Poor quality straw can be made more digestible and palatable through delignification using white rot fungi as a biological treatment in SSF. The decomposition of organic matter by white rot fungi is improved when a carbon source is added. Reducing the fermentation cycle can also help retain more nutrients in straw feed. To increase rumen digestibility and nutrient utilization, corn straw and rice straw were subjected to SSF with white rot fungi (Phanerochaete chrysosporium) for 21 days. The type of carbon source (glucose, sucrose, molasses, or soluble starch) was optimized, and the nutrient composition and in vitro fermentation parameters of the fermented straw were assessed. In the fermented corn straw and rice straw supplemented with different carbon sources, the results showed a decrease in lignin content, dry matter, cellulose, and hemicellulose loss, and an increase in crude protein content after 21 days. Total volatile fatty acid and ammonium nitrogen concentrations increased significantly (p < 0.01) during in vitro fermentation. Overall, the most enhanced nutritional values for corn straw and rice straw were observed after 14 days of SSF in the groups using molasses or glucose as a carbon source.

Genetic polymorphisms have a great impact on enhancing quantitative traits in cattle. In this study, Fatty acid synthase (FASN) g. 16024 (A>G), Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) g. 10329 (C>T), and pleomorphic adenoma gene (PLAG1) g. 25003338 (C>G) genotypic and allelic polymorphisms were evaluated, along with their associations with fatty acid composition, adipogenic gene expression, and carcass characteristics (carcass weight, yield grade, backfat thickness, and marbling score) in Hanwoo steers. A total of 128 Hanwoo steers were selected for this study and the Polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method was used to identify polymorphism of these genes. The AG genotype and G allele in FASN g. 16024 (A>G), CT genotype and T allele in SCD g. 10329 (C>T), and GG genotype and G allele in PLAG1 g. 25003338 (C>G) showed higher frequency and positively correlated with carcass traits, yield, and quality grades. Fatty acid composition results indicate that C18:3n-6, C20:1, and C20:2n-6 were significantly higher in the AA genotype of FASN gene, C14:1 and C18:3n-6 in the CC genotype, and C16:1 in the TT genotype of SCD gene. C12:0, C14:0, C16:1, C18:0, and C20:0 were higher in the CC genotype of PLAG1 gene. Furthermore, RT-qPCR analysis of adipogenesis-related genes (AMP-activated protein kinase-α (AMPKα), Carnitine palmitoyl transferase-1β (CPT1), G-coupled protein receptor-43 (GPR43), and SCD) across different SNP genotypes suggests a systemic interaction between genetic factors and adipogenesis in beef cattle. This study emphasizes the significance of FASN g. 16024 (A>G), SCD g. 10329 (C>T), and PLAG1 g. 25003338 (C>G) SNPs for genetic selection to enhance beef quality and elucidate lipid metabolic pathways in Hanwoo cattle.

Food Science of Animal Resources (Food Sci. Anim. Resour.) is an international, peer-reviewed bimonthly journal publishing original research and reviews on basic and applied aspects of the use of animal resources including the meat, egg, dairy, and edible insect/worm products. Food Sci. Anim. Resour. is published and distributed by the Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources.

Objective: Traditional meat production is insufficient to meet the increasing protein requirements, necessitating cultured meat, which is safe, worthwhile, and scalable. Fat is essential for making cultured meat more acceptable to consumers by enhancing flavour and providing a natural appearance. Mesenchymal stem cells from adipose tissue are a promising source for this purpose, but in vitro expansion of cells decreases their proliferation ability and increases cellular senescence. The objective of this study was to improve the proliferation and differentiation abilities of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs).Methods: In this study, vitamin C (VC) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) antioxidants were used to treat AD-MSCs from Yanbian cattle testicles. Cell counting kit, 5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine staining, reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and western blot were used to test the cell viability and proliferation ability of AD-MSCs, ORO staining, triglycerides assay, and adipogenic specific markers expression were determined to analyse the adipogenic differentiation ability. Furthermore, oxidative stress parameters and activation of the Akt/mTOR/P70S6K signaling pathway were also studied.Results: Results showed that VC and NAC both increased proliferation and differentiation ability of AD-MSCs by increasing the expression of cell cycle regulatory and differentiation genes and proteins expression, and decreasing the expression of cell cycle inhibitory factors, and up-regulating stemness markers expression, while co-treatment showed enhanced effect. Oxidative stress was reduced by decreased reactive oxygen species production, malondialdehyde content, and enhanced glutathione activity, as well as declined cellular senescence. Subsequently, the Akt/mTOR/P70S6K signaling pathway was activated by VC and NAC+VC treatment in AD-MSCs, while NAC only activated Akt expression, indicating its role in controlled cell growth.Conclusion: This research concludes that NAC (2 mM) and VC (200 μM) improved the proliferation, differentiation potential, and stemness by decreasing oxidative stress and senescence, parallelly activating Akt/mTOR/P70S6K signaling pathway, while combined treatment (NAC+VC) enhanced these effects, providing bases for their utilisation to culture fat in cultivated meat production.

This study developed a compound enzyme-assisted microbially fermented concentrate for Yanbian steers. The enzyme formulation was optimized using response surface methodology, with acid-soluble protein/crude protein ratio (ASP/CP), ammonia-N/total N ratio (AN/TN), and pH as response variables. The optimized enzyme preparation contained 619.15 U/g protease, 742.08 U/g amylase, and 257.75 U/g β-mannanase. The measured ASP/CP, AN/TN, and pH values were 31.74%, 3.56%, and 4.32, respectively, closely agreeing with the predicted values of 32.00%, 3.55%, and 4.28. Membership function analysis, which normalized positive and negative indicators to a common 0–1 scale and integrated them into a comprehensive score, supported the selection of day 5 as the most balanced fermentation duration under the primary equal-indicator weighting scheme. Thirty Yanbian steers were randomly assigned to receive microbially fermented concentrate without compound enzyme addition (MF) or compound enzyme-assisted microbially fermented concentrate (MEF) at 500 g/head/day on an as-fed basis for 100 days. After adjustment for initial body weight using ANCOVA, MEF increased final body weight by 3.9% and average daily gain by 35.7% compared with MF (both p < 0.001). MEF also increased dry matter intake by 12.1% (p = 0.018) and reduced feed conversion ratio by 18.4% (p = 0.008). MEF increased dry matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber digestibility by 4.3%, 5.4%, 22.6%, and 15.6%, respectively, and reduced blood urea nitrogen by 18.9%. MEF also increased ruminal total volatile fatty acids and decreased ruminal NH₃-N and the acetate-to-propionate ratio (p < 0.05). Observed ASVs, Chao1, and Shannon indices did not differ between treatments, whereas PERMANOVA detected a significant difference in overall rumen bacterial community structure (R² = 0.180, p = 0.023). VIF-based redundancy analysis indicated that variation in rumen bacterial community structure were correlated with crude protein digestibility, total volatile fatty acids, and blood urea nitrogen. Overall, within the microbial-fermentation system evaluated in this study, compound enzyme addition increased growth performance and apparent nutrient digestibility, reduced ruminal NH₃-N and blood urea nitrogen concentrations, and improved feed efficiency in Yanbian steers.