plants. However, all plants species had a relatively high potential nutritive value. According to the reported fermentation parameters, it seems that most of the Torbat-e Jam rangeland plants species have high nutritional value in small ruminant feeding. More in vivo and in vitro studies are needed to assess the other nutritive values and their effects on animal performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was carried out to evaluate how interactions between forage to concentrate ratio and dietary crude protein level may alter nitrogen efficiency and UT-B expression in growing Baluchi male lambs. Four Baluchi male lambs [30 ± 2 kg BW] were used in a 4 x 4 latin square design with 28-d periods and a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of dietary treatments. The treatments fed forage: concentrate [FC; DM basis] ratios of 45:55 low concentrate (LC) or 25:75 high concentrate (HC) with dietary levels of CP of 14 low protein (LP) or 18% high protein (HP) [CP, DM basis]. Dry matter intake increased as dietary concentrate level increased. Treatments, dietary CP content and F: C ratio had significant effect on CP intake. Increasing dietary N content of the diet increased dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and organic matter (OM) digestibility. Forage to concentrate ratio had a significant effect on neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and OM digestibility. Treatments had significant effect on the CP, NDF and OM digestibility. There were an interaction between dietary CP content and F: C ratio on the ruminal pH, NH3-N concentration, individual volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration, acetate: propionate ratio and BUN concentration. Except ruminal pH, all ruminal fermentation and blood metabolite factors were affected by both dietary CP content and F: C ratio in trial. Treatments had significant influence on the NI (g/d) and urinary N excretion (g/d) (% of N intake). Also, both dietary CP content and F: C ratio had significant effect on NI. The lambs consume high crude protein treatments tended to have greater urinary N excretion (g/d) than those consume low crude protein treatments. The F: C ratio had a significant effect on urinary N excretion (g/d). Approximately 6.56 times more UT-B was expressed by the rumen ventral sac for lambs on the treatments contain 18% crude protein relative to those on the treatments contain 14% crude protein. In conclusion this study shows that changes in characteristic of the diet produce significant changes in UT-B urea transporter expression within the ovine rumen. Changing urea entry into the GIT via dietary regulation of UT-B could serve as important mechanism to maintenance of nitrogen balance and increase nitrogen efficiency in Baluchi growing lambs. Our findings suggest that the dietary regulation of urea transporters plays a major role in altering urea entry into the gastrointestinal tract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]