Lycium barbarum residue (LBR), a by-product of L. barbarum processing, is packed with bioactive components and can be potentially utilized as a feed additive in animal husbandry.  However, the fundamental understanding of its effectiveness on livestock animals is still lacking, particularly in ruminants.  To explore the effects of LBR on the growth performance, rumen fermentation parameters, ruminal microbes and metabolites of Tan sheep, sixteen fattening rams (aged 4 mon) were fed a basal diet (CON, n=8) or a basal diet supplemented with 5% LBR (LBR, n=8).  The experiment lasted for 70 d, with 10 d adaptation period and 60 d treatment period.  The results showed that the LBR enhanced the average daily feed intake, average daily gain (P<0.05), and ruminal total volatile fatty acids (P<0.01) while decreasing ammonia-nitrogen concentration and rumen pH value (P<0.05).  Additionally, the LBR improved the relative abundances of Prevotella, Succiniclasticum, Ruminococcus, Coprococcus, Selenomonas, and Butyrivibrio (P<0.05) and reduced the relative abundances of Oscillospira and Succinivibrio (P<0.05).  The LBR altered the ruminal metabolome (P<0.01) by increasing the abundances of ruminal metabolites involved in amino acids (e.g., L-proline, L-phenylalanine, L-lysine, and L-tyrosine), pyrimidine metabolism (e.g., uridine, uracil, and thymidine), and microbial protein synthesis (e.g., xanthine and hypoxanthine).  In conclusion, LBR had positive effects on the growth rate of Tan sheep as well as on rumen fermentation parameters, rumen microbiome and rumen metabolome.

Wheat stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is one of the most destructive fungal diseases of wheat, and seriously threatens safe production of the crop worldwide.  In China, new races historically appeared and rapidly developed to be predominant races and have resulted in ineffectiveness and replacement of wheat resistance cultivars as well as massive reduction in yield.  In the present study, the relative parasitic fitness of the two newly-emerged Yr5-virulent races (TSA-6 and TSA-9) were compared with those of four currently predominant Chinese races (CYR31, CYR32, CYR33, and CYR34) based on evaluation on 10 Chinese wheat cultivars.  As a result, there were significant differences in the relative parasitic fitness parameters among overall tested races based on multiple comparison (LSD) analysis (P<0.05).  The principal component analysis (PCA) of overall parasitic fitness parameters indicated that the sporulation ability, infection and spore survivability, expansion capacity, and potential pathogenicity were the most important parasitic fitness attributes of the tested races.  Based on the establishment of extracted three principal components and a comprehensive factor score mathematical models, evaluations of the parasitic fitness attributes of tested races showed that the level of relative parasitic fitness of the tested six races was: CYR32 (1.15)>TSA-9 (0.95)>TSA-6 (0.92)>CYR34 (0.29)>CYR31 (–1.54)>CYR33 (–1.77).  The results indicated that two Yr5-virulent races TSA-9 and TSA-6 possessed relative parasitic fitness higher than races CYR34, CYR31, and CYR33, but lower than race CYR32, and have potential risks in developing to be predominant races.  Therefore, continual monitoring of both Yr5-virulent races, and their variants is needed.  The use of wheat cultivars (lines) with Yr5 resistance gene singly in wheat breeding is essential for being avoided, and is suggested to combine with other effective stripe rust resistance genes.