Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Manfred Schönleben Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Statistics and Operation Analysis, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University, Brno, Czech Republic Author-Name: Joachim Mentschel Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Business Development, Sano - The Animal Nutritionists, Grafenwald, Loiching, Germany Author-Name: Luboš Střelec Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Statistics and Operation Analysis, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University, Brno, Czech Republic Title: Towards smart dairy nutrition: Improving sustainability and economics of dairy production Abstract: To satisfy increasing food and nutrient supply requirements for our growing future human population, farmers and staple food producers carry vital responsibilities. Especially farmers with ruminant livestock like dairy cows transform otherwise for human consumption unsuitable fibre into highly nutritious milk and meat. Nevertheless, dairy farmers are challenged increasingly by the consequences of global warming. Economic risks like feed supply and volatile commodity prices need to be balanced, also taking into account the increasing environmental awareness of end-customers. Focusing just on emissions, dairy production is contributing an essential part of the total carbon footprint emitted by the agricultural sector. Since rumen degradability of feed was identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as one of the most influential parameters in reducing the carbon footprint of dairy farming, the desire to exploit leverage potential for efficiency increases can be considered exceptionally high. Although the positive effects of improved feed, in other words, neutral detergent fibre rumen degradability for dairy farming are well understood, detailed information on the correct management to obtain well digestible feed sources is still missing. Using the smart dairy nutrition ration formulation concept, applying readily on-farm available digitized data and management information the objectives of this study were: 1) to assess the influential parameters which govern neutral detergent fibre rumen degradability of corn silage, using a set of 584 corn silages from multiple years, and 2) to evaluate within an integrated dairy production set up the economic and ecological improvement potential by feeding a subset of 28 different corn silages, including detailed variety information. Results show that the neutral detergent fibre rumen degradability is primarily governed by variety choice and can be four times more important than the correct harvest stage decision. By feeding corn silage varieties with high neutral detergent fibre rumen degradability, monetary income could be increased by ~10% while simultaneously reducing manure accumulation. Keywords: CNCPS, NDF rumen degradability, sustainable dairy farming, digitization, IOFC Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 153-161 Volume: 65 Issue: 5 Year: 2020 DOI: 10.17221/16/2020-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/16/2020-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-202005-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:65:y:2020:i:5:id:16-2020-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Gaofei Liu Author-Workplace-Name: College of Animal Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi City, P.R. China Author-Name: Xiong Yu Author-Workplace-Name: College of Animal Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi City, P.R. China Author-Name: Shengli Li Author-Workplace-Name: College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Wei Shao Author-Workplace-Name: College of Animal Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi City, P.R. China Author-Name: Nan Zhang Author-Workplace-Name: Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy (Group) Co., Ltd, Inner Mongolia, P.R. China Title: Effects of dietary microalgae (Schizochytrium spp.) supplement on milk performance, blood parameters, and milk fatty acid composition in dairy cows Abstract: The objective of this study was to examine the effects of dietary inclusion of microalgae (Schizochytrium spp.) on milk yield, milk composition, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) transfer efficiency in dairy cows. Thirty-six lactating Chinese-Holstein dairy cows were randomly allocated to three treatment groups (n = 12; 0, 170, and 255 g microalgae supplement per day) in a 60-day experimental period. No significant treatment effect was observed on DMI and milk performance. Similarly, there was no significant microalgae supplement effect on blood haematological and biochemical parameters, except for platelets (P < 0.01) and thrombocytosis (P < 0.01), suggesting that the inclusion of microalgae in dairy cow diets would not affect production performance and animal health. Compared to the control group, adding 170 and 255 g microalgae to diets significantly increased the proportion of linoleic acid, DHA, n-3 and n-3/n-6 ratio in the blood (P < 0.05). Consequently, DHA concentration and n-3/n-6 ratio were increased in milk, indicating that the milk fatty acid composition could be affected by nutritional manipulation. The overall DHA transfer efficiency was 10.1% and 11.3% for 170 and 255 g microalgae supplement, suggesting that the addition of microalgae to dairy cow diets is a feasible strategy to produce DHA enriched milk in practice. Keywords: bovine, docosahexaenoic acid, microalgae, production performance Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 162-171 Volume: 65 Issue: 5 Year: 2020 DOI: 10.17221/19/2020-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/19/2020-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-202005-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:65:y:2020:i:5:id:19-2020-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Magdaléna Štolcová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Cattle Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Dalibor Řehák Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Cattle Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Luděk Bartoň Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Cattle Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Radko Rajmon Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic Title: Blood biochemical parameters measured during the periparturient period in cows of Holstein and Fleckvieh breeds differing in production purpose Abstract: The aim of this study was to compare the metabolic status of dairy and dual-purpose cows kept in a single herd under identical management conditions. Milk yield and blood biochemical parameters were examined during the periparturient period in Holstein (H) and Fleckvieh (F) cows. Blood samples were first taken on average 14 days prior to the expected date of calving, next in the peripartal period (1-4 days postpartum), and then at weekly intervals (together with milk samples) until the end of the experiment (8 weeks postpartum). Milk yields were higher in H cows from the second week after calving whereas milk protein content always was higher in F cows over the whole experimental period. The level of metabolic stress determined using blood concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), triglycerides, and cholesterol was similar in both breeds. The proportion of animals with concentrations of NEFA and BHB above thresholds indicating increased risk of negative energy balance and subclinical ketosis was higher in the H breed in the first 2 weeks after calving. This corresponds with numerically higher concentrations of NEFA and BHB in H cows. Changes in the protein status of animals generally reflected the development in energy metabolism parameters. Serum total protein, albumin,and urea levels were similar in the two breeds. Total globulin was higher in H cows than in F cows in weeks 3, 4, and 5 after calving, and the albumin-to-globulin ratio was lower in H cows than in F cows in weeks 2, 3, and 4 after calving. In conclusion, although the onset of changes in key metabolic parameters was rather faster and more pronounced in the H breed, similar dynamics in the development of these parameters indicated similar levels of adaptive performance and body energy mobilization processes in the two breeds. Keywords: breed, dairy cattle, energy profile, periparturient period, protein status Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 172-181 Volume: 65 Issue: 5 Year: 2020 DOI: 10.17221/99/2020-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/99/2020-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-202005-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:65:y:2020:i:5:id:99-2020-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Hanfang Bi Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Shanshan Xie Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: Beijing Century Legend Bioscience Co., Ltd., Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Chunbo Cai Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Lili Qian Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Translational Medicine, Qingdao University, Qingdao, P.R. China Author-Name: Shengwang Jiang Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Gaojun Xiao Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Biao Li Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Xiang Li Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Wentao Cui Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China Title: Frameshift mutation in myostatin gene by zinc-finger nucleases results in a significant increase in muscle mass in Meishan sows Abstract: Myostatin (MSTN) is a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth and development. A significant increase in skeletal muscle was observed in Mstn-/- mice compared with wild-type mice. So far, there has been no report on porcine MSTN mutations leading to skeletal muscle hypertrophy. In this report a MSTN frameshift mutation missing 11 nucleotides in exon 2 was introduced into Meishan pigs by zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology. ZFN-edited MSTN-/- Meishan pigs were successfully produced by a cloning method of somatic cell nucleus transfer. Results from slaughter experiments indicated that lean meat yield increased 16.53% in about 80 kg (10-months-old) MSTN-/- Meishan sows compared with their corresponding wild-type counterparts. The lean percentage of carcass from MSTN-/- sows was 61.20% vs 48.25% for MSTN+/- sows and 44.67% for wild-type sows. The fat of MSTN-/- sows was significantly lower than that of MSTN+/- and wild-type sows. The loin eye area of MSTN-/- Meishan sows (56.42 cm2) was greater than that of MSTN+/- (37.39 cm2) and wild-type (26.26 cm2) sows. The muscle fibre area of longissimus muscle in wild-type Meishan sows (1 946 μm2) was significantly greater than that of MSTN+/- (1 324 μm2) and MSTN-/- (1 419 μm2) sows. Moreover the significantly increased skeletal muscle in these MSTN-/- Meishan sows was mainly due to the increase in the number of myofibres rather than to hypertrophy. Compared with wild-type Meishan sows, it was noted that myofibres had transformed from type I to IIB in MSTN-/- Meishan sows. Our present study demonstrated that frameshift mutation in MSTN by ZFN technology led to a significant increase in muscle mass and a significant decrease in fat content in Meishan sows. Keywords: MSTN, ZFN-edited, skeletal muscle, lean meat yield, myofibres Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 182-191 Volume: 65 Issue: 5 Year: 2020 DOI: 10.17221/265/2019-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/265/2019-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-202005-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:65:y:2020:i:5:id:265-2019-CJAS