Mud-packing, a traditional salting technique using clay-salt paste, imparts unique characteristics to salted duck egg yolk, yet its impact on storage stability remains understudied. This study investigated quality changes in cooked mud-packing salted duck egg yolks during 28-day ambient storage via integrated physicochemical, structural, and flavor analyses. Extended storage caused significant deterioration: salt content rose from 1.50 ± 0.28% to 2.14 ± 0.35%, moisture fell from 37.36 ± 1.24% to 32.35 ± 0.42%, and hardness increased sharply to 2087.19 ± 78.55 g. Yolk granules compacted, oil exudation decreased, lipid oxidation intensified, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (e.g., DHA, ARA) declined significantly. Volatile profiling revealed reduced desirable esters and alcohols, with increased off-flavor aldehydes and ketones. Oxidation-driven lipid and protein degradation primarily underlies quality decline. These findings emphasize controlling storage time and provide a basis for shelf-life determination, packaging optimization, and quality monitoring in industrial production.

Cage rearing of laying ducks offers advantages for intensive production, but the early period after cage transfer can elicit marked stress responses. This study investigated intestinal morphology, antioxidant status, DNA oxidative damage, autophagy-related changes, and apoptosis during the first 10 days after cage transfer in Shaoxing laying ducks. A total of 120 100-day-old female Shaoxing ducks were assigned to floor-rearing (FR) or cage-rearing (CR) treatments. In vivo, CR produced time- and tissue-dependent intestinal changes. On day 5, villus height and crypt depth were reduced in the duodenum, villus height and the villus height-to-crypt depth ratio were reduced in the jejunum, and crypt depth was increased in the ileum (P < 0.05). Antioxidant enzyme activities were altered at selected time points, intestinal MDA was increased on day 5, and serum 8-OHdG was increased on day 5 (P < 0.05). Jejunal ROS accumulation, autophagosome formation, and an increased LC3-II/LC3-I ratio were observed in CR ducks. TUNEL staining showed increased apoptosis, and PARP-1 protein abundance was significantly increased on day 5 (P < 0.05), whereas Caspase-3 showed an upward trend without statistical significance. Transcriptomic analysis identified differential expression of genes including CAT, BNIP3, PPARA, TLR4, and NFKB1 and enrichment of pathways including AGE-RAGE and Toll-like receptor signaling. In vitro, H₂O₂ exposure reproduced selected oxidative-stress-, autophagy-related-, and apoptosis-associated changes. Together, these findings show that early cage transfer is associated with intestinal oxidative injury accompanied by autophagy-related and apoptosis-associated changes in laying ducks.

Growth and egg production are the two most economically important traits in goose production systems. However, negative genetic correlations between these traits make it difficult to achieve balanced genetic improvement through selection. In this study, we analyzed whole-genome resequencing data from 1033 Zhedong White Geese to identify genetic variants related to birth weight (BW), body weight at 90 days (BW90), and egg number at 66 weeks of age (EN66). Single-trait genome-wide association studies (GWASs) identified 6, 5, and 5 lead SNPs significantly associated with BW, BW90, and EN66, respectively. By integrating network analysis, PLACO, and multivariate linear mixed models (mvLMMs), we further identified KCNAB2 and KCND3 as potential pleiotropic candidate genes influencing both growth and egg production. Notably, the variant at CHR25: 6006715, located within an intronic region of KCND3, was associated with increased BW (ZscoreBW = 4.44) and decreased EN66 (ZscoreEN66 = −3.55), showing strong pleiotropic significance (P_PLACO = 4.88 × 10−8). Collectively, these findings provide new insights into the genetic architecture underlying the antagonistic relationship between growth and egg production in geese and offer valuable genetic targets for developing breeding strategies that jointly optimize growth performance and reproductive efficiency.

The study evaluated the effects of dietary compound enzyme preparations (CEPs) supplementation on antioxidant capacity, immune response, and intestinal health of pigeons. A total of 288 White King parent pigeons were randomly assigned to four treatments, with six replications of 12 pigeons each. The control (CK) group received a basal diet, whereas the CEP groups were fed a basal diet with 0.25 g/kg (low compound enzyme preparation group, LCEP), 0.5 g/kg (middle compound enzyme preparation group, MCEP), and 1.0 g/kg (high compound enzyme preparation group, HCEP) CEPs. Results showed that supplementation with 0.25 g/kg of CEPs significantly increased duodenal crypt depth (CD), as well as jejunal villus height (VH) and the villus height-to-crypt depth ratio (VCR) (p < 0.05). It also increased the immunoglobulins of serum, such as IgA, IgG, and IgM, as well as enhanced antioxidant capacity by increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities of serum (p < 0.05). Furthermore, we found that CEPs altered ileum content microbiota composition, increasing the relative abundance of p_Bacteroidota and g_Bifidobacterium (p < 0.05). In addition, untargeted metabolomics analysis identified 92 upregulated and 95 downregulated metabolites. Pathway enrichment analysis of these differential metabolites revealed that CEP supplementation altered the metabolomic profile of the ileum contents, with differential metabolites mainly enriched in alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, and unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis pathways. These results demonstrated that dietary supplementation with CEPs at different doses improved antioxidant capacity to varying degrees and maintained intestinal immune balance by modulating microbiota, which provides a theoretical basis for the rational application of compound enzyme preparations in breeding pigeon feed. Moreover, this study provides mechanistic evidence that CEPs can improve intestinal health, immunity, and antioxidant capacity. It also fills a key knowledge gap in pigeon nutrition by linking enzyme use with gut microbiota and metabolic regulation.

The Tibetan chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), a native breed inhabiting the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, has developed remarkable tolerance to chronic hypoxia. However, the molecular and epigenetic mechanisms underlying its high-altitude adaptation remain unclear. In this study, we integrated genome, transcriptome, and DNA methylome data from Tibetan chickens (TC) and three low-altitude breeds. Principal component analysis revealed clear genetic, epigenetic, and transcriptional divergence between TC and lowland chickens. Cardiac enzyme assays showed significantly higher activities of LDH, SDH, SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px in TC (p < 0.05), indicating enhanced oxidative metabolism and antioxidant defense under hypoxia. Transcriptomic analysis identified 2,532 common differentially expressed genes (co-DEGs), with upregulated genes enriched in oxidative phosphorylation, fatty acid metabolism, and hypoxia response pathways. Integration with methylome data demonstrated a significant negative correlation between promoter methylation and gene expression. Among 144 genes showing promoter hypomethylation coupled with transcriptional activation, five key genes—PDK4, BNIP3L, ATG3, SLC7A5, and OMA1—were identified as central regulators of hypoxia adaptation, participating in metabolic reprogramming, mitochondrial homeostasis, and autophagy. Our findings reveal that promoter hypomethylation acts as a major epigenetic mechanism mediating transcriptional activation of hypoxia-responsive genes in Tibetan chickens. The coordinated regulation of energy metabolism, antioxidant defense, and mitochondrial quality control contributes to their physiological resilience in high-altitude environments. This study provides novel insights into the molecular and epigenetic basis of high-altitude adaptation in avian species and offers valuable references for hypoxia-resistance breeding in poultry.

Chicken is an important source of protein worldwide, and its quality is influenced by breed, age, and rearing methods. However, how these factors interact at the metabolic level is not fully understood. This study examined Yandang partridge chickens, a native Chinese breed, and commercial Arbor Acres (AA) broilers under caged and free-range systems, slaughtered at 49 days (during growth) or 65 days (during fat deposition). Using multi-omics approaches (metabolomics and transcriptomics), breast muscle (BM) and leg muscle (LM) were analyzed. BM showed higher levels of flavor-related compounds such as glutamine, serine, and malic acid, while LM contained more NAD+ and lipids. Free-range rearing increased precursors of flavor, including glutamine and malvidin-3-glucoside, by activating glycolysis and fatty acid metabolism pathways. In Yandang chickens, leg muscle exhibited greater concentrations of flavor metabolites like serine and proline, along with elevated expression of lipid-related genes such as APOA1, compared to AA broilers. With age, BM accumulated oleic acid, while LM showed increases in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) like docosapentaenoic acid. PPAR signaling was identified as a key pathway integrating metabolic responses with rearing conditions. These results improve our understanding of meat quality development and can inform breeding and management practices.

Against the backdrop of the global comprehensive ban on antibiotics, finding antibiotic alternatives to address the intestinal health issues of laying hens during the late laying phase has become an urgent priority. In this study, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) were used as additives, and a metabolomic approach was employed to investigate the effects of AMPs targeting Gram-positive bacteria (AMP1), AMPs targeting Gram-negative bacteria (AMP2), and their complex (AMP3), on the intestinal metabolome of Xinyang Black-feathered laying hens in the late laying phase. First, we found through in vitro experiments that the selected AMPs exhibited significant antibacterial effects. Subsequently, these AMPs were added to the feed for in vivo validation in laying hens, and differential metabolites were screened using a threshold of corrected P-value ≤ 0.05. The results showed that AMPs targeting Gram-negative bacteria exerted favorable effects on the cecal intestinal microbiota of Xinyang Black-feathered laying hens in the late laying phase. Compared with the CG, the AMP1, AMP2, and AMP3 groups had 79, 433, and 64 differential metabolites, respectively. The AMP1 and AMP2 groups were significantly enriched in metabolic pathways such as glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism, and aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis. The AMP2 group was significantly enriched in the nucleotide metabolism and linoleic acid metabolism pathways. Metabolites in these pathways may be involved in the host's antioxidant capacity and immune regulation processes when responding to antimicrobial substances. It is concluded that AMPs targeting Gram-negative bacteria exert a favorable effect on the intestinal microbiota of Xinyang Black-feathered Laying Hens in the late laying phase. This study holds significant importance for safeguarding the health of laying hens and stabilizing their production performance, and provides new insights for the subsequent development of the layer poultry industry.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is an extreme ecosystem subject to special climatic conditions that require unique adaptations for its inhabiting organisms. In addition to genetic characteristics, the gut microbiota of animals can regulate the environmental adaptation of their hosts through various gut-organ axes. We performed a multi-omics analysis on six Chinese chicken populations based on geographical differences in altitude: one high-altitude Tibetan chicken population, one transitional Tibetan chicken population relocated from high to low altitude, and four low-altitude populations. We found significant differences in gut microbiota among these different chicken populations, which were governed by variations in habitat species pools and turnover, indicating a more complex and stochastically dominated gut microbiota with higher functional redundancy in the Tibetan chicken population under the plateau environment. Furthermore, Tibetan chickens had a more effective fatty acid degradation capacity, corresponding to the hypoxic environment. In contrast, chickens living in lowland environments showed stronger immune system responses against health threats. These environmental adaptation strategies are regulated by core gut microbe taxa of the phylum Firmicutes. Thus, our findings demonstrate the roles of breed and habitat in gut microbiota composition of chickens and clarify their adaptation strategies to environmental changes via microbiota-driven gut-organ axes.

Cage rearing is a promising farming method. However, our previous studies have demonstrated that changes in farming practices induce oxidative stress and inflammation in the liver and duodenum of ducks. Resveratrol (RES), a natural plant polyphenol, possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cytoprotective properties. This study evaluated the alleviating effects of RES against cage-rearing-induced duck health problems, emphasizing the involvement of redox imbalance, inflammatory response, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, apoptosis, and PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK pathways. A total of 120 healthy 12-week-old female ducks were transferred to a cage system and randomly assigned to two dietary RES groups with 6 replicates each (10 ducks per replicate), including basal diet + 0 mg/kg RES (control group, CON), and basal diet + 500 mg/kg RES (RES-treated group, RES). During the early stages (within 10 days) of cage rearing, blood, liver, and duodenal samples were collected for analysis. The results demonstrated that RES reduced histopathological damage in the liver and duodenum of cage-reared ducks. It also reduced serum albumin levels, increased serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels, and enhanced antioxidant (increased CAT, GSH-Px, SOD, and T-AOC activities in the serum, liver, and duodenum, and reduced the increase in MDA) and anti-inflammatory properties (reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 secretion and increased anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4 levels). Additionally, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that RES intervention reversed the abnormal mRNA abundance of biomarkers associated with inflammatory injury (iNOS and COX2) in the liver, and ER stress (GRP78) and apoptosis (Bax and Bcl2) in the liver and duodenum of cage-reared ducks. Further analysis of key proteins in the PI3K/AKT and ERK MAPK signaling pathways revealed that RES promoted AKT phosphorylation in the liver and duodenum of cage-reared ducks and reduced cleaved caspase-3 protein content. Overall, RES prevents cage-rearing stimuli-induced liver and intestinal injury in ducks by enhancing liver function, improving antioxidant properties, inhibiting inflammation, ER stress, and apoptosis, and activating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

In this study, a panel of 14 microsatellite markers was screened to determine the parentage of 144 progenies in 12 Chinese hooksnout carp (Opsariichthys bidens) full-sib families. The combined exclusion probabilities for 14 loci were 97.6% and 99.9%, respectively, when there was no available parent information or only one parent information was provided. Simulation analysis demonstrated that the power of five loci to exclude false parents exceeded 99.0%, while that of eight loci reached 99.9% based on allele frequency data obtained from full-sib families (168 individuals). Moreover, the cumulative assignment success rate reached 100% with known parental and filial information when utilizing 13 or more loci, even in cases where no parent information was available. The results showed that this set of microsatellite markers proved to be a reliable and efficient tool for parentage determination of O. bidens.

Intestinal bacterial communities play an important role in the growth and health of aquatic animal hosts and have drawn increasing attention. However, the role of the intestinal microbiota in the growth of freshwater prawns remains unclear. Here, the intestinal microbiota of freshwater prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) at different life stages (one, two, and three months old) were investigated using 16S rRNA sequencing. The results showed that community richness and diversity increased with growth, which might be one of the reasons that the prawns maintained a fast growth rate before sexual maturation. Three core phyla were identified in the one-month-old group, namely, Firmicutes (79.24%), Proteobacteria (17.09%) and Actinobacteriota (2.01%). Five core phyla were identified in the two-month-old group, including Firmicutes (47.84%), Proteobacteria (44.22%), Actinobacteriota (1.83%), Acidobacteriota (1.66%) and Bacteroidota (1.24%), and the core phyla in the three-month-old group were similar, except for Acidobacterota, which was not identified. A total of 12 core genera were identified in all samples, and significant differences were observed in the relative abundance of gut microbiota between the three groups (p < 0.05). Exiguobacterium, Lactococcus and Shewanella were the three most significantly differentially abundant genera between stages. In addition, Candidatus Hepatoplasma was detected only in the two- and three-month-old prawn groups. This study provides information on the differences in the intestinal microbiota in different developmental stages, which contribute to adaptation to salinity in the early developmental stage and digestive ability to meet the growth needs of Macrobrachium rosenbergii.

为开发马口鱼(Opsariichthys bidens)多态性简单重复序列(simple sequence repeat,SSR)标记,利用微卫星识别工具(microsatellite identification tool,MISA)搜索统计马口鱼全基因组SSR,采用生物信息学方法对其分布特征进行比较分析;选取39 个三核苷酸SSR位点设计引物进行多态性检测.结果显示:马口鱼全基因组中SSR总数量为304 870 个,占全基因组长度的0.10%;二核苷酸SSR为马口鱼基因组中的主要重复类型.5 种重复类型SSR数量为二核苷酸SSR>四核苷酸 SSR>三核苷酸 SSR>六核苷酸 SSR>五核苷酸SSR.内含子区SSR数量最多,为93 380 个;5′非翻译区SSR数量最少,为622 个.各区域SSR数量分布情况为内含子区>基因间隔区>启动子区>3′非翻译区>编码区>5′非翻译区.编码区数量最多的是三核苷酸SSR,而其他5 个区域最多的是二核苷酸SSR.各重复类型拷贝数分布范围为5～350,主要集中在5～30.通过筛选得到15 对多态性引物,在野生群体马口鱼中共检测到106 个等位基因,观测杂合度为0.125～0.813,期望杂合度为0.359～0.862,多态信息含量(PIC)为 0.339～0.830,其中 12 对引物具有高度多态性(PIC>0.5).这些微卫星标记为马口鱼的种群遗传多样性分析、亲缘关系鉴定等研究提供了基础数据.

The interplay between pesticides plays a critical role in ecotoxicology since these chemicals rarely emerge as single substances but rather in mixtures with other chemicals. In the present work, we purposed to clarify the combined toxic impacts of pyraclostrobine (PYR) and metiram (MET) on the zebrafish by using numerous indicators. Results exhibited that the 4-day LC 50 value of MET to fish embryos was 0.0025 mg a.i. L −1 , which was lower compared with PYR (0.019 mg a.i. L −1 ). Combinations of PYR and MET presented a synergetic impact on fish embryos. Contents of POD, CYP450, and VTG were drastically increased in the plurality of the single and joint treatments relative to the baseline value. Three genes, including vtg1 , crh , and il-8 , related to the endocrine and immune systems, were also surprisingly up-regulated when fish were challenged by the individual and mixture pesticides compared with the baseline value. These results afforded valuable information on the latent toxicity mechanisms of co-exposure for PYR and MET in the early growth stage of fish. Moreover, our data also revealed that frequent application of these two pesticides might exert a potentially ecotoxicological hazard on aquatic ecosystems. Collectively, the present study provided valuable guidance for the risk evaluation of chemical combinations.

为开发中华鳖(Pelodiscus sinensis)性别分子鉴定方法,分析比对了雌性中华鳖基因组中SBNO1 基因2 个拷贝的序列信息,筛选出1 处内含子长度差异,设计引物进行雌雄个体PCR扩增检测和测序验证;并进一步以48 只雌雄中华鳖基因组为样本进行准确率检验.结果显示,雌性中华鳖扩增产物为2 031 bp和1 624 bp双带,雄性中华鳖扩增产物为2 031 bp单一带.结合解剖学性别鉴定记录,48 只雌雄中华鳖性别分子鉴定的判别准确率为100%.本研究提供了一种微创、简便快捷的中华鳖性别分子鉴定方法,为中华鳖单性养殖和性控育种奠定了基础.

Red claw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) is an aquatic crustacean with considerable potential for the commercial culture and an ideal model for studying the mechanism of sex determination. To provide better genomic resources, we assembled a chromosome-level genome with a size of 5.26 Gb and contig N50 of 144.33 kb. Nearly 90% of sequences were anchored to 100 chromosomes, which represents the high-quality crustacean genome with the largest number of chromosomes ever reported. The genome contained 78.69% repeat sequences and 20,460 protein-coding genes, of which 82.40% were functionally annotated. This chromosome-scale genome would be a valuable reference for assemblies of other complex genomes and studies of evolution in crustaceans.

为挖掘罗氏沼虾消化和性别决定主要器官发育规律及个体器官成熟标记(Marker),利用组织特性参数(τ)等分析技术,对性成熟罗氏沼虾的消化和性别决定关键组织器官(眼柄、肝胰腺、精巢、促雄性腺和卵巢)进行转录组表达分析研究.结果表明,5个器官组织的组织特异性高表达基因数依次分别为1874,2700,1698,270和4216个;以τ≥0.85为条件,鉴定获得组织特异性高表达基因数依次分别为864,1421,1550,254和4457个;以τ≥1为条件,鉴定获得组织唯一高表达基因数依次分别为33,29,39,5和729个.5个器官组织唯一表达量最高基因的KEGG(Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes)功能研究表明,视紫红质、抗原样蛋白E异构体、rho鸟嘌呤核苷酸交换因子7、四域蛋白酶类抑制剂和血细胞素异构体X2分别在5个组织中显著高表达,且与组织功能显著相关,分别具有成为5个器官组织发育成熟标记(Marker)的特征.发现雄性特异高表达基因162个和雌性特异高表达基因293个,在雄性和雌性中均发现性别特异性,且各组织均匀稳定表达基因KEGG功能分别注释为假设蛋白和核糖体蛋白L28,且二者相对表达量在同性不同组织间变异系数均<0.5,具有作为罗氏沼虾性别发育成熟标记(Marker)的特征.

为筛选出较强的启动子用于提高外源基因在罗氏沼虾活体细胞中的转化表达效率,本研究构建包含eGFP基因和IE1、hr5-IE1及Sv40启动子的3个表达载体,分别按照10μg·g-1标准注射于体重5～7 g的活体罗氏沼虾肌肉内,采集注射活体肌肉的RNA样品检测各个启动子转录eGFP基因的效率.结果表明,在罗氏沼虾体内hr5-IE1启动子对eGFP基因的表达活性最强,其对eGFP外源基因的转录水平是IE1的3倍以上,IE1对于eGFP的转录水平也显著高于SV40的转录启动效率,其中SV40在罗氏沼虾体内的转录启动水平未检测到eGFP基因的转录表达,表明包含节肢动物门跨物种转录调控元件(增强子hr5)的IE1启动子能够在罗氏沼虾体内正常启动下游基因的转录表达及翻译,是罗氏沼虾开展分子功能研究较优的外源基因表达启动调控元件.

Macrobrachium rosenbergii is a typical aquatic organism with reversible gonadal development that is regulated by gene expression. The role of transcription factors in gonadal in adult shrimps remains unclear in M. rosenbergii. In this study, we sequenced the transcriptomes of adult shrimp testes, ovaries, and androgenic glands using second-generation sequencing. In total, 24,007 genes were identified and 9,199 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by pairwise comparison. There were 272 differentially expressed transcription factors (TFs); 107, 152, and 13 differentially expressed TFs were identified in the testes, ovaries, and androgenic glands by three pairwise comparisons, respectively. GO and KEGG analyses of the TFs and DEGs involved in the MAPK signaling and transcriptional regulation pathways and play key roles in the cell cycle of the testes, whereas involved in the thyroid hormone signaling pathway and neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction play important roles in the ovary. We determined the existence of networks comprising important TFs related to sex development in adult M. rosenbergii gonads. The key TFs were Piwi (expressed only in the testes and ovaries) and Argonaute 3 (expressed only in the ovaries), which might be involved in the regulation of testes and ovary development.

通过对不同保种时间的带圈白翼梢绍兴鸭和白羽绍兴鸭的体尺及蛋肉品质的各项指标进行测定,比较不同保种时间(相同品系)的绍兴鸭生产性能,发现保种T10(保种时间为10 a)的绍兴鸭的蛋白高度、哈氏单位、龙骨长均显著大于保种T40(保种时间为40 a)的绍兴鸭.不同品系(相同保种时间)的绍兴鸭生产性能比较显示,带圈白翼梢绍兴鸭其蛋重、蛋白高度、哈氏单位、体斜长、公鸭胸宽均显著大于白羽绍兴鸭;白羽绍兴鸭蛋黄色泽和蛋黄比例均大于带圈白翼梢绍兴鸭,但未出现显著性差异.结果表明,不同保种时间下的绍兴鸭部分指标具有一定差异性,但总体生产性能差异较小;不同品系绍兴鸭生产性能也具有一定差异.