This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of live yeast and yeast cell wall polysaccharides on growth performance, rumen function and plasma lipopolysaccharides (LPS) content and immunity parameters of beef cattle.  Forty Qinchuan cattle were randomly assigned to one of four treatments with 10 replicates in each treatment.  The dietary treatments were: control diet (CTR), CTR supplemented with 1 g live yeast (2×10¹⁰ live cell g^–1 per cattle per day (YST1), CTR supplemented with 2 g live yeast per cattle per day (YST2) and CTR supplemented with 20 g of yeast cell wall polysaccharides (30.0%≤β-glucan≤35.0%, and 28.0%≤mannanoligosaccharide≤32.0%) per cattle per day (YCW).  The average daily gain was higher (P=0.023) and feed conversion ratio was lower (P=0.042) for the YST2 than the CTR.  The digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (P=0.039) and acid detergent fiber (P=0.016) were higher in yeast supplemented groups.  The acetic acid:propionic acid of the YST2 was lower compared with the CTR (P=0.033).  Plasma LPS (P=0.032), acute phase protein haptoglobin (P=0.033), plasma amyloid A (P=0.015) and histamine (P=0.038) were lower in the YST2 compared with the CTR.  The copies of fibrolytic microbial populations such as Fibrobacter succinogenes S85, Ruminococcus albus 7 and Ruminococcus flavefaciens FD-1 of the YST2 were higher (P<0.001), while the copies of typical lactate producing bacteria Streptococcus bovis JB1 was lower (P<0.001) compared with the CTR.  Little differences were observed between the CTR, YST1 and YCW in growth performance, ruminal fermentation characteristics, microbial populations, immunity indices and total tract nutrient digestibility.  It is concluded that the YST2 could promote fibrolytic microbial populations, decrease starch-utilizing bacteria, reduce LPS production in the rumen and LPS absorption into plasma and decrease inflammatory parameters, which can lead to an improvement in growth performance in beef cattle. 

To investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with folic acid on growth performance, hepatic protein metabolism and serum biochemical indices of early-weaned intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) piglets, 24 male (Duroc× (Landrace×Yorkshire)) weaned (14-d-old) IUGR piglets were randomly divided into 3 treatments with 8 replicates of 1 piglet per replicate. The piglets in each treatment were fed basal diet supplementation with either 0 (control), 5 and 10 mg kg-1 folic acid. The trial lasted for 21 d. Dietary folic acid supplementation reduced average daily feed intake (ADFI) (P<0.05). In addition, the average daily gain (ADG) in 10 mg kg-1 folic acid group was significantly decreased (P<0.01) and the ratio of feed:gain (F/G) increased slightly (P>0.05). Serum folic acid concentration increased (P<0.01) with increasing folic acid inclusion, however, serum homocysteine concentration decreased significantly (P<0.01). Enhanced serum urine nitrogen (SUN) and diminished serum total protein (TP) as well as liver TP content were observed in 10 mg kg-1 folic acid group (P<0.05). Furthermore, the relative mRNA expressions of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and mammalian target of rapamycin (m-TOR) in liver were respectively tended to reduce (P=0.06) and significantly downregulated (P<0.05) in 10 mg kg-1 group, in compared with 5 mg kg-1 group. However, when compared with control group, folic acid supplementation had no significant effect on the mRNA abundance of IGF-1 and m-TOR. The results indicated that supplementation with 10 mg kg-1 folic acid impaired growth performance and hepatic protein metabolism of early-weaned IUGR piglets while 5 mg kg-1 folic acid enriched diet exerted limited positive effects.

Breeding of male-sterile lines has become the mainstream for the heterosis utilization in foxtail millet, but the genetic basis of most male-sterile lines used for the hybrid is still an area to be elucidated. In this study, a highly male-sterile line Gao146A was investigated. Genetic analysis indicated that the highly male-sterile phenotype was controlled by a single recessive gene a single recessive gene. Using F2 population derived from cross Gao146A/K103, one gene controlling the highly male- sterility, tentatively named as ms1, which linked to SSR marker b234 with genetic distance of 16.7 cM, was mapped on the chromosome VI. These results not only laid the foundation for fine mapping of this highly male-sterile gene, but also helped to accelerate the improvement of highly male-sterile lines by using molecular marker assisted breeding method.