Ecological
qualities and resources in coasts are threatened by
various human activities, such as pollution and fishery. Impact evaluation
of environmental stressors over a wide coastal stretch has been limited
due to lack of efficient and standardizable biodiversity monitoring
and assessment tools. Integrating environmental DNA (eDNA) and ecological
traits, a holistic approach was developed to assess the impact of
pollution and aquaculture on fish biodiversity in Chinese coastal
areas. Taking the Yalujiang Estuary (YLJK) from the Yellow Sea and
the Nan’ao Island Area (NAO) from the South China Sea as cases,
the performance of the eDNA biomonitoring workflow was validated.
First, the eDNA results of 22 sampling sites reached more than 85%
of the asymptotes of species or ASVs in each area. A total of 115
fish species in both areas were detected and NAO was 1.8 times richer
than YLJK using eDNA and the fish eDNA composition was consistent
with the historical data. eDNA recovered distinct variations of fish
sequence, taxonomic and functional diversity, and the corresponding
trends following the offshore distance between the two areas. Fish
sequence diversity was decreased primarily by estuarine pollution
factors (chemical oxygen demand and zinc) in the YLJK. Compared with
no breeding areas, lower fish sequence diversity was in breeding areas
in the NAO. By integrating ecological traits, the eDNA approach offers
promising opportunities for future fish biodiversity monitoring and
assessment in national and global coastal environments.
Aim
Chicory fibre (CF) is rich in fructan, which always functions as a quality dietary fibre source during mammalian pregnancy; however, its effect on reproductive performance remains unclear.
Methods and Results
40 pregnant SD rats were randomly allotted to receive one of four diets: basal diet (control group), basal diet + 5% CF, basal diet + 10% CF, and basal diet + 15% CF, respectively. We found that CF significantly increased the number born alive and total litter birth weight (P < 0·05), increased the expression of intestinal tight junction proteins, mucins and antimicrobial peptides, accompanied by the increase of villi height and the decrease of crypts depth of pregnant SD rats (P < 0·05). We also observed that CF markedly increased the acetic acid, propanoic acid, butyric acid and total SCFAs concentrations in caecum contents and promoted the expression of SCFAs‐related receptors (P < 0·05). Notably, rats fed CF increased the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes (P < 0·001), decreased the relative abundance of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, while markedly lowered the Firmicutes/ Bacteroidetes ratio (F/B ratio) (P < 0·05). Intriguingly, the number born alive and total litter birth weight were positively correlated with some probiotics and negatively correlated with other harmful bacteria by Pearson correlation analysis.
Conclusion
Collectively, CF can enhance intestinal barrier function and maintain intestinal health, and may improve reproductive performance by altering intestinal microbiota composition.
Significance and Impact of the Study
Adding suitable dietary fibre to the diet can improve the reproductive performance of sows. Indeed, there exist various problems in the application of traditional dietary fibres, including high insoluble fibre content and anti‐nutritional factor level, and mycotoxin contamination. This study demonstrates that dietary CF supplementation improves reproductive performance and intestinal health. Thus, CF can be applied in pregnancy animals as a new dietary fibre additive in animal husbandry.
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