Nutritional quality evaluation and proteome profile of forage species of Western Himalaya

Abstract

Naturally occurring forage species in the high-altitude pasturelands of Western Himalaya are traditionally being utilized for feeding of livestock. However, the nutritional quality evaluation and validation of their potential as feed for livestock needs to be undertaken. Here, we evaluated proximate compositions, minerals and amino acids (AAs) of five high-altitude forage species, namely, Festuca kashmiriana L., Medicago sativa L., Trifolium pratense L., Medicago falcate L. and Melilotus indica L. The results revealed that proximate compositions, mineral and AAs varied significantly among the forage species. The carbohydrate, crude protein, moisture content, crude fat, crude fiber, crude ash, total phenol, oil absorption capacity and water absorption capacity were found in the range of 17.44-37.27 mg/100 mg, 3.34-14.71 mg/100 mg, 88.73%-90.72%, 0.98-2.32 mg/100 mg, 11.16-24.16%, 7.71-34.49%, 292.50-488.12 μg/100 mg, 3.91-4.67 g/g and 2.64-3.41 g/g, respectively. Elemental composition showed that calcium was the predominant element among the minerals (13.91-132.05 mg/kg DM) followed by magnesium (4.60-12.92 mg/kg DM), iron (2.04-76.13 mg/kg DM) and zinc (1.07-2.17 mg/kg DM). Furthermore, we found that these high-altitude forage species are rich in essential AAs like histidine, tryptophan, valine, leucine, phenylalanine and to some extent isoleucine and tyrosine. In addition, these five species showed distinct proteomes but shared a similar functional group. The proteome profiling of these forage species will help to understand the molecular basis of nutritional enrichment and stress tolerance potential against harsh environmental conditions of high altitudes. Overall, we conclude that traditionally used high-altitude forage species are nutritionally rich and can be recommended as part of the daily nutritive feed for livestock animals.

Construction of ultra-high-density genetic linkage map of a sorghum-sudangrass hybrid using whole genome resequencing

“…An insufficient forage supply has become a limiting factor in the livestock industry in the northwestern Himalayan region of India [ 7 ], the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and Jeju Island [ 5 ], the northern and southeastern United States [ 8 , 9 ], and China [ 10 ]. Therefore, it is necessary to identify key genes that control desirable traits and select new varieties of the sorghum-sudangrass hybrid with high yields and quality.…”

“…Developing a high-density genetic map is necessary for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in crops and is an essential genetic tool in other areas of molecular biology [ 13 ]. At present, domestic and foreign studies on sorghum-sudangrass hybrid mainly focus on cultivation management [ 14 , 15 ], development and utilization of the nutritional and feeding value [ 4 , 7 ], or breeding of new varieties [ 16 ], However, there are few reports on ultra-high density genetic mapping of the sorghum-sudangrass hybrid.…”

Quantitative trait locus mapping for important yield traits of a sorghum-sudangrass hybrid using a high-density single nucleotide polymorphism map

“…In recent years, with the rapid development of animal husbandry and frequent extreme weather worldwide, increasing demand for high-quality forage has indicated a shortage of high-quality green and fresh forage. This is the main reason for limiting the quality and efficiency of animal husbandry in the northwestern Himalayan region of India ( Mir et al., 2020 ; Kumar et al., 2022 ), the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and Jeju Island ( Peng et al., 2020 ), the northern and southeastern United States ( Wells et al., 2014 ; Nave et al., 2020 ), northern Europe ( Liatukienė et al., 2008 ), Canada ( Bélanger et al., 2006 ), and parts of China ( Fang, 2018 ). Therefore, increasing forage yield is crucial in meeting sufficient livestock nutrition and accelerating production.…”