Mastitis is a major endemic disease in dairy cows resulting in significant economic losses for the dairy industry. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is a nuclear receptor that is able to bind and be activated by natural (e.g., fatty acids) and synthetic (e.g. thiazolidinedione) compounds. PPARγ plays important roles...
As the world population continues to grow we must look for smarter and more sustainable ways to feed everyone. Milk is the first food humans consume and is a good source of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. The following studies sought to determine the effect of feeding blackberry pomace as a...
Animal welfare is an essential component of agricultural production and animal use in teaching and research. However, defining animal welfare is intrinsically difficult because of how history and societal values and perceptions have shaped the term. Animal welfare encompasses three main ideas: physical well-being, normal affective/emotional states, and the ability...
During the peripartum period (3 weeks before through 3 weeks after calving, a.k.a. “transition”), high producing dairy cows experience, among others, , oxidative stress and immune suppression that compromise performance and increased incidence of diseases.Among trace minerals, supplementation of Selenium (Se) can help to improve the transition by enhancing glutathione...
Nutrigenomics is a branch of nutrition that seeks to elucidate the relationship between dietary components and expression of genes. Certain bioactive compounds present in the diet have the potential to modulate transcription of genes through their interactions with ligand-dependent nuclear receptors, a series of transcriptional regulators capable of sensing intracellular...
Oxidative dysfunction can affect dairy animals during periods of heightened stress, particularly during the transition from pregnancy to lactation and during diseases, such as intramammary infection (IMI), and can contribute to increased inflammation, immune dysfunction, and cell death. As such, methods for ameliorating oxidative stress and restoring redox regulation may...
Spent hemp biomass (SHB) is a byproduct of the cannabinoid oil production which currently is not approved as a livestock feed ingredient. The 2018 Farm Bill defined the difference between varieties of the cannabis sativa plant as either non-hemp cannabis or hemp which has equal to or less than 0.3...