High levels of melatonin have been reported in various foods but not in mulberry or its wine. This study investigated the dynamic changes of melatonin levels during mulberry fruit development and ethanol fermentation of 2 different colored mulberry cultivars ("Hongguo2ˮ Morus nigra, black and "Baiyuwangˮ Morus alba, white) at 2 fermentation temperatures (16 and 25 °C). Our results showed that the melatonin level increased in the beginning of mulberry development but decreased in the end. The MnTDC gene expression level correlated with melatonin production, which implied that TDC may be the rate-limiting enzyme of the melatonin biosynthetic process in mulberries. During mulberry fermentation, the melatonin concentration increased rapidly in the beginning and then decreased gradually. Low temperature delayed the melatonin production during fermentation. A relatively high level of melatonin was found in "Hongguo2ˮ compared with "Baiyuwangˮ during fruit development and fermentation. The variation of melatonin correlated with the ethanol production rate, suggesting that melatonin may participate in physiological regulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae during the fermentation stage.
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects and combinational effects of
Bacillus subtilis
(
BS
) and montmorillonite (
MMT
) on laying performance, gut mucosal oxidation status, and intestinal immunological and physical barrier functions of laying hens. Three hundred sixty laying hens (29-week-old) were randomly assigned to a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments (n = 6) for 10 wk as follows: (1) basal diet; (2) the basal diet plus 5 × 10
8
cfu BS/kg; (3) the basal diet plus 0.5 g MMT/kg; and (4) the basal diet plus 5 × 10
8
cfu BS/kg and 0.5 g MMT/kg. Dietary supplementation with BS increased egg production and egg mass, the activities of catalase (
CAT
) and total superoxide dismutase in the intestinal mucosa, and villus height and villus height-to-crypt depth ratio of the jejunum (
P
< 0.05) but downregulated the mRNA expression levels of toll-like receptor 4 and myeloid differentiation factor 88 (
MyD88
) in the duodenum and jejunum, interleukin 1 beta in the duodenum, and nuclear factor kappa B P65 (
NF-κB P65
) and tumor necrosis factor alpha in the jejunum (
P
< 0.05). Dietary supplementation with MMT increased egg production and egg mass, the concentration of secretory immunoglobulin A in the duodenum, and the occludin mRNA expression level in the jejunum (
P
< 0.05) but reduced feed conversion ratio, malondialdehyde concentration in the duodenum and jejunum, and the mRNA expression level of MyD88 in the jejunum (
P
< 0.05). In addition, there was an interaction effect between BS and MMT supplementation on the CAT activity and the MyD88 mRNA expression level in the duodenum and the mRNA expression level of occludin in the jejunum (
P
< 0.05). In conclusion, dietary BS and MMT and their combination may improve the intestinal health status of laying hens, which may contribute to the increase in hens' laying performance.
The objective of this experiment was to investigate the potential benefits of active dry yeast (ADY) on the growth performance, rumen fermentation, nutrient digestibility, and serum parameters of weaned beef calves. Thirty Simmental crossbred male calves (body weight = 86.47 ± 4.41 kg and 70 ± 4 d of age) were randomly divided into 2 groups: control (CON) (fed basal ration) and ADY (fed basal ration and 5 g/d ADY per calf). The dietary concentrate-to-roughage ratio was 35:65. All the calves were regularly provided rations 3 times a day at 07:00, 13:00, and 19:00 and had free access to water. The experiment lasted for 60 d. The average daily gain of ADY group was higher (
P
= 0.007) than that of the CON group, and the ratio of feed intake to average daily gain in the ADY group was reduced (
P
= 0.022) as compared to the CON group. The concentration of ruminal ammonia-N was higher (
P
= 0.023) in the CON group than that in the ADY group, but an opposite trend of microbial protein was found between the 2 groups. Also, the ruminal concentrations of propionate and butyrate were higher (
P
< 0.05) in the ADY group than those in the CON group. Calves fed ADY exhibited higher (
P
< 0.05) crude protein and neutral detergent fiber digestibility. Supplementation of ADY increased (
P
< 0.05) the contents of glucose, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, immunoglobulin A, immunoglobulin M, and interleukin 10 in the serum of calves, but an opposite trend was observed in malondialdehyde, interleukin 1 beta, and tumor necrosis factor alpha contents between the 2 groups. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with ADY could improve the growth performance, rumen fermentation, nutrient digestibility, antioxidant ability, and immune response of weaned beef calves.
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