Maize silage has a significant environmental impact on livestock due to its high requirement for fertilizer and water. Mulberry has the potential to replace much of the large amount of maize silage grown in China, but its feeding value in the conserved form needs to be evaluated. We fed Hu lambs diets with 20–60% of the maize silage replaced by mulberry silage, adjusting the soybean meal content when increasing the mulberry silage inclusion rate in an attempt to balance the crude protein content of the diets. Mulberry silage had higher crude protein and lower acidic and neutral detergent fiber contents compared to maize silage. Replacing maize silage and soyabean meal with mulberry silage had no effect on the feed intake and growth rate of Hu lambs. However, the rumen pH increased, the acetate to propionate in rumen fluid increased, and the rumen ammonia concentration decreased as mulberry replaced maize silage and soyabean meal. This was associated with an increase in norank_f__F082 bacteria in the rumen. Rumen papillae were shorter when mulberry silage replaced maize silage, which may reflect the reduced neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content of the original silage. In conclusion, mulberry silage can successfully replace maize silage and soyabeans in the diet of Hu lambs without loss of production potential, which could have significant environmental benefits.

Maize silage has a high demand for fertilizer and water. As an unconventional feed resource, mulberry silage has the potential to replace most maize silage and to alleviate the shortage of roughage in the mutton sheep industry in China. The purpose of this experiment was to study the effect of the replacement of maize silage and soyabean meal with mulberry silage in the diet of Hu lambs on growth performance, serum biochemical indices, slaughter performance, and meat quality. Ninety-six healthy Hu lambs were randomly divided into four groups with six replicates per group and four lambs per replicate. The amounts of 0, 20, 40, and 60% of maize silage were replaced by mulberry silage in each group (denoted as CON, L, M, and H, respectively). The results showed that replacing maize silage with mulberry silage had no significant effect on the growth performance or the slaughter performance of Hu lambs (p > 0.05). Feeding Hu lambs with mulberry silage significantly reduced serum glucose (GLU) and the blood urea nitrogen (BUN) content (p < 0.05), and it increased the content of ether extract (EE) in the longissimus dorsi muscle (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the percentage of EAA in the M and H groups was significantly lower than that in the CON and L groups (p < 0.05). In addition, in the fatty acid profile, the percentage of C16:1 in the M group was significantly increased, while the percentage of C18:0 and C20:0 were significantly decreased (p < 0.05). Based on these findings, it was recommended that 20–40% of maize silage be replaced by mulberry silage in the diet of Hu lambs.

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) could be utilized as an effective strategy to promote growth performance of calves and to further study its impact on decreasing diarrhea. A total of 18 healthy Holstein calves (age 8 ± 3 days, weight 42.48 ± 1.04 kg) were raised in a centralized manner to minimize differences and then divided into two groups: one group received LGG supplementation (1 × 10¹⁰ CFU per calf per day), while the other served as the control (CON). Each group consisted of 9 replicates, with 1 calf per replicate. The experimental period spanned 6 weeks. The experimental results demonstrated an increase of the average daily growth (P = 0.094) and a highly significant reduction in diarrhea (P = 0.001) for the LGG group compared with the CON group. The supplementation of LGG resulted in an increased abundance of endogenous beneficial bacteria in the gut including Lysinbacillus (P = 0.012) and Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group (P = 0.041) while reducing levels of pathogenic bacteria in the Escherichia-Shigella (P = 0.066). These particular groups could serve as biomarker bacteria for calf diarrhea and gut health. The alteration of metabolite production and metabolic pathways were also closely associated with the variation of bacterial composition in the gut microbiome of calves, of which included enrichment of biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, α-linolenic acid and steroid biosynthesis. Overall, LGG administration had a positive impact on improving the intestinal homeostasis, alleviating diarrhea, and enhancing growth performance by modulating gut bacteria and metabolites in pre-weaning calves. Thus, LGG could be a potential alternative to prophylactic antibiotic treatment that would lower associated costs and provide new insights into preventing and treating calf diarrhea.

The composition and characteristics of milk fatty acids, which play a pivotal role in nutrition, are profoundly influenced by the dietary components consumed by cows. Like other flavonoids, baicalin (BAI) may affect the proportion of milk fatty acids. This study evaluates the effect of dietary supplementation with BAI on milk microbiota and host metabolism to modulate milk fatty acid composition. Results indicated that dietary supplementation with BAI increased proportions of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) (e.g., C18:1n9c and C18:2n6c). BAI reshaped the milk microbiome, wherein enriched taxa such as Myroides were positively associated with increased milk UFA and altered milk metabolite profiles. Additionally, BAI regulated some metabolites (e.g., alpha-KG) in milk, which were linked to promoting the synthesis of UFA, and regulated host metabolism (e.g., primary bile acid biosynthesis) that enhanced UFA metabolism. Together, these findings demonstrate the great potential of BAI in effectively modifying the milk fatty acid profile to enhance its nutritional quality. IMPORTANCE: Milk is a major source of dietary fat for humans, and increasing the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) in milk can improve its nutritional quality. This study demonstrates that dietary supplementation with baicalin, a natural flavonoid from Scutellaria baicalensis, effectively increases milk UFA content in dairy cows. The findings reveal that baicalin modulates milk fatty acid composition through reshaping the milk microbiome (e.g., enriching Myroides ) and altering mammary and systemic metabolism. These results provide a novel, plant-based nutritional strategy for enhancing milk quality and offer mechanistic insights into the interplay between dietary bioactive compounds, mammary microbiota, and lipid metabolism in lactating dairy cows.