Sixty specific-pathogen-free chickens were randomly divided into 2 groups (30 chickens for each group) to determine the effect of swine gut antimicrobial peptides (SGAMP) on intestinal mucosal immunity. All chickens were raised in negative-pressure isolators and fed the same diet. The results were as follows. (1) In the SGAMP group, the number of mast cells was increased markedly in the duodenum from d 21 to 49 (P < 0.05), and similar results were observed in the jejunum and ileum after being treated with SGAMP (P < 0.05). However, fewer mast cells were observed in those same tissues in the control. (2) Intraepithelial lymphocytes in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum were increased significantly from d 21 to 49 in the SGAMP group compared with the control (P < 0.05). (3) Compared with the control, goblet cells were increased significantly in duodenum and jejunum from d 35 to 49 (P < 0.05) after SGAMP treatment and in the ileum were increased from d 21 to 49 (P < 0.05). (4) Swine gut antimicrobial peptides upgrade the expression of secretory IgA at different sites within the intestinal tract. The results strongly support that SGAMP can enhance the intestinal mucosal immune parameters of specific-pathogen-free chickens. Our research contributes to the further understanding of immunoregulatory mechanisms of intestinal mucosal immunity and the contribution of SGAMP to this process.

White spotting is one of the most distinguishing visual characters in dairy cattle. There is considerable variation within and between breeds of cattle. The objective of this study was to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting the degree of white spotting in dairy cattle based on an F(2) experimental design using Holstein-Friesian and Jersey crossbred cows. The genome scan was implemented using half-sib and line-of-descent approaches with high density markers. Significant QTL were found on chromosomes 6, 18 and 22. The mapped region on BTA6 confirmed the widely conserved KIT locus affecting mammalian pigmentation. Haplotype information linked the highly significant QTL on BTA22 to the Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) gene, which has been reported to be associated with pigmentation traits in some other mammals.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) content of 19 rice bran samples and to develop prediction equations for DE and ME based on their chemical composition. The 19 rice bran samples came from different rice varieties, processing methods and regions. The basal diet was formulated using corn and soybean meal (74.43% corn and 22.91% soybean meal and 2.66% vitamins and minerals). The 19 experimental diets based on a mixture of corn, soybean meal and 29.2% of each source of rice bran, respectively. In Exp. 1, 108 growing barrows (32.1±4.2 kg) were allotted to 1 of 18 treatments according to a completely randomized design with 6 pigs per treatment. The treatment 1 was the control group which was fed with basal diet. The treatments 2 to 18 were fed with experimental diets. In Exp. 2, two additional rice bran samples were measured to verify the prediction equations developed in Exp. 1. A control diet and two rice bran diets were fed to 18 growing barrows (34.6±3.5 kg). The control and experimental diets formulations were the same as diets in Exp. 1. The results showed that the DE ranged from 14.48 to 16.85 (mean 15.84) MJ/kg of dry matter while the ME ranged from 12.49 to 15.84 (mean 14.31) MJ/kg of dry matter. The predicted values of DE and ME of the two additional samples in Exp. 2 were very close to the measured values.