Consumer demand for tasty and quality meat has been quickly increasing. This study investigated how dietary supplemented rutin affects meat quality, muscle fatty acid profile, and antioxidant capacity in the Chinese indigenous Qingyuan partridge chicken. A cohort of 180 healthy 119-day-old chickens was subjected to a randomized assignment into three groups, identified as the control, R200, and R400 groups, with respective supplementation of 0, 200, and 400 mg/kg of rutin. The results revealed insignificance in growth performance, namely, average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed-to-gain ratio, across the various treatment groups (p > 0.05). Nevertheless, dietary rutin supplementation increased (p < 0.05) breast muscle yield and intramuscular fat content in breast muscle and decreased (p < 0.05) drip loss in breast muscle. Rutin supplementation increased (p < 0.05) the content of high-density lipoprotein but decreased (p < 0.05) the contents of glucose, triglyceride, and total cholesterol in serum. Rutin supplementation increased (p < 0.05) the levels of DHA (C22:6n-3), total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), n-3 PUFAs, decanoic acid (C10:0), the activity of Δ5 + Δ6 (22:6 (n − 3)/18:3 (n − 3)), and the ratio of PUFA/SFA in breast muscle but decreased (p < 0.05) the level of palmitoleic acid (C16:1n-7), the ratio of n-6/n-3 PUFAs, and the activity of Δ9 (16:1 (n − 7)/16:0). Rutin treatment also reduced (p < 0.05) the contents of malondialdehyde in serum and breast muscle, and increased (p < 0.05) the catalase activity and total antioxidant capacity in serum and breast muscle and the activity of total superoxide dismutase in serum. Additionally, rutin supplementation downregulated the expression of AMPKα and upregulated the expression of PPARG, FADS1, FAS, ELOVL7, NRF2, and CAT in breast muscle (p < 0.05). Convincingly, the results revealed that rutin supplementation improved meat quality, fatty acid profiles, especially n-3 PUFAs, and the antioxidant capacity of Qingyuan partridge chickens.

The experiment investigated the effects of sea-buckthorn flavonoids (SF) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged broilers. A total of 288 one-day-old male broilers were randomly assigned to 4 groups, with 6 replicates of 12 broilers each. The experiment lasted for 20 days. The diet included two levels of SF (0 or 1000 mg/kg) and broilers intraperitoneally injected with 500 μg/kg LPS on 16, 18, and 20 days, or an equal amount of saline. LPS challenge decreased final body weight, average daily gain, and average daily feed intake, increased feed-to-gain ratio, and elevated serum IL-1β, IL-2, TNF-α, D-LA, and endotoxin levels. Moreover, it resulted in a reduction in the IL-10 level. LPS impaired the intestinal morphology of the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, down-regulated the mRNA relative expression of Occludin, ZO-1, and MUC-2 in the jejunum mucosa, up-regulated the mRNA relative expression of TLR4, MyD88, NF-κB, and IL-1β, and increased the relative abundance of Erysipelatoclostridium in broilers (p < 0.05). However, SF supplementation mitigated the decrease in growth performance, reduced serum IL-1β, IL-2, and D-LA levels, increased IL-10 levels, alleviated intestinal morphological damage, up-regulated mRNA expression of Occludin and ZO-1, down-regulated the mRNA expression of TLR4, NF-κB, and IL-lβ in jejunum mucosal (p < 0.05), and SF supplementation presented a tendency to decrease the relative abundance of proteobacteria (0.05 < p < 0.1). Collectively, incorporating SF can enhance the growth performance, alleviate serum inflammation, and improve the intestinal health of broilers, effectively mitigating the damage triggered by LPS-challenges.

Excessive body fat deposition during pregnancy is believed to have an adverse effect on the reproductive performance of sows. Feed intake regulation (REG) is an effective method to modulate energy intake and fat deposition. This study aimed to explore the impact of feed intake and body fat deposition on reproductive performance. A total of 24 Shaziling sows (parity 3–6) were divided into two groups based on their BF on day 30 of gestation, and subsequently randomly assigned to control (CON) and REG groups: (1) BF between 12 and 16 mm (LB-CON, n = 6), (2) BF between 12 and 16 mm (LB-IF, n = 6), (3) BF between 18 and 22 mm (HB-CON, n = 6), and (4) BF between 18 and 22 mm (HB-RF, n = 6). Sows in the LB-CON and HB-CON groups were fed a basic diet at a dosage of 1.88 kg/d. The LB-IF and HB-RF groups received REG and were fed a basic diet at dosages of 2.07 kg/d and 1.69 kg/d, respectively. Higher total litter weight and live litter weight were observed in HB-RF sows (p < 0.05). In addition, HB-CON sows displayed higher serum levels of IL-6, TG, and GLU when compared with LB-CON sows (p < 0.05), whereas HB-RF sows exhibited lower levels of these markers than HB-CON sows (p < 0.05). The lipid droplet area fraction was higher in HB-CON sows than in LB-CON sows (p < 0.05), and this fraction was reduced in HB-RF sows compared with HB-CON sows (p < 0.05). The placental level of TC increased in HB-CON sows when compared with LB-CON sows (p < 0.05). The placental levels of T-AOC and GPX increased in HB-RF sows when compared with HB-CON sows (p < 0.05). Moreover, the mRNA expression of FABP3 was higher in HB-CON sows when compared with LB-CON sows (p < 0.05). The mRNA expression of GLUT3 and PlGF increased in HB-RF sows when compared with HB-CON sows (p < 0.05). In addition, HB-RF sows exhibited increased Shannon, Simpson, and ACE indices when compared with HB-CON sows (p < 0.05). The characterization of the fecal microbiota revealed that HB-RF sows displayed a lower ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidota and an increased relative abundance of Limosilactobacillus when compared with HB-CON sows (p < 0.05). Collectively, these observations suggested that reduced feed intake in Shaziling sows with high backfat thickness improved reproductive indices, alleviated placental oxidative stress and inflammatory status, elevated placental nutrient transport and angiogenesis-related gene expression, and reshaped fecal microbiota. These results provide valuable reference for pig production.