Increase of forage dryness induces differentiated anatomical response in the sheep rumen compartments

Scocco, Paola; Mercati, Francesca; Tardella, Federico Maria; Catorci, Andrea

doi:10.1002/jemt.22692

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This type of diet, in experimentations regarding sheep grazing, demonstrated how, feeding on this forage type, increased the rumen keratinization [12] and lowered the absorption of nutrients. For this reason, it is not feasible to use sheep grazing as a method for grassland recovery [20,21] and mowing should be the best practice in the restoration of Brachypodium-invaded grasslands [12]. Mowing is considered one of the most appropriate management types for ensuring the high conservation value of grasslands [22,23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the Effects of Disturbance from Those of Dominant Tall Grass Features in Driving the Functional Variation of Restored Grassland in a Sub-Mediterranean Context

et al. 2019

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Land abandonment in sub-Mediterranean grasslands causes the spread of tall-grasses, affecting biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Mowing allows the recovery of the coenological composition after invasion, but the mechanisms acting at the fine-scale are poorly investigated. Since 2010 in the Central Apennines, we fenced a grassland invaded by Brachypodium rupestre, divided it into two areas, half of each was mowed biyearly and half remained unmown. In 2017 we selected ten 20 × 20 cm experimental units per half-area, collecting data on species occurrences, plant traits, B. rupestre height and phytomass. We used generalized linear mixed-effect modelling to disentangle the role of mowing from the impact of B. rupestre features in driving the community functional variations. Mowing was the main driver in the recovery process, acting as an abiotic filter (enhancement of tolerance-avoidance strategies). Furthermore, the reduction of weaker competitor exclusion processes fostered the increase of functional variation between coexisting species. Both drivers acted on different plant traits (e.g., mowing on life span, vegetative propagation types and plant height, mowing and B. rupestre features on space occupation types, seed mass and leaf anatomy), generally enhancing the extent of functional strategies related to resource acquisition and storage, reproduction, space occupation and temporal niche exploitation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the Effects of Disturbance from Those of Dominant Tall Grass Features in Driving the Functional Variation of Restored Grassland in a Sub-Mediterranean Context

et al. 2019

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“…The natural and semi-natural pastures in the central Apennines in Italy are used as trophic resources for zootechny, but the increase in summer aridity causes a decrease in the pastoral value of the grasslands; in fact, it is registering an anticipation of the moment of pasture maximum flowering and a shortening of the period between maximum flowering and maximum dryness of pastures. This fact reflects on a lower availability of both forage quality and quantity; the increase in drought stress is therefore detrimental to the sustainability of extensive sheep farms because it affects the morpho-functional features of the animals [1,2,3,4] and greatly reduces milk production [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apelin System in Mammary Gland of Sheep Reared in Semi-Natural Pastures of the Central Apennines

Mercati

Maranesi

Dall’Aglio

et al. 2018

Animals

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Simple SummaryGrazing activity is fundamental to natural grassland biodiversity preservation. Increasing summer aridity decreases the grassland pastoral value, negatively affecting animal morpho-functional features and production with detrimental effects on the extensive sheep farming sustainability. Since adipokines represent a link between a subject’s energy availability and tissue metabolism, we investigated the presence and distribution of the system composed of the adipokine apelin and its receptor in the mammary gland of sheep during the period between maximum flowering and maximum dryness of the pasture, providing a group of sheep with food supplementation. This work represents a part of a wider study aimed to buffer the negative effects of increasing summer drought stress on farm income and to maintain the grassland biodiversity. Our findings improve the knowledge of apelin/receptor system function on the sheep mammary gland and this could be a useful tool in the farm management practices.AbstractSheep are the most bred species in the Central Italy Apennine using the natural pastures as a trophic resource and grazing activity is fundamental to maintain the grassland biodiversity: this goal can be reached only ensuring an economical sustainability to the farmers. This study aimed to investigate the apelin/apelin receptor system in ovine mammary gland and to evaluate the differences induced by food supplementation, in order to shed light on this system function. A flock of 15 Comisana x Appenninica adult dry ewes were free to graze from June until pasture maximum flowering (MxF). From this period to pasture maximum dryness (MxD), in addition to grazing, the experimental group (Exp) was supplemented with 600 g/day/head of cereals. Apelin and apelin receptor were assessed by Real-Time PCR and immunohistochemistry on the mammary glands of subjects pertaining to MxF, MxD and Exp groups. They were detected in alveolar and ductal epithelial cells. The pasture maximum flowering group showed significant differences in apelin expression compared with experimental and MxD groups. Apelin receptor expression significantly differed among the three groups. The reduced apelin receptor expression and immunoreactivity levels during parenchyma involution enables us to hypothesize that apelin receptor plays a modulating role in the system control.

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“…Several studies have shown that papillary morphometry can vary with the type of diet [24][25][26] especially in growing animals. It is therefore imperative that studies specify the type of feed used and that such feeding regimens be maintained in experimental groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphometric and stereological methods for quantifying the coarse structural parameters of the ruminal tissues in sheep

Makanya

Mills-Thompson

Nguhiu-Mwangi

et al. 2020

International Journal of Veterinary Science and Medicine

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In ruminants, the rumen is the largest and most significant fore-stomach. Stereological analysis of important structural parameters that may be used to assess the functional capacity of the rumen is lacking. In the current investigation, five rams were used to demonstrate the methods for quantifying salient structural parameters related to rumen function. The sheep were euthanized with 20% sodium pentobarbital intravenously, the rumen was dissected out and divided into the various sacs for gross examination, and fixation by total immersion in 10% formalin. Macroscopic ruminal surface area was estimated using the point-associated area method. Volumes of the ruminal tissues were estimated by the volume displacement method, while volume densities of the components of the ruminal wall were estimated by point counting methods. Tissue blocks for histology were obtained by systematic random sampling and processed to obtain vertical sections for surface area and volume estimations. Papillary densities and numbers were estimated from horizontal sections. The volume of ruminal tissue was 536.54 ± 80.52 cm 3 , the macroscopic surface area was 1091 ± 115.75 cm 2 with a papillary packing density of 84.64 ± 10.99 cm −2. Average absolute surface area was 4726.74 ± 628.56 cm 2. The total number of ruminal papillae per rumen was 92,884.91 ± 6216.46. The methods documented here provide the possibility of doing a detailed stereological analysis of ruminal tissue in different experimental or even pathological conditions.

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Increase of forage dryness induces differentiated anatomical response in the sheep rumen compartments

Cited by 16 publications

References 24 publications

Disentangling the Effects of Disturbance from Those of Dominant Tall Grass Features in Driving the Functional Variation of Restored Grassland in a Sub-Mediterranean Context

Disentangling the Effects of Disturbance from Those of Dominant Tall Grass Features in Driving the Functional Variation of Restored Grassland in a Sub-Mediterranean Context

Apelin System in Mammary Gland of Sheep Reared in Semi-Natural Pastures of the Central Apennines

Morphometric and stereological methods for quantifying the coarse structural parameters of the ruminal tissues in sheep

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