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Objective: The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of increasing supplementation of Yarrowia lipolytica (YL) up to 3.0% replacing 1.6% poultry fat and 0.9% blood plasma for growth performance, intestinal health and nutrient digestibility of diets fed to nursery pigs.Methods: Twenty-four pigs weaned at 24 d of age (initial body weight at 7.2±0.6 kg) were allotted to three dietary treatments (n = 8) based on the randomized complete block. The diets with supplementation of YL (0.0%, 1.5%, and 3.0%, replacing poultry fat and blood plasma up to 1.6% and 0.9%, respectively) were fed for 21 d. Feed intake and body weight were recorded at d 0, 10, and 21. Fecal score was recorded at every odd day from d 3 to 19. Pigs were euthanized on d 21 to collect proximal and distal jejunal mucosa to measure intestinal health markers including tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-8, immunoglobulin A and immunoglobulin G. Ileal digesta was collected for apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of nutrients in diets. Data were analyzed using Proc Mixed of SAS.Results: Supplementation of YL (1.5% and 3.0%) replacing poultry fat and blood plasma did not affect growth performance, fecal score and intestinal health. Supplementation of YL at 1.5% did not affect nutrient digestibility, whereas supplementation of YL at 3.0% reduced AID of dry matter (40.2% to 55.0%), gross energy (44.0% to 57.5%), crude protein (52.1% to 66.1%), and ether extract (50.8% to 66.9%) compared to diets without supplementation.Conclusion: Yarrowia lipolytica can be supplemented at 1.5% in nursery diets, replacing 0.8% poultry fat and 0.45% blood plasma without affecting growth performance, intestinal health and nutrient digestibility. Supplementation of YL at 3.0% replacing 1.6% poultry fat and 0.9% blood plasma did not affect growth performance and intestinal health, whereas nutrient digestibility was reduced.

The objectives were to evaluate the effects of standardized ileal digestible (SID) His:Lys ratio above the current NRC requirement on growth performance, intestinal health, and mobilization of His-containing proteins, including hemoglobin, carnosine, and trypsinogen, in nursery pigs from 7 to 11 kg body weight (BW). Forty pigs (26 d of age; initial BW of 7.1 ± 0.5 kg) were allotted to 5 dietary treatments based on a randomized complete block design with sex and initial BW as blocks. Dietary treatments were supplemented with varying SID His to Lys ratios of 26%, 32%, 38%, 43%, and 49% and fed to pigs for 14 d (SID Lys = 1.22%). Feed intake and BW were recorded at d 0, 7, and 14 to measure growth performance. Blood samples were collected on d 12. Pigs were euthanized on d 14 to collect pancreas, longissimus dorsi muscles, mid-jejunum, and jejunal mucosa. Data were analyzed using the Proc Mixed of SAS. Growth performance was not affected, whereas varying SID His to Lys ratio affected hemoglobin (P

The objectives were to evaluate the effects of standardized ileal digestible (SID) His:Lys ratio above the current NRC requirement on growth performance, intestinal health, and mobilization of His-containing proteins, including hemoglobin, carnosine, and trypsinogen, in nursery pigs from 7 to 11 kg body weight (BW). Forty pigs (26 d of age; initial BW of 7.1 ± 0.5 kg) were allotted to 5 dietary treatments based on a randomized block design with sex and initial BW as blocks. Dietary treatments were supplemented with varying SID His to Lys levels of 26, 32, 38, 43, and 49% and fed to pigs for 14 d (SID Lys = 1.22%). Feed intake and BW were recorded at d 0, 7, and 14 to measure growth performance. Blood samples were collected on d 12. Pigs were euthanized on d 14 to collect pancreas, longissimus dorsi muscles, mid-jejunum, and jejunal mucosa. Data were analyzed using the Proc Mixed of SAS. Growth performance was not affected, whereas varying SID His to Lys ratio affected hemoglobin (P0.05, max: 12 g/dL at 36%), immunoglobulin A (IgA, P0.05, min: 1.25 μg/mg at 35%) in jejunal mucosa, villus height (P = 0.065, max: 536 μm at 40%) in jejunum, trypsinogen (P = 0.083, max: 242 pg/mg at 41%) in pancreas, and carnosine (P = 0.051, max: 4.7 ng/mg at 38%) in muscles. Varying SID His to Lys ratios linearly increased (P0.05, from 1.95 to 2.80 nmol/mg) protein carbonyl in muscles and decreased (P0.05, from 29.1 to 26.9%) enterocyte proliferation. In conclusion, SID His to Lys ratio between 35 and 41% in diets fed to nursery pigs at 7 to 11 kg enhanced intestinal health and maximized concentrations of His-containing proteins, indicating that His-containing proteins are effective response criteria when determining His requirement.

The objectives of this review paper are to introduce the structures and composition of various microorganisms, to show some applications of single cells as alternative protein supplements or energy feeds in swine and poultry diets, and to discuss the functional effects of microorganisms as feed additives on the growth performance and intestinal health of nursery pigs and broilers. Microorganisms, including bacteria, yeasts, and microalgae, have been commonly supplemented in animal diets because they are cost-effective, stable, and have quantitative production that provides nutritional and functional benefits to pigs and broilers. Microorganisms could be alternative antibiotics to enhance intestinal health due to bioactive components from cell wall components, which interact with receptors on epithelial and immune cells. In addition, bioactive components could be digested by intestinal microbiota to produce short-chain fatty acids and enhance energy utilization. Otherwise, microorganisms such as single-cell protein (SCP) and single-cell oils (SCOs) are sustainable and economic choices to replace conventional protein supplements and energy feeds. Supplementing microorganisms as feedstuffs and feed additives improved the average daily gain by 1.83%, the daily feed intake by 0.24%, and the feed efficiency by 1.46% in pigs and broilers. Based on the properties of each microorganism, traditional protein supplements, energy feeds, and functional feed additives could be replaced by microorganisms, which have shown benefits to animal’s growth and health. Therefore, specific microorganisms could be promising alternatives as nutritional and functional feedstuffs in animal diets.

The objective was to determine the nutritional and functional values of lysed Corynebacterium glutamicum cell mass (CGCM) as a protein supplement and a source of cell wall fragments supporting the growth and intestinal health of nursery pigs. Thirty-two pigs (21 d of age) were allotted to four treatments (n = 8) based on the randomized block design with sex and initial body weight (BW) as blocks. The main effect was the dietary supplementation of lysed CGCM (0, 0.7, 1.4, and 2.1%) replacing blood plasma and fed in two phases (10 and 11 d, respectively). Feed intake and BW were measured at the end of each phase. Pigs were euthanized on day 21 to collect jejunal tissue and mucosa to evaluate intestinal health. Ileal digesta were collected to measure the apparent ileal digestibility of nutrients in diets. Data were analyzed using Proc Mixed and Reg of SAS. Increasing daily intake of CGCM increased (linear; P < 0.05) ADG of pigs. Increasing CGCM supplementation affected (quadratic; P < 0.05) the relative abundance of Lactobacillaceae (minimum: 26.4% at 1.2% CGCM), Helicobacteraceae (maximum: 29.3% at 1.2% CGCM), and Campylobacteraceae (maximum: 9.0% at 1.0% CGCM). Increasing CGCM supplementation affected (quadratic; P < 0.05) the concentrations of immunoglobulin G (maximum: 4.94 µg/mg of protein at 1.0% CGCM) and protein carbonyl (PC; maximum: 6.12 nmol/mg of protein at 1.1% CGCM), whereas linearly decreased (P < 0.05) malondialdehyde (MDA) in the proximal jejunal mucosa. Increasing CGCM supplemention affected (quadratic; P < 0.05) intestinal enterocyte proliferation rate (maximum: 13.3% at 1.0% CGCM), whereas it did not affect intestinal morphology and the nutrient digestibility. In conclusion, supplementing 1.0% to 1.2%, reducing blood plasma supplementation by 0.7% to 0.9%, respectively, increased potential pathogenic microbiota associated in the jejunal mucosa resulting in increased immune response, enterocyte proliferation, and PC concentration. However, supplementing diets with 2.1% CGCM, replacing 1.5% blood plasma, improved growth performance, and reduced MDA without affecting nutrient digestibility, intestinal morphology, and microbiota in the jejunal mucosa. In this study, based on the polynomial contrast, supplementing 1.0% to 1.2% CGCM suppressed the benefits from blood plasma, whereas supplementing 2.1% CGCM showed functional benefits of CGCM with similar effects from blood plasma supplementation.

Gelation microneedle (GMNs) based vaccinations with tumor antigens have been considered to be an attractive method for transcutaneous immunization because of their superior ability to deliver vaccines through the stratum corneum (SC) in a minimally invasive manner, which subsequently induces adaptive antitumor immunity. In this study, molecular dynamics (MD) uniaxial tension simulations were conducted to predict the formulation of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA; possesses high water solubility) and poly(methyl vinyl ether-altmaleic anhydride) (PMVEMA; possesses high mechanical strength) blend that has the strongest mechanical properties. To validate the accuracy of the Dreiding potential for these two polymers, their densities and Hildebrand solubility parameters were first predicted using MD simulations. These values exhibited good agreement with the corresponding experimental results, indicating the accuracy of the Dreiding potential for the polymers. Regarding the simulation results, the number density of H-bonds between PVA and PMVEMA was the highest at 50% PMVEMA, which can significantly enhance the mechanical strength of pristine PVA for enhanced skin immunization. In terms of further experimental validation, evidence from mechanical strength, solubility, in vitro porcine skin penetration tests, and in vivo immunization were consistent with our simulation predictions. In addition, our results indicated that delivery of ovalbumin (OVA) using GMN patches fabricated using PVA/PMVEMA (50%/50%) provided even stronger immune responses. Using this molecular simulation procedure, the optimal fraction of PVA/PMVEMA composite for the strongest mechanical properties can be rapidly predicted to reduce research time and costs in related experiments.

The objective was to test the efficacy of L-Thr or L-Val with biomass (ThrPro or ValPro; CJ BIO, Fort Dodge, IA) on growth performance and health compared with L-Thr or L-Val (purified) in newly-weaned pigs. There were 9 dietary treatments based on NRC (2012) requirements: NC (basal diet meeting 70% of requirements for SID Thr and Val); 4 treatments based on basal diet meeting 95% of requirements: LT (with L-Thr), LV (with L-Val), PT (with ThrPro), and PV (with ValPro); HLT (fivefold L-Thr in LT), HLV (fivefold L-Val in LV), HPT (fivefold ThrPro in PT), and HPV (fivefold ValPro in PV). Pigs were fed for 26 d in 2 phases. Feed intake and BW were measured at d 0, 5, 10, 17, and 26. Blood was collected on d 21 for liver function analysis. Pigs were euthanized on d 26 to collect jejunal mucosa for gut health parameters. Data were analyzed by SAS using MIXED procedure. Pigs fed LT and LV or PT and PV had higher (P < 0.05) ADG than pigs fed NC during phase 2. Pigs fed LT, LV, PT, and PV had higher ADFI and G:F than pigs fed NC during d 17 to 26. Pigs fed PT and PV had lower (P < 0.05) G:F than pigs fed HPT and HPV during phase 2. Pigs fed LT and LV or PT and PV had lower (P < 0.05) BUN than pigs fed NC. Overall, pigs fed PT and PV had no differences in any analyzed measurements from pigs fed LT and LV and pigs fed HPT and HPV. In conclusion, PT and PV were equally efficient to LT and LV for growth performance and health. HPT and HPV did not impair liver and gut health compared with PT and PV.

The objective was to evaluate Yarrowia lipolytica (YL) as a lipid supplement fed to nursery pigs for the growth performance and apparent ileal digestibility (AID). Twenty-four pigs weaned at 21 d of age (12 barrows and 12 gilts with initial BW at 7.2 ± 0.6 kg) were allotted to 3 dietary treatments (n = 8) based on the randomized complete block design with sex and BW as blocks. The main effect was the dietary supplementation of YL (0, 1.5, and 3.0%, replacing poultry fat) with nutrients meeting or exceeding the requirements by NRC (2012) and fed to pigs for 21 d based on 2 phases. Feed intake and BW were recorded at d 0, 10, and 21 to calculate ADG, ADFI, and G:F. Fecal scores were recorded at every odd day from d 3 to 19. Pigs were euthanized on d 21 to collect ileal digesta for AID of nutrients in diets. Data were analyzed using Proc Mixed of SAS. There were no differences in growth performance among treatments. Whereas, pigs fed 0 and 1.5% YL had higher (P < 0.05) AID of DM (55.0 and 52.2% to 40.2%, respectively) and GE (62.1 and 60.6% to 49.8%, respectively) than pigs fed 3% YL. There were no differences in AID of DM and GE between the pigs fed 0% and 1.5% YL. In conclusion, 1.5% Yarrowia lipolytica could be supplemented in nursery pig diets reducing 0.8% of poultry fat without affecting growth performance and AID of DM and GE.

The objective was to determine the functional and nutritional values of Corynebacterium glutamicum Cell Mass (CGCM) on growth performance and gut health of newly-weaned pigs. Forty newly-weaned pigs (21 d of age; initial BW 7.1 ± 0.4 kg) were allotted to 5 dietary treatments based on randomized complete block design with sex and BW as blocks. The lysine broth of CGCM (CJ Bio, Fort Dodge, IA) was homogenized by using French press and dried to obtain lysed CGCM. Dietary treatments were: basal diet with lysed CGCM at 0, 0.7, 1.4, 2.1%, and with 1.4% intact CGCM. Experimental diets were formulated based on nutrient requirements (NRC, 2012) and pigs were fed based on 2 phases (10 and 11 d for each phase). Titanium dioxide (0.4%) was added to phase 2 diets as an indigestible external marker to calculate nutrient digestibility. Feed intake and BW were measured at d 0, 10, and 21. Pigs were euthanized on d 21 to collect proximal and distal jejunal mucosa to measure TNF-α, IL-8, MDA, IgA, and IgG concentrations. Diets and ileal digesta were collected to measure AID. Data were analyzed by SAS using MIXED, REG, and GLM procedures. Overall, increasing daily lysed CGCM intake increased (P < 0.05) ADG (211 to 296 g) and ADFI (432 to 501 g). Increasing levels of lysed CGCM decreased (P < 0.05) MDA and changed (quadratic, P < 0.05) IgA (max: 4.90 ng/mg at 1.13%) and IgG (max: 3.37 ng/mg at 1.04%) in the proximal jejunal mucosa. Increasing daily lysed CGCM intake had quadratic effect (P< 0.05) of protein carbonyl (max: 6.3 μmol/mg at 4.9 g/d). Lysed CGCM potentially benefits growth performance and gut health of newly-weaned pigs by reducing oxidative stress and increasing immune response.

Fermented soybean meal (FSBM) has smaller peptides and reduced anti-nutritional factors compared with those in conventional SBM. Apparent and true ileal digestibilities (AID and TID) of AA in FSBM were measured using both a direct method and a substitution method. Forty eight (24 barrows and 24 gilts) pigs at 7 kg BW were allotted to 4 dietary treatments (n = 12) based on a randomized complete block design with sex and initial body weight as blocks. Treatments includes NFD (semi-purified N free diet to measure endogenous AA loss), NFSB (NFD with 20% FSBM; Genebiotech Co., Ltd. and Nutraferma, Inc), CBD (corn basal diet), and CBSB (CBD at 80% and FSBM at 20%). NFD and NFSB were used to directly measure AID and TID AA of FSBM, whereas NFD, CBD, and CBSB were used to indirectly calculate AID and TID AA of FSBM using a substitution method. Experimental diets included TiO2 (0.4%). Pigs were fed experimental diets for 10 days. Feed allowance was based on 0.09 x BW0.75 kg per day. All pigs were euthanized at the end of the experiments to collect ileal digesta. Diets and ileal digesta were used to quantify TiO2 and AA. Data were analyzed using Mixed Procedure of SAS 9.4. Dietary treatment was the main effect and blocks were random effects. Endogenous AA loss was 2.48 g. When measured by a direct method, AID and TID of Lys, Met, Thr, and Trp were 72.1 and 89.8%, 74.9 and 92.1%, 61.0 and 88.5%, and 72.2 and 92.2%, respectively. When measured by a substitution method, AID and TID of Lys, Met, Thr, and Trp were 64.7 and 84.4%, 60.5 and 77.9%, 36.2 and 57.0%, and 58.2 and 81.0%, respectively. Overall, a direct method showed higher AID and TID AA in FSBM than those measured by a substitution method.

Feed enzymes provide opportunities to enhance nutrient utilization and intestinal health of newly weaned pigs. The objective of this study was to evaluate supplemental effects of multi-enzymes in diets that are 7% deficient in SID Lys and other essential amino acids. Sixty four pigs weaned at 7.22 ± 0.04 kg BW were allotted to 2 dietary treatments with 8 replicates per treatment and 4 pigs per pen based on a completely randomized block design using sex and initial BW as blocks. Dietary treatment was the supplementation of multi-enzymes (4,000 U of xylanase, 150 U of amylase, 150 of β-glucanase, and 3,000 of U protease/kg, DuPont Animal Nutrition, UK). Pigs were fed based on 2 phases (14 and 27 days for each phase). Phase 2 diets included titanium dioxide as an indigestible external marker to calculate nutrient digestibility. Body weight and feed intake were measured at d 0, 14, and 42. From d 40 to 42, fresh fecal samples were collected from each pen and pooled by pen, weighed, freeze dried, and ground. Diet and fecal samples were used to quantify dry matter, titanium dioxide, and gross energy. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS. Initial BW were not different among treatments. Supplementation of multi-enzymes increased (P < 0.05) ADG (69 to 131 g/d), ADFI (134 to 181 g/d), and G:F (0.411 to 0.717) during phase 1. During phase 2, growth performance was not different among pigs. Supplementation of multi-enzyme increased (P < 0.05) apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of gross energy (84.5 to 89.3%). From this study, supplementation of 4,000 U of xylanase, 150 U of β-glucanase, 3,000 U of protease/kg, and 150 U amylase enhanced growth performance of pigs during the first 14 days after weaning and energy digestibility at 42 days after weaning.

The effects of encapsulated sodium butyrate (SB), phytogenics (PH), or a combination were studied on intestinal health of nursery pigs. Phytogenics were blends of dry herbs and essential oil components. Forty-eight weaned pigs (21-d-old; 6.9 ± 0.6 kg BW) were individually housed, blocked by initial BW and sex, allotted to 4 dietary treatments (n = 12) in a RCBD, and fed for 33-d (P1: 0–7; P2: 7–19; and P3: 19–33). Treatments were arranged by 2 factors: SB (P1: 0.2% and P2: 0.1%) and PH (P3: 0.033%). Diets were formulated to meet or exceed NRC (2012) nutrient requirements and pigs were fed ad libitum. For each phase, ADG, ADFI, and G:F were measured. Fecal scores were assessed during d 3–19 and d 26–33. Blood samples were drawn in P2 and P3 to measure tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), IL-6, and immunoglobulin G (IgG). Four pigs at P2 and 8 pigs in P3 from each treatment were euthanized to collect jejunal tissue, jejunal mucosa, and ileal digesta to measure gut histology, TNF-α, IL-6, myeloperoxidase (MPO), malondialdehyde (MDA), and protein carbonyl. Data were analyzed using PROC MIXED of SAS. Fixed effects were treatments and random effects were blocks. In P2 and P1-2, SB decreased (P < 0.05) ADFI whereas no effect on ADG and G:F. In P2, SB tended to decrease (P = 0.063) villus height to crypt depth ratio (VH:CD) whereas increased (P < 0.05) enterocyte proliferation in P3. In P3 and overall, PH increased (P < 0.05) G:F. No changes were found in TNF-α, IL-6, MPO, MDA, IgG, and protein carbonyl. Conclusively, SB and a combinational use of SB and PH showed minimal effects on growth performance and gut health when added to the diets of nursery pigs. However, PH supplementation increased feed efficiency of nursery pigs during 19–33 d post-weaning.

In this paper, we deal with the problem of providing Video-on-Demand service under Scheduled Video Delivery (SVD) paradigm, which allows users to request a video for instant viewing or later viewing. In this paradigm, a major concern for the server is how to schedule the delivery of requested videos to assure users a continuous playback while utilizing its limited channels more efficiently. We propose a novel approach, P2MCMD, to deal with this problem. P2MCMD treats the service of video delivery in finer granularity. What is scheduled is segment-based multicast groups instead of video-based multicast groups. With the aid of dynamic multicast, the server is enabled to allocate its delivery resources flexibly and efficiently. The uneven popularity of provided videos are also taken into account and exploited so that the produced delivery schedule has the potential to boost the degree of multicast, thereby making the server achieve higher channel utilization. Moreover, peer-to-peer cooperation is employed to alleviate the workload at the server. The server can be relieved of the retransmission of duplicate video segments by enabling a latecomer to appeal to early arriving peers for the missing initial video segments. The performance of P2MCMD is evaluated through simulation. The experimental results show that our proposed approach can scale to a larger number of requests and allow the provision of a wider variety of videos at the server as compared to the existing approaches for SVD paradigm.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) media streaming systems have recently become a major type of application traffic. In these applications, an important issue has been the block scheduling problem, which determines how each peer exchanges the data blocks from others. Scalable streaming in P2P networks has recently been proposed to address the heterogeneity of the network environment. In this paper, we first define a priority function for each block according to the block's significance for video content. The block scheduling problem is then transformed to an optimization problem that maximizes the priority sum of the delivered video blocks. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm offers excellent performance for P2P streaming service.

The cooperation among peers has been a key factor in the success of peer-to-peer (P2P) media streaming systems. However, practical observations corroborate the prevalence of free riders in existing P2P systems, which significantly degrade the performance of the systems. In this paper, we investigate the design of an incentive mechanism for P2P media streaming and propose a barter-based incentive mechanism. By making peers possess symmetrical ability to serve each other, our proposed mechanism allows for direct reciprocity between peers, thereby greatly reducing the complexity of encouraging peers to contribute and preventing peers from free riding. Moreover, cheating behavior of malicious peers can be detected and thwarted in an effective and lightweight manner. The experimental results show that our proposed incentive mechanism can boost the cooperation level among peers and thus the scalability of the system.