The aim of the study was to investigate the complete substitution of imported soybean meal in beef cattle diets and the consequences on performance, meat, and adipose tissue quality. Thirty growing crossbred Limousin bulls, with an initial bodyweight of 164 ± 13 kg and 4.3 ± 0.3 months of age, were fed a grass/maize-silage based diet with little additional concentrate (0.5:0.3:0.2). Concentrates contained either soybean meal (positive control), faba beans, pumpkin seed cake, or spirulina (Arthrospira platensis), resulting in about 226 g crude protein (CP)/kg concentrate dry matter (DM) and 158 g CP/kg total diet DM. A grain-based concentrate providing just 135 g CP/kg concentrate DM and 139 g CP/total diet DM served as a negative control. Bulls of all groups had comparable average daily gains (1.43 ± 0.1 kg) and feed intakes (6.92 ± 0.37 kg). Carcass and meat quality did not differ among groups. The fatty acid profile of meat lipids was hardly affected. These results indicate that soybean meal can be replaced by any of the tested protein sources without impairing performance or meat quality. Importantly, bulls fed the negative control achieved a fattening and slaughter performance comparable to that of the protein-supplemented groups without affecting meat and adipose tissue quality. Thus, the present findings suggest that feeding crossbred bulls a grass/maize-silage based diet does not require additional protein supplementation.

The rising spread of antimicrobial resistance challenges animal welfare, productivity and food supply with respect to bacterial infections in different livestock species. Bacteriophages offer alternative means to control infections with resistant bacteria. This work investigated the host immune responses towards lytic bacteriophages K and T1, acting respectively on Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria. We employed an ex vivo platform to decipher various immune responses elicited by primary blood cells of eight outbred cattle. Bacteriophage K was not recognized whereas bacteriophage T1 induced a profound immune response. Therefore, prior characterization of host immune responses towards therapeutic phages should be considered before therapy starts.

Cattle are the mammalian species with most global biomass, encompass the two subspecies Bos taurus and Bos indicus, which are phenotypically distinguishable and have distinct genetic backgrounds. We used fresh primary bovine blood cells to characterize and dissect host-pathogen interactions, hypothesizing that Bos taurus and Bos indicus cattle exhibit different immune responses towards vector-borne diseases (VBDs) impacting the clinical disease outcome. We tested Schmallenberg virus (SBV) and Bluetongue virus (BTV), examples of vector-borne pathogens responsible for recent European disease outbreaks, driven by increased vector activity linked to rising temperatures. Bos taurus cattle showed a moderate ex vivo response towards SBV compared to BTV (i.e., qualitative and magnitude changes in activation/maturation state of immune cells and cytokine secretions), which indicates a fine-tuning of the immune response depending on vector-borne virus. The most striking finding was the differential immune response towards BTV: broad and over-exuberant in Bos taurus (i.e., antiviral, cellular and humoral), mainly antiviral in Bos indicus. Moreover, fever-like temperature, a classical clinical sign of disease, reduced the capacity of most immune cell subsets to respond to the pathogens tested. Overall, our findings reinforce other studies that suggest different susceptibilities of the Bos indicus versus Bos taurus towards major pathogens.

Summary: We investigated exhaled breath to explore potential new biomarkers for the energy balance (EB) of dairy cows fed fresh herbage. Cows (n = 19) exhibiting negative (lactation week 5) and positive (lactation week 10) EB differed in their exhaled-breath profiles, namely in certain exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOC). The most discriminating exhaled VOC were the fatty aldehydes octanal, nonanal, and decanal. These VOC and serum β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) correlated with the calculated EB in 32 cows. Thus, exhaled fatty aldehydes could be considered in assessing the energy status of dairy cows.

Bovine digital dermatitis (BDD) is a globally distributed infectious hoof disease that negatively impacts the wellbeing and productivity of the affected animal. Treponema species and in particular Treponema phagedenis are the microbes strongly associated with the disease. Recently, it has been reported that Bos indicus cattle are more resistant to BDD and to the colonization by Treponema phagedenis in contrast to many Bos taurus breeds. This study investigated whether Bos indicus mount a different immune response to Treponema phagedenis compared with Bos taurus cattle, to better understand the different disease outcome in the two subspecies. Therefore, we exposed freshly isolated primary bovine blood cells to Treponema phagedenis and dissected subsequent bovine immune responses. The comparison between the two subspecies revealed significant different immune responses to Treponema phagedenis . We observed a stronger Th1/proinflammatory cytokine induction in Bos taurus animals mainly driven by CD4 ⁺ T and CD21 ^low B cells in secreting IFN-γ. We assume that these distinct initial immune responses are linked to the control of Treponema phagedenis and the outcome of BDD. Additionally, we observed significant higher levels in the expression of the matrix metalloproteinase-9 by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in Bos indicus cattle, which likely benefits the host response to Treponema phagedenis .

In June 2026 a bovine disease characterized by high fever, diarrhea and reduced milk production was reported in different European countries including France, Germany and Switzerland. The disease has been linked to an orthobunyavirus from the Simbu serogroup named Shamonda virus (SHAV). Later, a second novel SHAV clade has been reported. These strains are genomically different and have been designated to belong to the two clades SHAV-EU1 and SHAV-EU2. Abortions and embryos with congenital malformations have been reported in cattle infected with SHAV. Here we comprehensively evaluated the bovine immune responses to the SHAV isolate DE/2026 belonging to clade SHAV-EU1 using a blood-based ex vivo platform. To obtain insights into immune reactivity to bovine-adapted vector-borne viruses we included into our analysis Schmallenberg virus (SBV), a close relative of SHAV and bluetongue virus (BTV) serotype 8, a virus recently introduced in Europe. Interestingly, compared to SBV virus, SHAV induced a stronger proinflammatory response with abundant TNF-α, MIP-1β, IFN-γ and IL-1 release, and a significantly enhanced activation of most blood immune cell subsets. The fever-like temperature left immune responses to SHAV largely unchanged, in contrast to observations for vector-borne viruses such as SBV and BTV. These results are in line with the more pronounced clinical signs observed for the newly reported SHAV and indicate that closely related viruses trigger distinct immune cell activation which may contribute to disease pathophysiology.