Jutian Yang

This study sought to investigate the impact of different levels of dietary maintenance energy metabolism on nutrient digestibility, rumen microbiota composition, and serum biochemical parameters in Lanzhou fat-tailed sheep rams. A total of twenty rams, each aged eight months and with an initial mean body weight of 27.81 ± 3.38 kg, were selected and randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups. These groups were administered with different levels of metabolizable energy (MEM): low energy (LE), intermediate energy (IE), high energy (HE), and extra high energy (EHE), corresponding to 6.77, 7.22, 7.72, and 8.20 MJ/d, respectively. The results showed a linear increase (p < 0.001) in average daily gain (ADG), dry matter (DM) intake, apparent DM digestibility, and crude protein (CP) digestibility. Conversely, the intake of nitrogen (NI), fecal nitrogen (FN), and manure nitrogen (MN) exhibited a significant linear decrease (p < 0.001). The N utilization efficiency rations of FN/NI and MN/NI linearly decreased (p < 0.001), while RN/NI linearly increased (p < 0.001). Additionally, the intake of gross energy (GE), methane energy (CH4-E), digestible energy (DE), and metabolizable energy (ME) exhibited a linear increase, whereas the ration of FE/GE intake linearly decreased (p < 0.001). The efficiency of energy utilization expressed as a proportion of GE intake (DE/GE intake, ME/GE intake, ME/DE intake, and CH4-E/GE intake) showed linear alterations (p < 0.05) with the increase in the dietary energy supplementation level. The dietary energy level did not exert a significant impact on serum biochemical indices (p > 0.05). At the phylum level, the average abundances of Verrucomicrobiota were significantly reduced in the EHE group compared to the IE group, while the average abundances of Desulfobacterota were significantly lower in the EHE group relative to the LE group. At the genus level, the average abundances of Succiniclasticum were significantly higher in the HE and EHE groups compared to the LE group. In conclusion, the energy level (8.20 MJ/d) significantly enhanced nutrient digestibility, energy, and nitrogen metabolism, and it significantly increased the relative abundances of Succiniclasticum.

Introduction: Arctium lappa L. root has high nutritional and medicinal values and has been identified as a healthy food raw material by the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China.Methods: In the present study, an aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-(NH₄)₂SO₄ was used to extract Arctium lappa L. polysaccharides (ALPs) from the Arctium lappa L. roots, the optimal extraction conditions of crude ALPs were optimized by using the single-factor experiment and response surface methodology. The structure and composition of ALPs were determined by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). At the same time, the antioxidant activity of ALPs was investigated by in vitro antioxidant experiment.Results: The optimized extraction parameters for extraction ALPs were as follows: the PEG relative molecular weight of 6,000, a quality fraction of PEG 25%, a quality fraction of (NH₄)₂SO₄ 18%, and an extraction temperature of 80°C. Under these conditions, the extraction rate of ALPs could reach 28.83%. FTIR, SEM and HPLC results showed that ALPs were typical acidic heteropolysaccharides and had uneven particle size distribution, an irregular shape, and a rough surface. The ALPs were chiefly composed of glucose, rhamnose, arabinose, and galactose with a molar ratio of 70.19:10.95:11.16:6.90. In addition, the ALPs had intense antioxidant activity in vitro with IC₅₀ values in the ·OH radical (1.732 mg/ml), DPPH radical (0.29 mg/ml), and superoxide anion (0.15 mg/ml) scavenging abilities.Discussion: The results showed that ATPS was an efficient method to extract polysaccharides and could be used for the extraction of other polysaccharides. These results indicated that ALPs had great prospects as a functional food and could be exploited in multiple fields.

Lanzhou Lily (Lilium davidii var. unicolor) is a traditional medicinal plant and popular edible vegetable bulb in China. In this study, the polysaccharides of Lanzhou Lily (LLPs) were extracted by polyethylene glycol-based ultrasonic-assisted enzymatic extraction method (PEG-UAEE). The optimum process conditions were obtained by single-factor experiments and response surface methodology (RSM). Then, the preliminarily structure of LLPs was characterized by HPLC, FT-IR, and SEM, and its antioxidant activities were evaluated. The results showed that LLPs yield reached 14.75% under the optimized conditions: E/S ratio 1,400 U/g; pH 5.0, ultrasonic time 30 min; and ultrasonic temperature 50 °C. The LLPs has pyranoid ring, uronic acid, and the characteristic absorption peaks of -OH, C = O, and C-H. The results of scanning electron microscope indicated that the LLPs had irregular distribution, dispersed structure, and many holes. The HPLC analysis showed that the LLPs were heteropolysaccharide containing galactose (6.36%), glucose (76.03%), rhamnose (2.02%), and arabinose (7.09%). Moreover, the LLPs showed obvious antioxidant effect in vitro.