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Context: Soybean meal (SBM) is the most important protein source used to feed dairy cows, and methods have been developed to increase its nutritional value by protecting the proteins against rumen degradation. Protection of solvent-extracted SBM with saturated fats can achieve this, but effects on lactation performance and nutrient digestibility have not been investigated. Aims: We evaluated effects on performance, nutrient digestibility and blood metabolites of high-yielding dairy cows when dietary solvent-extracted SBM was partially replaced with two fat-coated SBM products containing palmitic acid or a palmitic–stearic acid mix, or with standard heat-treated SBM. Methods: Forty lactating Holstein cows were used in a randomised complete block design experiment with two phases each of 26 days (20 days of diet adaptation and 6 days of data collection). Experimental diets comprised (per kg DM) 271 g maize silage, 138 g other forages and 590 g concentrate, with 6.74 MJ net energy for lactation, 157 g crude protein and 366 g neutral detergent fibre. The control diet contained solvent-extracted SBM at 73.1 g/kg, which was partially replaced in the three test diets: two with fat-coated SBM (400 g fat/kg, enriched with palmitic acid or 50:50 palmitic:stearic acids), and one with heat-treated SBM. Diets were offered ad libitum during the experiment, and cows were milked three times daily. Key results: Solvent-extracted SBM had significantly lower rumen undegraded protein concentration than the other three products. Dry matter intake was not affected by dietary treatment (27.7 ± 0.531 kg/day), nor was milk yield (47.8–50.3 kg/day), but milk fat yield tended to be greater (P < 0.10) with diets containing fat-coated than solvent-extracted SBM. The diet with palmitic acid coated SBM showed higher apparent total tract digestibilities of ether extract, dry matter, organic matter, crude protein and neutral detergent fibre than palmitic:stearic acid coated or solvent-extracted SBM treatments. Heat-treated SBM diet likewise showed higher digestibilities of ether extract, dry matter, organic matter, and acid and neutral detergent fibres than the solvent-extracted SBM diet. Concentrations of urea nitrogen in plasma and milk were not affected by treatment. Conclusions: Feeding heat-treated or fat-coated SBM did not increase milk production of high-yielding cows; however, use of fat-coated SBM increased milk fat yield. Both palmitic acid coating and heat treatment improved total tract digestibility. Implications: Feeding fat-coated SBM to dairy cows can protect SBM in the rumen and increase milk fat yield. Meeting the protein needs of high-yielding cows for optimum production is critical, with soybean meal being the most important protein source used to feed dairy cows. Its nutritional value can be increased by protecting proteins against rumen degradation, and to this end, we developed a new method of fat coating of solvent-extracted soybean meal. The results show that the technique was successful in protecting soybean meal and increasing milk fat yield of dairy cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of α-linolenic acid (ALA) on developmental competence of oocytes in goats were evaluated in this study. Initially, the level of ALA in small and large antral follicles was determined to be in a range of 0.018-0.028 mg/ml (64.6-100.6 μM, respectively). In vitro maturation was performed in the presence of various concentrations (10, 50, 100, or 200 μM) of ALA. Cumulus expansion, meiotic maturation, levels of intracellular glutathione (GSH), embryonic cleavage, blastocyst formation following parthenogenetic activation (PA) and in vitro fertilization (IVF), number of total and apoptotic cells in blastocyst, and expression of Bax, Bcl-2, and p53 genes in blastocyst cells were determined. Compared with the control, no improvement was observed in cumulus expansion in ALA-treated groups. At 50 μM concentration, ALA increased meiotic maturation rate but had no effect on GSH level. When oocytes treated with 50 μM ALA were subsequently used for PA or IVF, a higher rate of blastocyst formation was observed, and these embryos had a higher total cell number and a lower apoptotic cell number. Expression analyses of genes in blastocysts revealed lesser transcript abundances for Bax gene, and higher transcript abundances for Bcl-2 gene in 50 μM ALA group. Expression of p53 gene was also less observed in ALA-treated blastocysts. Our results show that ALA treatment at 50 μM during in vitro maturation (IVM) had a beneficial effect on maturation of goat oocytes and this, in turn, stimulated embryonic development and regulated apoptotic gene expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of supplemental zinc (Zn) on performance, nutrient digestibility, and plasma Zn status in Zandi lambs. In experiment 1, 18 male lambs (BW = 21.30 ± 0.55 kg) were fed a basal diet containing 22.8 mg Zn/kg dry matter (DM) with no supplemental Zn (control) or 20 mg of supplemental Zn/kg of DM from Zn sulfate (ZnS) or Zn peptide (ZnP). Average daily gain and dry matter intake were higher for the lambs fed the diet supplemented with ZnP. Feed conversion ratio was significantly (P < 0.05) lower in the ZnP group compared to the control and ZnS groups. In experiment 2, an in vitro gas production technique was used to evaluate the effects of zinc source on the gas production parameters. Rate of gas production after 6 h and total production of gas after 24 and 48 h did not differ between groups. In vitro DM digestibility, short-chain fatty acids, and ME content were increased (P < 0.05) by ZnP supplementation when compared to the ZnS and control groups. The results of this study showed that feeding ZnP improves performance and digestibility of DM and could result in higher metabolizable energy and short-chain fatty acid yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]