Indicine cattle, also referred to as zebu (Bos taurus indicus), play a central role in pastoral communities across a wide range of agro-ecosystems, from extremely hot semiarid regions to hot humid tropical regions. However, their adaptive genetic changes following their dispersal into East Asia from the Indian subcontinent have remained poorly documented. Here, we characterize their global genetic diversity using high-quality whole-genome sequencing data from 354 indicine cattle of 57 breeds/populations, including major indicine phylogeographic groups worldwide. We reveal their probable migration into East Asia was along a coastal route rather than inland routes and we detected introgression from other bovine species. Genomic regions carrying morphology-, immune-, and heat-tolerance-related genes underwent divergent selection according to Asian agro-ecologies. We identify distinct sets of loci that contain promising candidate variants for adaptation to hot semi-arid and hot humid tropical ecosystems. Our results indicate that the rapid and successful adaptation of East Asian indicine cattle to hot humid environments was promoted by localized introgression from banteng and/or gaur. Our findings provide insights into the history and environmental adaptation of indicine cattle.

Mulberry (Morus alba L.) is a cultivated shrub grown widely in the sub-tropical and tropical areas. It has been shown that mulberry leaf contains high levels of protein while having polyphenols as phytonutrients. Therefore, it is important to conduct an experiment to assess potential toxic level from mulberry on behavior, blood hematological and coagulation parameter using Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Both male and female SD rats were given an intragastric administration of respective treatments of mulberry leaf intakes (control, low and high levels). Parameters of feed intake, hematological and coagulation of blood parameters, as well as liveweight changes were taken during the 7 d of adaptation, 28 d of treatment exposure, and 14 d of recovery periods, respectively. All treatment data were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance of SPSS17.0 for Windows Statistical Software following the Randomized complete block design with sex as a block. Most of the parameters of the physical symptoms of the SD rats, were not significantly different (p>0.05) when compared with that of the control group. Those which remain unchanged in each dose group were, body weight (BW) gain, feed intake, the hematology and coagulation indexes. Although, there were a few individual indicators that were abnormal, but the overall physiological appearance of the rats were normal. Results under this experiment revealed that most hematological and coagulation parameters of the SD rats in both male and female were normal, although the weight gain of female rats in high-dose group was significantly reduced than those of the male rats. Under this study, the use of mulberry leaf up to 2 g/kg BW did not result in abnormal phenomenon in the SD rats. These findings would offer useful information for further in vivo feeding trials in animals to extensively use of mulberry leaf to improve animal production, particularly in P.R. China.

Improving fruit quality is a core challenge in apple production in Southwest China, where long-term clean tillage has driven red soil acidification and fertility decline. However, how different cover crop species influence fruit quality through soil fungal pathways in this region remains unclear. Here, we compared five cover crop treatments—natural grass, alfalfa, perennial ryegrass, white clover, and orchardgrass—against clean tillage in a field experiment, integrating ITS sequencing with multivariate statistical analyses to evaluate their effects on soil properties, fungal communities, and apple fruit quality. Orchardgrass (DG) showed the most favorable performance, increasing sugar–acid ratio (+28.74%) and vitamin C content (+42.16%), followed by alfalfa and natural grass, while ryegrass had the weakest effects. Soil fertility improvement followed the same ranking, and soil pH, organic matter, and nitrogen were identified as key factors associated with fungal community shifts. Fungal community composition and diversity were closely linked to soil properties and fruit quality traits, with sugar–acid ratio co-regulated by nitrogen, pH, and fungal diversity, while vitamin C content was directly associated with cover crop treatment. These findings suggest that orchardgrass may be a promising cover crop for enhancing fruit flavor and nutritional quality under the subtropical red-soil conditions tested in this study, offering practical implications for cover crop selection, though the long-term stability of these effects requires further validation through multi-year trials.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a major forage legume worldwide. Developing multifoliolate germplasm has been explored as a strategy to improve forage nutritive value and support more efficient forage livestock production. Here, we developed a multifoliolate population, SJ-ML, using CRISPR/Cas9-generated palmate-like pentafoliate mutants as donor parents. Molecular and phenotypic analyses indicated a stable inheritance of the edited alleles and the multifoliolate trait in SJ-ML. SJ-ML was evaluated under solar greenhouse and field conditions, with the recipient cultivar ‘Aohan’ as the greenhouse control and the commercial cultivars ‘Galaxie-Max’ and ‘GN5’ as field controls. SJ-ML showed a greater leaf area and a higher leaf-to-stem ratio, without reductions in yield or plant height. Nutritive analyses indicated that SJ-ML had a higher crude protein content, relative feed value, digestible dry matter, and dry matter intake, while acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and lignin were lower than those of the controls. Across regrowth stages, SJ-ML generally maintained a higher nutritive value than controls. These results support SJ-ML as a multifoliolate germplasm resource for improving nutritive value without a trade-off in agronomic traits, with potential relevance for sustainable agriculture through enhanced forage protein value and a reduced reliance on supplemental protein in some ration contexts.