Background: Due to the global surge in COVID-19 cases, numerous countries have enforced lockdowns of varying stringency. Social isolation and stay-at-home orders have detrimental effects on one’s lifestyle and dietary habits. This study aimed to assess the dietary patterns, food preferences, shopping behavior and weight gain during the lockdown among students in a private university in Malaysia. Design and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 426 students using convenience sampling method onemonth after initiating the Conditional Movement Control Order (November 15-30, 2020), using a validated self-administered web-based survey. Chi-square test with post-hoc and planned comparison procedures were performed. Results: Of the 426 participants, more than half were females (55.9%). Over half of the surveyed students reported increased eating (51.2%), snacking (55.2%) and online food ordering (71.1%) during the lockdown. Meat products and sweet drinks (both >90%) were the most consumed food among individuals with higher BMI. 45.5% of the participants reported weight gain (mean 3.36, SD 1.61kg) one month after the lockdown. Female, youth (aged 19-24), working remotely, increased eating, snacking, cooking, and online food ordering were positively associated with weight gain. Conclusions: Findings suggested that unintended consequences of lockdown have negative impacts on dietary habits and food preferences among university students. Advocacy and public health measures for nutritional support amidst the pandemic are crucial, especially for at-risk groups such as overweight and obese individuals.

The aquaculture of salmonid fishes is a multi-billion dollar industry with production over 3 million tons annually. However, infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), which infects and kills salmon and trout, significantly reduces the revenue of the salmon farming industry. Currently, there is no effective treatment for IHNV infected fishes; therefore, early detection and depopulation of the infected fishes remain the most common practices to contain the spread of IHNV. Apart from hygiene practices in aquaculture and isolation of infected fishes, loss of fishes due to IHNV infection can also be significantly reduced through vaccination programs. In the current review, some of the diagnostic methods for IHNV, spanning from clinical diagnosis to cell culture, serological and molecular methods are discussed in detail. In addition, some of the most significant candidate vaccines for IHNV are also extensively discussed, particularly the DNA vaccines.

Inclusion of phytase in animal feedstuff is a common practice to enhance nutrients availability. However, little is known about the effects of phytase supplementation on the microbial ecology of the gastrointestinal tract. In this study, freeze‐dried Mitsuokella jalaludinii phytase (MJ) was evaluated in a feeding trial with broilers fed a low available phosphorus (aP) diet. A total of 180 male broiler chicks (day‐old Cobb) were assigned into three dietary treatments: Control fed with 0.4% (w/w) of available phosphorus (aP); Group T1 fed low aP [0.2% (w/w)] supplemented with MJ; and T2 fed low aP and deactivated MJ. The source of readily available P, dicalcium phosphate (DCP), was removed from low aP diet, whereby additional limestone was provided to replace the amount of Ca normally found in DCP. For each treatment, 4 replicate pens were used, where each pen consisted of 15 animals. The animals' energy intake and caecal bacterial community were monitored weekly for up to 3 weeks. The apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and apparent digestibility of dry matter (ADDM) of broilers fed with different diets were determined. In addition, the caecal microbial diversities of broilers were assessed using high‐throughput next‐generation sequencing targeting the V3‐V4 region of bacterial 16S rRNA. The results showed that broilers fed with T1 diet have better feed conversion ratio (FCR) when compared to the Control (p < .05) and T2 diets (p < .05), demonstrating the efficiency of MJ as a supplement to low aP diet. Nevertheless, MJ did not significantly affect the microbial population and diversity in broilers' caeca, which mainly consists of members from Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria. Regardless, significant variations in the caecal bacterial composition were observed over time, probably due to succession as the broilers aged. This is the first reported study on the effect of MJ on the microbial diversity of broiler's caeca.

Poultry feed consists of feed ingredients like soybean meal and corn, which contain high levels of phytate that is poorly utilised especially by the monogastric animals that lack of phytase. Hence, phytase has been extensively applied as a feed supplement in poultry production due to the efficiency of this enzyme in improving phosphorous (P) availability, thus reducing P excretion to the environment as well as reducing the feed cost by reducing inorganic P supplementation. Mitsuokella jalaludinii, an obligate anaerobe, Gram-negative rumen bacterium, produces high phytase activity. Birds supplemented with bacterial preparation of M. jalaludinii showed comparable performance to that of commercial phytase. However, the anaerobic nature of this bacterium renders difficulty in the use of live cells as feed supplement in commercial poultry production. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine a suitable method to preserve phytase activity of M. jalaludinii regardless of cells viability. Mitsuokella jalaludinii was grown in MF medium under anaerobic condition and the cells were subjected to various treatments to preserve the enzyme, including bead beating, compressed air, moist heat, dry heat and freeze-drying under aerobic condition. The results showed that the total number of viable cells were significantly (p<0.05) reduced when the cells were subjected to bead beating, whereas no viable cells were detected for compressed air, moist heat, dry heat and freeze-drying. Bead beating, compressed air, moist heat and dry heat treatments resulted in the reduction of phytase activity. However, only freeze-drying method was able to preserve high level of phytase activity significantly (p<0.05).