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Background During maturation, spermatozoa acquire motility and fertilizing capacity as they transit through the epididymis. In recent years, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis has been employed in proteomics studies conducted in rat, boar and human. However, there has not been a complete information regarding the proteins associated with sperm maturation in the epididymis. In this study, we employed iTRAQ proteomics to investigate proteins associated with sperm maturation between yak and cattleyak epididymis. Results After a successful sampling and protein extraction, the iTRAQ coupled with LC-MS/MS mass spectrometry and bioinformatics analysis were performed. We identified 288 differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) between yak and cattleyak epididymis; 151 were up-regulated while 137 were down-regulated in cattleyak relative to yak. Gene Ontology analysis identified that down-regulated DAPs in cattleyak were mostly enriched in the acetylation of protein component, along with negative and positive regulatory activities. iTRAQ proteomics data showed that the top up-regulated DAPs were mainly enriched in cell communication, cell adhesion, cytoskeleton organization, stress response, post-translational modifications and metabolic functions while the down-regulated DAPs were predominantly associated with sperm maturation, long-term sperm storage, sperm forward motility, sperm-oocyte fusion and regulatory functions. Conclusion These results provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying male cattleyak sterility.

Supplementation of tannin extract with proper dosage can increase the protein precipitation, decreasing the ruminal protein losses, ensuring the availability of nutrient and their utilization in the body. Nine early lactating Nili Ravi buffaloes were selected and divided into 3 groups. Buffaloes were randomly assigned to 1of 3 treatments in a 3× 3 Latin square design. Treatments were 0, 15, and 30 g/d per animal supplemental levels of tannin extract. The period length of each treatment was 21 days. All the buffaloes were fed similar basal diet and tannin extract was mixed in concentrate. Dry matter intake and milk protein content increased linearly with increasing tannin supplementation. Nitrogen intake, apparent digestibility of nitrogen, and milk nitrogen efficiency were similar among treatments. Blood urea nitrogen and milk urea nitrogen decreased with tannin supplementation indicating reduced protein degradation. Manure scoring increased but feed efficiency decreased linearly with increasing level of tannin supplemental level. Overall, it is observed that tannin supplementation decreases blood and milk urea nitrogen and increases milk protein content and tends to increase dry matter intake.

The effect of microencapsulated butyric acid (MEBA) on growth performance, ileal digestibility (ID) of protein, gut health and immunity was assessed in broilers. A total of 336 d-old Hubbard Classic broilers chicks were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments (Control, 0.25, 0.35 and 0.45 g/kg of MEBA). Each treatment was replicated three times with 28 birds/replicate. Feed intake, body weight gain, FCR, intestinal morphology, ID of protein and immunity was evaluated. At 35-d of age, three birds/replicate were randomly selected and slaughtered to collect blood, duodenal samples, and ileal digesta. The Improved body weight gain (P = 0.05), FCR (P<0.01), duodenal villous height (P<0.05) and ID (P<0.1) were observed; whereas, unresponsive treatment effect with respect to feed intake (P>0.5) and antibody titer against Newcastle disease (P>0.05) were noted. The results indicated that MEBA improves digestion and absorptive processes which consequently improved the broilers performance.

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The growth performance of six-hundred (600) growing Japanese quails,distributed according to completely randomized design into 3 treatment groups(5 replicates/ treatment of 40 birds each) was recorded to evaluate the effect of feeding single and multi-strain bacteria. The experiment lasted for 4 weeks. Significant(P0.05) results were observed regarding weight gain, folds of weight gain and FCR in the group fed multi-strain bacteria. Improved(P0.05)total tract protein digestibility was detected in birds fed the diet containing multi-strain bacteria. Higher blood glucose level (P0.05)was noticed in the group fed with single-strain bacteria.Blood cholesterol level inbirds fedsingle and multi-strain bacteria was found higher (P0.05). Enhanced(P0.05)carcass characteristics and dressing percentage were recorded in birds fed with single strain bacteria.Superior (P0.05) weights of bursa and spleen wererecordedin the group fed with single-strain bacteria.

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