Yellow mealworm larvae (YML; Tenebrio molitor) are considered as a valuable insect species for animal feed due to their high nutritional values and ability to grow under different substrates and rearing conditions. Advances in the understanding of entomophagy and animal nutrition over the past decades have propelled research areas toward testing multiple aspects of YML to exploit them better as animal feed sources. This review aims to summarize various approaches that could be exploited to maximize the nutritional values of YML as an animal feed ingredient. In addition, YML has the potential to be used as an antimicrobial or bioactive agent to improve animal health and immune function in production animals. The dynamics of the nutritional profile of YML can be influenced by multiple factors and should be taken into account when attempting to optimize the nutrient contents of YML as an animal feed ingredient. Specifically, the use of novel land-based and aquatic feeding resources, probiotics, and the exploitation of larval gut microbiomes as novel strategies can assist to maximize the nutritional potential of YML. Selection of relevant feed supplies, optimization of ambient conditions, the introduction of novel genetic selection procedures, and implementation of effective post-harvest processing may be required in the future to commercialize mealworm production. Furthermore, the use of appropriate agricultural practices and technological improvements within the mealworm production sector should be aimed at achieving both economic and environmental sustainability. The issues highlighted in this review could pave the way for future approaches to improve the nutritional value of YML.

In many developing countries, the livestock sector plays a vital role in the national economy, providing a source of food, income, and employment. With changes in demographical, socio-economic, and environmental status, the livestock sector in the developing world is facing challenges of low productivity and has become both a culprit and a victim of undesirable climate change impacts globally. In this paper, we will review the status of Nepalese livestock production systems and evaluate possible livestock species-specific strategies to promote a more productive and sustainable livestock sector in the future. In Nepal, the livestock sector is deemed essential to alleviate poverty and improve the nutritional status of the population, as in many other developing countries. However, there is a need for substantial improvements in livestock productivity, in particular improvement of feeding strategies to exploit the genetic potential of livestock. For ruminants, the important issue is to improve nutritional value and hence utilization of existing feedstuffs. Use of, e.g., urea, molasses, and enzymes to improve feed digestibility and implementation of technologies to effectively preserve biomass from forages that are only seasonally available are necessary strategic measures. Identification and use of novel anti-methanogenic feed ingredients will be crucial to develop a ruminant livestock sector that is not only productive, but also environmentally sustainable. For monogastric animals, the development and use of novel protein feed ingredients, such as insects raised on indigestible (for monogastrics) plant residues, should become part of future feeding strategies in support of a circular bioeconomy and improved productivity, not least in small scale poultry production. Future policies should also include a strong focus on capacity building and development of research infrastructure, and promotion of collaborative activities among research and industry sectors to establish a productive yet sustainable livestock sector in Nepal.

The concept of foetal programming (FP) originated from human epidemiological studies, where foetal life nutrition was linked to health and disease status later in life. Since the proposal of this phenomenon, it has been evaluated in various animal models to gain further insights into the mechanisms underlying the foetal origins of health and disease in humans. In FP research, the sheep has been quite extensively used as a model for humans. In this paper we will review findings mainly from our Copenhagen sheep model, on the implications of late gestation malnutrition for growth, development, and metabolic and endocrine functions later in life, and discuss how these implications may depend on the diet fed to the animal in early postnatal life. Our results have indicated that negative implications of foetal malnutrition, both as a result of overnutrition and, particularly, late gestation undernutrition, can impair a wide range of endocrine functions regulating growth and presumably also reproductive traits. These implications are not readily observable early in postnatal life, but are increasingly manifested as the animal approaches adulthood. No intervention or cure is known that can reverse this programming in postnatal life. Our findings suggest that close to normal growth and slaughter results can be obtained at least until puberty in animals which have undergone adverse programming in foetal life, but manifestation of programming effects becomes increasingly evident in adult animals. Due to the risk of transfer of the adverse programming effects to future generations, it is therefore recommended that animals that are suspected to have undergone adverse FP are not used for reproduction. Unfortunately, no reliable biomarkers have as yet been identified that allow accurate identification of adversely programmed offspring at birth, except for very low or high birth weights, and, in pigs, characteristic changes in head shape (dolphin head). Future efforts should be therefore dedicated to identify reliable biomarkers and evaluate their effectiveness for alleviation/reversal of the adverse programming in postnatal life. Our sheep studies have shown that the adverse impacts of an extreme, high-fat diet in early postnatal life, but not prenatal undernutrition, can be largely reversed by dietary correction later in life. Thus, birth (at term) appears to be a critical set point for permanent programming in animals born precocial, such as sheep. Appropriate attention to the nutrition of the late pregnant dam should therefore be a priority in animal production systems.