Interest in white lupine has increased in recent years in animal nutrition due to its balanced protein and lipid content, phytochemical compounds, and low alkaloid content. Agronomic traits, nutrients, and antioxidant phenols of six white lupin genotypes grown in a Mediterranean area were explored. Genotypes significantly differed in growth stages and life cycle length (from 172 to 204 days after sowing), plant height (from 36.1 to 97.2 cm), seed yield (from 1.02 to 3.50 Mg ha⁻¹), and yield components. Seed yield was positively correlated with the number of seeds per pod and the thousand-seed weight. Across the average of genotypes, a high protein content (397 g kg⁻¹), a low fiber content (133 g kg⁻¹), and oil content (116 g kg⁻¹) with a high oleic acid (453–509 g kg⁻¹) and low erucic acid content (8–17 g kg⁻¹) were found. The n3/n6 ratio varied from 1:1 to 1:4. Ecotype G showed the highest TPC, DPPH^•, and ABTS^•+ and Multitalia showed the highest content of Apigenin 1 and 2 derivatives. The lowest alkaloid content was recorded in Volos, Luxor, and Lublanc. Overall, this species can be considered a suitable feed crop and a valuable ingredient in animal nutrition due to its overall nutritional profile. At present, only Volos, Luxor, and Lublanc can be suggested in animal nutrition due to the low alkaloid content. Nonetheless, interesting agronomic and quality traits in Multitalia and the two ecotypes suggest room for breeding to reduce their antinutritional factors.

This study addressed the urgent need for sustainable protein sources in aquaculture due to the depletion of marine resources and rising costs. Animal protein sources, particularly poultry by-product meal (PBM) and insect exuviae meal, were investigated as viable alternatives to fishmeal (FM). The research study confirmed the successful replacement of FM with a combination of PBM and insect exuviae meal (up to 50%) in the diet of European seabass without compromising growth, feed conversion, gut health, and liver fat content. In particular, growth was robust with both PBM formulations, with the 25% PBM diet showing better results. Histological examinations showed good gut and liver health, contradicting the concerns of previous studies. This paper emphasizes the importance of holistic analyzes that go beyond growth parameters and include histomorphological investigations. The results show that PBM in combination with insect/exuviae meal is well tolerated by seabass, which is consistent with reports in the literature of it mitigating negative effects on gut health. A detailed analysis of the microbiota revealed a decrease in the Firmicutes/Proteobacteria ratio due to an increase in potentially pathogenic bacteria. However, the formulation containing insect exuviae partially counteracted this effect by preserving the beneficial Lactobacillus and promoting the synthesis of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), particularly butyrate. Chitin-rich components from insect exuviae were associated with improved gut health, which was supported by the increased production of SCFAs, which are known for their anti-inflammatory properties. This paper concludes that a combination of PBM and insect/exuviae meal can replace up to 50% of FM in the diet of seabass, supporting sustainable aquaculture practices. Despite some changes in the microbiota, the negative effects are mitigated by the addition of insect exuviae, highlighting their potential as a prebiotic to increase fish productivity and contribute to a circular economy in aquaculture.

The present research aimed to study the proximate composition, fatty acid profile, antiox-idant activity, total phenolic and N-trans-Caffeoyltyramine content of three distinct varieties of hemp seeds (Carmaenecta, Enectaliana and Enectarol, grown in a Mediterranean area (Central Italy), as feed in the diet of farm animals. Proximate composition was determined using the official methods of analyses; the fatty acid profile was determined by gas chromatography, total phenolic content (TPC) and the scavenging activity (DPPH^• and ABTS^•+) by the colorimetric method, and N-trans-Caffeoyltyramine content by HPLC analysis. The hemp seed Enectarol showed the highest total lipid content and the best antioxidant activity with the highest TPC, N-trans-Caffeoyltyramine content, and ABTS^•+, and the lowest peroxidation index and DPPH^•; Carmaenecta showed the best fatty acid profile and nutritional indices (atherogenic and thrombogenic indices and hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic ratio), and Enectaliana showed the highest crude protein and dietary fiber content. The differences observed in the chemical composition, fatty acid profile and antioxidant activity are because of the varieties, considering that all other growing conditions were the same. The results obtained suggest that hemp seed can be used as a source of lipid and protein in animal diets due to their valuable antioxidant activity and as a rich source of essential fatty acids.

This study addresses the urgent need for sustainable protein sources in aquaculture due to the depletion of marine resources and rising costs. Animal protein sources, particularly poultry by-product meal (PBM) and insect exuviae meal, are investigated as viable alternatives to fishmeal (FM). Research confirms the successful replacement of FM with a combination of PBM and insect exuviae meal (up to 50%) in the diet of European seabass without compromising growth, feed conversion, gut health and liver fat content. In particular, growth performance was robust with both PBM formulations, with the 25% PBM diet showing better results. Histological examinations showed good gut and liver health, contradicting the concerns of previous studies. The study emphasizes the importance of holistic analyzes that go beyond growth parameters and include histomorphological investigations. The results show that PBM in combination with insect/exuviae meal is well tolerated by seabass, which is consistent with literature reports of mitigating negative effects on gut health. A detailed analysis of the microbiota revealed a decrease in the Firmicutes/Proteobacteria ratio due to an increase in potentially pathogenic bacteria. However, the formulation containing insect exuviae partially counteracted this effect by preserving the beneficial Lactobacillus and promoting the synthesis of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), particularly butyrate. Chitin-rich components from insect exuviae were associated with improved gut health, which was supported by increased production of SCFA, which are known for their anti-inflammatory properties. The study concludes that a combination of PBM and insect/exuviae meal can replace up to 50% of FM in the diet of seabass, supporting sustainable aquaculture practices. Despite some changes in the microbiota, the negative effects are mitigated by the addition of insect exuviae, highlighting their potential as a prebiotic to increase fish productivity and contribute to a circular economy in aquaculture.

The present work compared the agronomic traits, chemical composition, fatty acid profile, and in vitro fermentation characteristics of twelve accessions of Amaranthus spp., belonging to A. cruentus, A. hybridus, A. hypochondriacus, and A. tricolor, grown in a semiarid Mediterranean area. Among accessions, Benin and Arizona (A. cruentus) and Pennsylvania (A. hypochondriacus) showed the highest seed yield (on average, 322.1 g m⁻²), while Taiwan (A. tricolor) and India and Iowa (A. hypochondriacus) the highest thousand seed weight (on average, 0.81 g). Among the species, A. hypochondriacus showed the highest crude protein (16 g 100g⁻¹), starch (51.5 g 100g⁻¹), and soluble detergent fiber (2.03 g 100g⁻¹) contents and the most favorable in vitro fermentation characteristics with the highest short-chain fatty acid (SCFA 52.6 mmol g⁻¹) and butyric acid (20.7% SCFA) production together with the lowest crude fiber (4.93 g 100g⁻¹) and insoluble dietary fiber (12.5 g 100g⁻¹) content. Arizona (A. cruentus) showed the highest level of monounsaturated fatty acids (32.67 g 100g⁻¹), Ohio (A. hybridus) had the highest levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (44.62 g 100g⁻¹) and n6-PUFA (44.21 g 100g⁻¹), and India (A. hypochondriacus) had the highest level of n3-PUFA (0.63 g 100g⁻¹). A. hypochondriacus exhibited not only desirable nutritive characteristics, agronomic traits, and suitability to Mediterranean growing conditions, but also a potential beneficial effect. Nonetheless, it is recommended to run longer-term field trials to confirm these findings and to assess the genotype by environment interaction either with current accessions or others from the wide Amaranth germplasm available.

Two extruded diets isoenergetic, isonitrogenous, and isolipidic were formulated with poultry meal (control diet) as the source of animal-origin proteins (160 g/kg of feed) or with 90 g/kg of poultry meal and 70 g/kg of hydrolyzed feather meal (treated diet) and were fed to eight dogs (four adult female and four adult male English Setters). Body condition, muscle condition, and fecal consistency scores and body weight were monitored at the beginning of the trial and after 3, 7, 15, and 45 days, and no significant differences (p > 0.05) were observed between diets and between sex. Fecal samples, collected at the same time points, were analyzed for microbiota composition. No significant difference was calculated for the alpha diversity index between control diet and treated diet, nor for the diets × times of sampling interaction and for sex. Beta diversity was different (p-value 0.001) between the control and treated groups. The beta diversity between sexes was significantly different (p-value = 0.047). Linear Discriminant analysis effect size analysis revealed significant differences between dietary groups, identifying Clostridiales, Coprococcus, Bacteroides plebeius, Eubacterium biforme, Catenibacterium, and Prevotella copri as more abundant in the CTR diet, while Fusobacterium, Bacteroides, Fusobacteriaceae, Paraprevotellaceae, Enterococcus, Faecalibacterium, Enterobacteriaceae, Peptostreptococcaceae, and Clostridium spiroforme were more abundant in the treated diet. Sex differences were also significant, with 25 taxa differing between male and female dogs. Overall, the study underscores the impact of HFM and sex on gut microbiota composition in dogs, with potential implications for dietary interventions and microbiome research.